Mar 25, 2013  FN Browing Model 1922 Serial Number Range? Gentlemen.I just 'adopted' a nice FN Browning Model 1922 'WaA140' pistol. Early research states.

Thanks for the reply and image. You have what is known as a commercial FN Model 1922. At the time your pistol was manufactured, which was probably Feb-March of 1944, the Model 1922 was issued to military forces and would carry military markings. Your pistol is devoid of the military waffenamt on the frame and slide but carries the proof stamp eagle/N. The other mark that most (all?) commercial sales carry is the triangle punch on the rear of the frame. It is estimated that less than 10% of the sales were marked like yours for commercial sale. This makes the value higher if the buyer is aware of this fact.

But many are not. Unfortunately yours was polished down to bare metal maybe in preparation for a reblue at some point years ago. 3d print files. The value is quite diminished by this condition and perhaps it is worth $175 to $250.

If you had the holster and the G.I. Bring-back papers the value could be higher for the collector ($350-$450 depending). Thanks for the images, Dan. MK, I'll begin with the last question first. The serial suffix is the letter 'b'. As you probably know early in wartime production there was no suffix up to serials of about 220,000 then the Germans used 'a' followed by the 'b' then ending in 'C' almost midway into that series.

The finish of nickel was available but is rarely seen on prewar 1910 or 1922 and not at all during the German occupation. The FN facilities just did not cater to the nickel finish as it had little practical military or police use nor did the Germans use it. What I see on your pistol (and the devil is always in the details) is the late war blue finish which was a thin blue applied over a rough metal surface.

The blue finish remains in many corners and hard to reach locations such as just above and behind the trigger or above the trigger at the trigger pin and in many other deep metal rough lines. Have a close look at that trigger pin which, on nickel pistols, was left black but yours is polished white and the surrounding area still shows the dark blue. This is a key point or clue on your pistol. There would be no dark area around that pin on a nickel pistol.

10 crack commandments wikipedia. And I've never seen a magazine with just the base plate 'plated'. I've seen nickel followers or partially dipped bodies but not one side or bottom as you have. This was an easy polishing location done to visually match the rest of the pistol. Easy to access and easy to polish.

It is striking but done for looks and not finished in nickel or chrome, in my opinion.