Exactly. Russian Governement had no part in this.Those marked guns are private purchases through the Marksmanship's School by the alumni. No such thing as "Russian contract"
Some facts that might be interesting : K.G. Mannerheim studied in the Nicholas cavalry school from 1886 to 1889. And in 1908 he gave a Browning FN M1900 as a gift to Dalai Lama.
me: "Ooh: Ian has found a Baby Browning! Cool!" * click * Ian: "Also, NOT known as a Baby Browning, which interestingly has nothing to do with Browning." I guess I'm lucky I'm not slightly dumber than I am, or I'd poop on the floor.
@@joshglover2370 Yep they made the first ever in line four cylinders motorcycle. Interesting bikes for sure but they stopped making motorcycles a long, long time ago...
The Baby doesn't have a grip safety and is even smaller than this 1906 (yes we generally call it 1906, not 1905, here in Belgium). The Baby was not designed by Browning himself of course (he was dead at the time) but it is obviously based on Browning's patent... It was designed by Dieudonné Saive. And in Belgium we don't call it the Baby Browning, that is an American thing, we call it the FN Baby.
@@phillipburke2709 Anyone curious can go listen to Drach tell the story of the 2nd Pacific Squadron and their unfortunate comander, admiral Rozhestvenski here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9Mdi_Fh9_Ag.html; he does much a better job than I could. You'll laugh, you'll cry... 😁😭
"When hell froze over" by E.M. Halladay is a solid book on American troops fighting Communist Russians after the October Revolution and Russia dropping out of WW1. It's a pretty cool and mostly forgotten story.
@@alexguymon7117 They talk about both, if I remember correctly. They also go into how American troops were issued Mosin Nagants while they recovered M1903s and Winchester produced Mosins of the Communist.
My dad kept one of these browning.25 autos in the glove box, back in the days when you could do such things. It was compact and better than nothing, if you had to walk somewhere if the car broke down.
The Arkhangelsk expedition is not _only_ American history. My grandfather served in the RN and took part in that adventure as well. He had some extremely amusing stories to tell; the entire operation was botched from the start and very badly thought out. Sadly he did not bring back any small semi-automatic pistols though... The guns in his charge were somewhat larger and rather difficult to fit in your pocket!
Also a notable event for the use of U.S. made Mosins by the U.S. Army. From what I hear, they were mostly hated and often would have the bolts swapped for Russian made bolts, likely due to the use of improper lubricant for the cold conditions.
@@adulescentuluscarnifex8412 Well how do you call foreign intervention? Democracy delivery? Monument to victims killed in Yokang and Moudioug deat camps. en.wikipedia.org/wikiMonument_to_the_Victims_of_the_Intervention
There I just learned where my pistol originated. I have one, passed down from my grandfather, who fought in the Winter war for Finland, in 1939/1940. He never talked much about it. He was also a member of the Norwegian resistance through WW2, and had this pistol. Mine is blued, but the crossed rifles are almost worn away, and the number is also gone. It's still in working order, but I rarely shoot it.
Wait so this is what the toy gun I had when I was young was based on... holy shit I'm impressed that whoever made it (not a big company from what I could recall) chose this paticular (and not that well-known) model p.s. I say "based on" but it looked nearly identical except that mine shot BB bullets lol
It's almost certainly from the White Russian army; those were imperial nobles. Nobles don't execute peasants; it's beneath them, and peasants are expensive. You need them to work the land. The shooting peasants thing was a communist thing. Amusingly (or not) the most brutal communists were largely peasants themselves.
Like all the hours spent riding unused in some royal pocket until it was handed down to someone whose kid snuck it out to shoot out windows in an abandoned industrial facility, but found that he couldn't do it because even the three he actually hit out of 130 rounds fired didn't break because it's a .25 and he was a whopping 60 feet away? Wild stuff.
this looks way ahead of its time! I think Other semi automatic handguns of the same era were kinda clunky looking but this still looks fairly modern today
One of my Uncles was actually in the Archangelsk landing, got captured by the red army and ended up in Lefortovo prison. His father somehow managed to get him released before he was sent to Siberia (I'm guessing a few well-placed bribes).
Since you didn't disassemble it, I'm assuming you've already done a video on this model. Or possibly you just don't have permission to take it apart. I'm sure it would be appreciated it you linked to a disassembly video in the description if you've had that model, and just didn't take down this particular variant. Or just an offhand comment or some such. Just to make it clear in this viewers mind if I should spend time trying to find a video where you take a similar model apart.
It is really easy to take apart. It works as other Browning's guns. Just pull the slide back (I think it has marks to align) twist the barrel and gently release the slide. That's it.
Funny I just saw an older forgotten weapons video of a non Russian FN 1905 and Ian called it a baby browning but in this video he makes sure to say it's not a baby browning. My point is even gun Jesus confuses a FN 1905 with a baby browning, it's not just you.
Hey Ian can you do a video on an Astra Constable if you find one? I can't find much information on it aside from it being one of Travis Bickle's guns in Taxi Driver.
A pocket would not surprise me, because being "armed" for a parade might have involved some sort of sword (or baton, if of very high rank.) High ranking soldiers seem to invent their own uniform details, according to what image they are trying to project. I know someone who owns a dress uniform for a Major General in the Royal Army Dental Corps. I really don't think there can be enough of those for the word "standard" to have any meaning. I wouldn't like to have toothache bad enough to need a Major General to fix it. In British service, of course, even generals had to carry a .455" or, in later years, a .38"-200 -if they carried a pistol at all.
Probably a holster. It was mentioned in one of Ian's other videos on an Imperial Russian pistol that the old Russian army required their officers to always be armed with both pistol and sword when in uniform.
Neat story! I didn't know about these being sold to Russia until now. I have a 1908 Colt Vestpocket .25 with a sub 74k serial number [note: had to go check, I initially put down the number from a different pistol]. It apparently used to have a nickle finish but by the time I got it it's mostly patina with just a tiny hint of shiny here and there. It shoots really well and I have toted it as a BUG a few times. I've wondered if they wouldn't have been better with just the grip safety (the one on mine after all these decades is still tight, something you squeeze as you shoot, not something you squeeze to walk around or prepare to shoot). That tiny thumb safety is ... well, yes, tiny. AND, let's face it, not the most left-hand-friendly placement ever devised. I keep putting mine back in my safe but it keeps finding its way back out, LOL. It's just a great example of design and craftsmanship. I can see why a Czarist officer would consider one as a badge of office.
@yeoldebiggetee - I have one! Not that was carried by an E. German but I have a CZ45. I didn't know about the East German connection. Good info, thanks! For sure, they're cool little beasts! Definitely one of the best of the breed, IMHO. My favorite is always the Beretta 950B Jetfire (preferably before the tiny thumb safety was added to the frame and the corresponding "S" to the model). My 950B was made in 1964 but looks almost new. My CZ45 (a very close #2 choice) doesn't look nearly it's age, either. Yeah, I dunno what it is with me a .25s ... I get all weird with the various .32s as well.
I noticed that you didn't do a tear down and reassembly for this pistol. I was hoping that you would show an easy way of doing it, because i always have trouble with reassembly of the Colt pocket pistol which seems to be the exact same
My friend had (probably) 1905, as family heirloom. Blued IIRC. I was just a kid when I saw it, and still it felt tiny. Not Russian contract, but still.
I'm fairly certain if he asked Sako, they'd send him one to review, they already sponsored Finnish Brutality and provided a stage rifle(TRG) for the match for the past 2 years.
It’s pretty interesting most of the AEF North Russia that was sent into Arkhangelsk were from Michigan and there’s a monument to them in Troy Michigan. They were also called Detroit’s own or the Polar Bears
When I was a kid I had a toy pistol looking exactly like this. Only made of plastic and shooting air-propelled balls instead of bullets, of course. Never knew that it was modelled after a real handgun.Even a real one looks like a toy, which, now that I think about it, probably led to a nasty surprise for someone somewhere, sometime. Imagine trying to stop a mugger with this. I'd bet an ordinary crook wouldn't even slow down, seeing this thing.
Apparently the Tsar Nicholas 2nd's eldest daughter Olga had a small handgun which she kept in her boot 👢 "in case anything happened" then after the revolution the family was under arrest and the commander of the soldiers guarding them heard about the gun and he asked her in private (if the soldiers got wind of it there would have been trouble) to hand it over to him and she did. I wonder 🤔 if it was one of these? No one remembers what make or model gun it was, only that she had one and that she kept it in her boot 👢 and her father the Tsar got it for her.
Uses for this pistol: shooting chickens procured from villagers, shooting the villagers when they object, shooting into the air, shooting prisoners in the head, shooting retreating Russian soldiers in the head, shooting oneself in the head when there’s nothing left to shoot at the enemy
It wasn't just Americans who found themselves fighting in and around Archangel in 1919: that's the main reason why, in some East Anglian towns when the names are called for each year of the Great War every November, they do 1918 and keep going.
Those parts are actually probably left un nickel-plated so that they weren't slippery surfaces. I find it hard to believe the slide and frame can function plated but not a trigger...
I am from Colombia, and gun laws are horrible here. I'm not a rich guy, I don't have farms or businesses or any contact with the Colombian army, so having a gun is difficult for me at the moment. However, I managed to fire, and even field strip to do maintenance, an FN baby from 1965. The only real firearm that i have the privilege to enjoy just two days. The owner of the gun was an old lady, she didn't have the permit so it was an illegal gun, she didn't have a clue to how to operate that tiny gun, she thought that a was a single shot gun, and she carried the gun when she went for a walk or do some errands. I explained to her how to properly handle it, an I shot a few rounds, and because I was a gun noob too, the sound that little thing made shocked me! It was LOUD!! All the old lady's farm animals went crazy lol. That was about 10 years ago, I tried to convince her to sell me the gun but she refused. Now the lady is dead and the whereabouts of that beautiful tiny gun are a mistery for me.
You could actually fit a whole service pistol in the inside pocket of most vests of the period. Of course that's not the point of this pistol, it's small enough to fit in an outside pocket, or sit in the inside pocket without any discomfort.
I do enjoy watching your videos very informative but I noticed you are high on French weapons and not really into American guns as much. Only good thing about French WW2 rifles is that you can get them in great shape because they were not hardly fired and only dropped once. And someone who is around firearms for a living is a pretty crummy shot.
Me: That's a tiny little pocket pistol, look how small it is Ian: This thing is actually so small you can't see it from back there Me: I can no longer see it from back here, show me close up
Hi i have a similar gun i think it is a fn1921... but i dont know where he came from! The end of the barrel is rounded whit a screw for disassemby, all other parts are the same. If you want i can send you a picture for check it
In other news, I once made a chambering adaptor for a 6.5 Carcano that allowed it to fire .25 ACP. .256 inches is equivalent to 6.5mm. Was this a good idea, bad idea or hilariously stupid idea? Comment below. For the record, it seemed to work.
@@exploatores Thanks for replying. (more than Ian ever does) I know JB didn't make it exclusively for FN but he designed it first for the FN (according to Ian).
I have similar but it is made by Haenel-Suhl and says Schmeissers Patent. It has thumb safety. Too bad it had to be deactivated because finnish law prohibits too short pistols.
I had a 1905 some yr.s ago and just used shooting sticks. Two match sticks knotted together with short piece of dental floss. One should light the matches first !
Not so sure was the nomenclature that initially. Example: Nowhere in world was there "9mm Luger" stamped in box for first decade or two of that round existance.
.25 ACP is an American name. It is actually known as 6.35mm kind of everywhere else. Maybe this American name comes from the fact that Colt sold a version of the same pistol known as the 1908 vest pocket.
@@redram5150 We used to, for several calibers. For instance, 7.65 Parabellum is often called .30 Luger. For many of the Browning cartridges, this also happened. .32 ACP is 7.65 Browning, .38 ACP is 9mm Browning Long, .380 is 9mm Browning Short. As was normal with Browning's works, Colt got the rights to the American market and FN got Europe.
Zachary Rollick but there have been several rounds both recorded as metric or imperial. It’s forgivable to interchange them considering anyone who knows guns understands this. 25 caliber is more esoteric
