FN Model 1903

Pre-World War I production

FN requested a prototype from John Browning in 1901. Sweden ordered 10,000 pistols as the m/1907 in 1907. The Ottoman Empire ordered 8,000 for police use between 1908 and 1914, and the Russian Empire ordered about 11,000 with detachable shoulder stock holsters. An additional 9,000 were sold commercially before production ceased when the FN factory was overrun in August 1914.

Swedish production

Sweden licensed production to Husqvarna, which began manufacturing the m/1907 in 1917. Husqvarna produced military pistols for Colombia in the 1930s and made 89,230 pistols total by 1942. Early slides bore "Browning's Patent" or "System Browning" markings, discontinued after World War I at FN's insistence. The pistol m/07 was standard until replaced by the Lahti L-35 in 1940, but was returned to service in the 1980s when Lahti bolts cracked from a more powerful 9 mm cartridge, serving until Glock 17 deliveries were complete.

Post-war production

After World War I, surplus firearms reduced demand. FN manufactured 4,616 pistols for Estonia and several hundred for Paraguay and El Salvador.

Production ended in 1927 after 58,442 pistols, with inventories lasting into the 1930s. Estonian pistols were sold to Spain and used in the Spanish Civil War. Surplus Husqvarna pistols were later modified in the United States with a chamber bushing to fire .380 ACP.

Users

Finland acquired around 100 Husqvarna m/1907 pistols after a failed purchase of FN 1903s, and used 860 FN and Husqvarna pistols left by Swedish volunteers during the Continuation War. Captured guns were sold to officers after the occupation of Belgium.

The pistol was adopted by the army and issued to colonial troops, and used by army and military police officers. It was authorized for officers in 1907 and issued to Moscow Metropolitan Police, Railway Gendarmerie, and other gendarmeries. Sweden produced it under license as the Pistol m/07.