Looking for infor on an FN 1922 (not Waffen stamped)

[UpTheIrons]

I was referred to this forum from a post on the Texas CHL Forum. I was told y'all might be able to help. Here's what I posted there:


I need a little help with this nice little pistol. This belongs to a friend, whose father brought it back from Europe decades ago. I don't remember when or where. I'll find out Sunday hopefully and add that info if it helps.

All serial numbers match, and they are somewhat lowish, I think: 317XX.

There are marks on each part. Every part that's big enough has a 6 in a square. In several places there is a 3, or it might be a J that's underlined.

The Belgian proof mark is on the slide, frame and barrel (see the photos): the lion above a line with PV underneath. There's also the inspector's stamp on the slide, barrel and frame: a G with a star (5-point, not an asterisk) over it.

I'm curious if the stamp on the barrel will help further identify the pistol. It looks like an oval with a crown on top. The oval has an E on top, LG on the next line, and maybe a star at the bottom.

Fit and finish are remarkable. This pistol could not have been fired much. I took it down, cleaned up a little surface rust (mostly on the recoil spring), and blew the dust out of the barrel. Ran a patch down it with Hoppe's and it came out almost clean. The bore is beautiful - no rust, pitting, or anything. It shone with a mirror finish.

I can't find an example with the wood grips this pistol has. I don't know if they are custom, or from a limited factory run. The pistol does have engraving on the right side that says "Anna Sage", the name of the Chicago madam who fingered John Dillinger for the FBI. The engraving was done by the owner at some point in the past - I'm not tryin to infer that she may have owned it.

[bikerboyzx6r]

Thats a nice 1922 Browning but as you say most probably not "the" Anna Sage.
(Dutch Crown W, Post 1948 Crown J 32/380 Used by Dutch police and military in 1930s-1960s)?
The grips dont look original, maybe factory customs! Any marks around handle to show proof of this!?
Dan

[appie]

I think it was never in Holland, can't see any Dutch markings. The lion is a Belgian type one (no sword), maybe it was a private purchas, but this type of pistol was also used for a long time in Belgium by the police.

[UpTheIrons]

The grips have no markings on them. Not knowing what the original factory grips looked like on the back side, I can't guess about these either.

They are stained wood, stained on both sides. The grip 'cutouts' that drop into the frame on either side of the magazine don't exactly match the cutouts in the frame.

What I mean is, the frame has cutouts that are parallelogram shaped, and the parts of the grips that fit in these holes are rectangles with the corners rounded off.

Does that help at all?

[Laplander]

The oval crown with "E+LG" in it is a belgian proof mark(town of Liege) used since 1893.
Thanks for showing the gun.
I wish I had nice grips like that on one of my own 1922:s
My guess is that grips are modified after the gun was shipped out from the FN factory.
Maybe it was done at same time as the engraving of "Anna Sage"?

Laplander

[UpTheIrons]

I got a little more of the story on this pistol today. It seems I was a bit confused about its provenance. The owner's father aquired it in Mexico in the 1970s, where it most likely got the grips it has now.

I know that doesn't really help date it, but it does likely pin down the grips as much later than original.

I have information from another forum that says the inspector's mark (the star over G) was used from 1928 to 1959 in Belgium. Does that sound about right, and does anyone think it can be narrowed down any farther by the serial number to find out the approximate date of manufacture? Again, the SN is 317xx.