You know the Browning 10/71, yes?
John Moses Browning was the Leonardo da Vinci of American gun making and his long relationship with Winchester, Colt, and FN changed the entire industry. The inventor of numerous “pocket pistols” of the 1900s (FN M1899, Colt 1903/1908 Pocket Hammerless, FN 1906 Vest Pocket, FN 1910) as well as the calibers they were chambered in (.25, .32, and .380 ACP), he probably did more for early 20th Century concealed carry than any other man.
One of his longest-lived designs was the well-liked FN Model 1910. A striker-fired, blowback action, single-stack .32 ACP (7+1 capacity) or .380 ACP (6+1 capacity) semi-auto with a 3.16-inch barrel, it remained in production for a solid 73 years, including military and police use in dozens of countries. Many of its traits such as the grip safety were familiar to past Browning designs. Other hallmarks, like its recoil-spring-wrapped barrel, were borrowed by later designs of the period such as the Walther PP/PPK and Makarov PM.
The M1910 proved so popular that FN produced it in a lengthened version (the M1922, which had a 4.46-inch barrel) and eventually managed to import it to the U.S. consumer market via the Browning Arms Company of St. Louis and Montreal starting in the 1950s.
The Browning Model 1955 was just a re-branded FN Model 1910. Made in Belgium, they began importation to the U.S. and Canada in the mid-1950s, hence the model number. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Then came the Gun Control Act of 1968, which, among other restrictions, placed an arbitrary list of requirements on imported firearms into the U.S. to meet a “sporting purposes” test. This included mandatory length and height requirements that left pistols such as the Walther PPK and Browning Model 1955 coming up short.
FN’s answer? Stretch the Model 1910, err, Model 1955.
This led to what is known as the Model 10 of 1971, or the 10/71.
More in my column at Guns.com.
