Many original grips suffer insect damage. Good original grips for the 1900 are tough to come by, but there are many replicas on the market. The normal grips are black hard rubber with a script FN in a lozenge at the top. I don't know when that stopped, but fairly soon after it came on the market. Only the earliest 1899s and 1900s had the pistols on the grips. But it was the first automatic pistol which operated on the blowback principle. What slide? The 1900 does not have one in the conventional sense, a la the M1911, M1903, M1910, etc. Thanks for any information that can be provided.
So, one of my questions are, which type of plastic grips should this pistol have? The ones with the picture of the pistol on them or the ones with just the FN logo? Anything I should know about when firing this pistol? It does have smokeless powder proofs on it, so I am not worried about firing it. Rough guess is that this pistols is form about 1905-06. Serial number is 396409 and they all match. The one main draw back is that a previous owner used an electric pencil to put some number on the front of the grip frame. While disassembling it yesterday I could not believe how tight fitting the slide is to the frame. The bluing is at least 90% and it functions fine. I know the grips are not original, but it looks like they have been on the pistol for quite some time.
I don't know a lot about these pistols, except for what i have read online. I paid $300 for it, which I think is a pretty decent price. I know how you feel though, wouldnt it be nice to see it and hold it as it was when new?Nice piece by the way.So, I went to a LGS and found this nice FN Browning Model 1900 tucked away in one of the cases. I thought I would buy a "beater" and refinish it.Then I looked at Doug Turnbull's website and saw how he does a restoration on a rare pistol like the '05's.truley a Luke Skywalker/Yoda moment. Point being can you do it justice or will it someday be subject to another wanting to do the same thing and wondering why "somebody" did this or that.I have a special liking for Colt 1905. People said I shouldnt do it as it would "ruin" its value.As I never intend to sell it I restored it with the help of some quality "smiths' that knew how it would have been delivered in '07. "To restore or not restore, that is the question."This forum has some incredible examples of machinery being saved and brought back to better than new in some cases.I am humbled by the skill and knowledge that many members have.Many on this forum have an emotional attachment for things mechanical and many times we see the remark "I wish it could talk".we love our machines.To take a nice pistol as you have there and restore it requires that you really question yourself if you have the ability to come close to what its makers produced when new.Some time ago I restored a 1892 Winchester rifle that had been purchased new by my great grand father around 1907.
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