![]() ![]() 2) of MHQ-The Quarterly Journal of Military History with the headline “ Weapons Check: The Browning M1910. ![]() So what exactly happened, how did it lead to one of the bloodiest wars in history. This article appears in the Winter 2020 issue (Vol. Saturday, 28 June this year marked one hundred years since 19-year-old Serbian Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, sparking controversy and anger all across Europe and eventually leading to the outbreak of war in August 1914. MHQĬhris McNab is a military historian based in the United Kingdom. The M1910 also claimed the lives of Paul Doumer, the president of France, in May 1932, and Huey Long, the governor of Louisiana, in September 1935. As it was, the terrorist bomb that was intended for him exploded under the car behind, injuring its passengers but leaving the Archduke unhurt. With its compact design, it was a perfect assassin’s weapon. It’s an often-overlooked fact that it was almost a bomb and not a revolver that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarejevo a century ago. The M1910 remained in production until 1983, with more than 700,000 going to military, police, and civilian markets. (The Model 1910/22, introduced in 1922, featured a longer barrel, a larger grip frame, and two extra rounds in the magazine.) The magazine held either six or seven rounds, depending on the caliber. The barrel was the guide for the wraparound recoil spring, a design that contributed to the gun’s sleek profile, and the M1910 was striker fired, with no external hammer. 32 ACP (7.65 mm Browning Short) all it took to switch calibers was a barrel change. ![]() The M1910 was a slender blowback handgun, chambered in both. Browning began designing magazine-fed “self-loading” (or semiautomatic) pistols around 1896 and found a willing manufacturer in Europe: the Belgian company Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre. Princip’s weapon of choice was cutting-edge for the time, thanks to the ingenuity of John Moses Browning. There’s also a magazine safety, which blocks firing when the magazine is removed, and an external safety lever.Į. “Triple Safety.” A lever at the rear of the grip has to be depressed before the pistol will fire. With a barrel measuring just 3 1/2 inches, the pistol’s overall length is a mere 6 inches.ĭ. The weapon’s practical range is a little more than 30 yards, with the sights arranged in a groove cut along the top of the slide.Ĭ. When the M1910 is fired, the rearward gas pressure on the cartridge case cycles the weapon, as the slide is not locked to the breech.ī. The Gun That Started World War I: The Browning M1910 CloseĪ. ![]()
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