Shooting a Sacred Relic

[Hard Ball]

Sunday I went shooting with four friends. We decided to fire old historical guns which you seldom see these days, I fired a Colt Model 1900 .38 Automatic. This is the first automatic pistok designed by John Brownig which went on sale a hundred years ago.
All Colt and Browning locked breech automatics evolved from this design. Onlt 3,500 Model 1900s were produced before Cokt introduced an improved .38 automatic.
The Army was interested only in /45 caliber automatics after their exoeriences with their .38 caliber revolvers in the Phillipennes. Browning modified his basic design into the Colt .45ACP Model 1905. Five years later Brownning imroved the Model 1905 to his Model 1910 design which the Army adopted in 1911 as the first Model 1911with only one change, The Model 1910 did not have a thumb safety. This was added at the assistance of the US cavalry who said an automatic pistol without a thumb safety was unsafe for mounted combat.
What fascinated me is that the Model 1900 shot beautifully. It was accurate and reliable and surprisingly "modern" in design for a century old pistol.
As the old Army saying goes "John Browning knew what he was doing!"

 

[Art Eatman]

Yeah, know how that feels. I have an old thumb-buster, .44-40 Frontier Six Shooter. Every now and then it's gotta come out of the safe and help me remember the older times.

That's older times than even me, Dennis!

, Art

 

[Jeff OTMG]

I think the 1900 was the model of pistol used to assasinate Arch Duke Ferdinand that began WWI.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Jeff, I thought it was the Browning pattern made by FN and not the Colt pattern. I could be off base but I think that's what was in the American Rifleman just recently.

Anybody know?

 

[parabellum]

Yes, it was an FN .32 ACP, not the Colt .38 ACP, that was used by Princip.

 

[Jeff OTMG]

That'll teach me to open my big mouth! ;

Guess it makes sense, since they have FN's over there and Colts over here.

[This message has been edited by Jeff OTMG (edited May 10, 2000).]

 

[riddleofsteel]

my old 1908 Dryse .32 ACP comes out of the safe now and again. i still marvel at the workmanship of this century old pistol. still when i lay it next to my K40 Kahr i see that they are almost the same size and weight and i marvel at how far metalurgy and design have come. what was a minimum size and caliber gun 100 years ago you could not give away now due to the guns like the Kahrs and Glocks.

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Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what is for lunch.
Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the outcome of the vote.
Let he that hath no sword sell his garment and buy one. Luke 22-36
They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. Song of Solomon 3-8
The man that can keep his head and aims carefully when the situation has gone bad and lead is flying usually wins the fight.

 

[James K]

Hi, guys,

Hate to do this, but everybody has been wrong on this one for years.

An article in the January 2000 Auto Mag by Jiri Vojta not only describes the guns used in the attack on Franz Ferdinand, but shows pictures of an exhibit set up by the Austrian government at the time. It was later wrecked and the pistols stolen by the Russians at the end of WWII.

The guns were Browning Model 1910's in 9mm Short (.380 ACP). Four guns were bought in a Belgrade gun store, apparently with money provided by a Serbian nationalist organization called the Czrna Ruka, or Black Hand. The real hand was the Serbian secret service, which also provided grenades.

A number of men took part in the assassination attempt, although Princip fired the shots that killed Franz Ferdinand. Three of the plotters received the death sentence, but the sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment. Princip was under 20, the minimum age for execution, and was sentenced to 20 years. He died in prison in 1918.

Millions died in the war that resulted from those shots.

Jim

 

[Dr.Rob]

I love shooting old guns.. you should have seen the look on coinneach and morgn's faces when I showed them my 1917 new service army Colt revolver.. the proceeded to shoot it.

 

[Correia]

I've shot a late 1800's winchester in 44-40 once, that was pretty darn cool.

Also a friend of mine has an 1886 45-70, though it has been modernized a lot, it is still really interesting to shoot.