This particular Chinese pistol is a great example of all the elements of a proper Chinese Mystery Pistol: sights that don’t function, gibberish markings, mechanical derivation from the Browning 1900, aesthetic elements form the C96 Broomhandle Mauser, and clearly handmade parts. However, this one is a particularly high quality example of the type.
Semiauto pistol
A Professional Warlord Copy of the FN 1900 from the Nanjing Arsenal
Interested in more pistols from the Chinese warlord era? Check out my book “Pistols of the Warlords”, now in stock and shipping at: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/chinese-pistols One of the professional factory-made Chinese warlord-era copies of the FN […]
Semiauto Rifles
The Type 81 LMG in Civilian Form: Norinco Model 313
Lot 1817 in the September 2019 RIA auction. The Norinco 313 is the semiauto commercial variation of the Type 81 LMG. The Type 81 was a small arms family of rifle and LMG developed to […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Vintage Saturday: Mr. Lee Goes to China
Note the bandoliers of individual cartridges – these Lee-Metfords predate the adoption of charger clips, and would have been reloading one round at a time.
Dare I ask: What cartridge is it chambered for, with slots on both sides of the magazine, and additional inspection holes?
Also: where did those nice grips come from?
Thanks Ian.
Fantastic, your presentation, not so much the pistol.
Wanted to see some Chinese writings but there were none.
What was its caliber?
Maybe the bullets had to be handmade for it also.
🙂
Pat
Pretty sure it used .32ACP.
There IS an advantage of putting an ornamental hammer on a striker fired pistol slide; if one drops it in battle, the enemy can pick it up, but won’t be able to figure out how to shoot you!
fantastic pistol. I especially like the hammer.
PS: I am using Full30 and like it a lot, but I found out that it doesn’t matter if you subscribe to a channel or not. All the videos appear regardless. Can’t you change that?
The reason to subscribe it to receive email notification when new videos post – all the videos are supposed to be visible to everyone.
My guess is that it’s 7.65 Browning (.32 ACP), simply because that seems to be the “default” caliber for these weapons.
It seems a workmanlike copy of the 1900. And if you’ll pardon me going into writer mode, the real test is;
It’s 1932, and you’re on the Shanghai docks at 0200. A gang of local boohow doy want to “talk” to you, and Fairbairn and his cops are nowhere about.
If all you’ve got is this plus a Model 1918 LF&C trench knife, can you use them effectively enough to see the sunrise?
My guess would be, the pistol is no more likely to let you down than that trench knife is. You just have to know what to do with both.
cheers
eon
The best weapon is not to be on the docks at that hour
These pistols are quite fascinating! I have to wonder about the circumstances under which this one was made. Was a machinist commissioned to make it, or or did someone make it speculatively hoping to make a bit of money selling it? We’ll probably never know. However if you go to China today, there’s large numbers of small shops making various knock-offs of nearly everything. If there’s a way to make a bit of money, the Chinese will find it.
Fake barrel may lead accidents
It’s very cool, for something handmade.
How do you tell this is Chinese, not from Khyber pass?
It has characteristics much more in line with a Chinese pistol.
This is like the love child of the Chiappa Rhino and the R51.