I came into possession of a Browning 1910 that’s in pretty good condition. I think it came from a hoarding house and was in the garage for 20-30 years. A lot of history behind this pistol. I’ve cleaned it up and oiled it really well. Going to have to take it to the range and see if it still cycles.
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I always wanted a FN 1910, closest I ever came was a waffenamt stamped 1922.
Find a penny made before 1981 that is pure copper. Oil down the rusted areas really well with a penatrating oil and let it sit overnight. I like to use Kano Kroil penetrating oil but you can use what you have on hand. Check it the next day and gently use the penny on the rust. Push in one direction and wipe the penny off after every scrape. Get as much rust off as you can without using too much pressure. Use the oil again and let it sit again to let the oil to do its work for you. Repeat the scraping process with your penny. Make sure that you wipe the penny off after every scrape. The penny wont hurt the bluing but the loosened rust will scrape the bluing off if you don’t make sure that the penny is free of rust before you use it. Keep doing this process until you have all of the raised rust off of the steel. When you can’t get any more rust off with the penny use 0000 steel wool soaked in oil and rub it over the rust that is left. Personally I use bronze wool instead of steel wool. If you get too aggressive with the steel wool you can get into the bluing. With the bronze wool you won’t scratch the bluing if you have the loose rust off. The bronze wool is softer than the steel so it wont scratch or remove the bluing as long as you don’t get crazy with it. Again you can repeat the process with the bronze or steel wool until you are satisfied. Then use a liberal amont oil again and a oil soaked cleaning cloth or soft cotten rag soaked in oil and wrap the weapon up in the cloth. Let it sit and keep applying oil on the areas where the rust was. If you go slow and be careful you can get all of the rust off without damaging the bluing. If the rust has gotten to the point where you have pitting in the steel you can’t do anything about that without sanding and re- bluing the steel. Personally unless the pitting is really bad or the weaopn has a lot of rust I would try to leave the origional finish. If the bluing is damaged I find a place like under one of the grips and use a little bluing solution like Oxpho bluing gel or Oxpho bluing liquid to see if it discolors the bluing. If not you can start to reblue the rust spots. You can also use Blue Wonder Gun Blue or Blue Wonder Gun Black. BE SURE TO READ AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS if you want a good outcome. You can repeat the process until you get the color that you want. Most times it takes more than just one application to get the deep rich blue that you are looking for. Be sure to use alcohol or mineral Spirits to clean the steel and get the oil and contaminants off. You can use break clean or carb cleaner but make sure that it doesn’t affect the bluing again in a out of the way place where it is not seen or hard to see. Usually I put a little on a QTip and wipe in a little circle and check the white cotton tip and make sure that you aren’t removing bluing. To be safe you can use the Mineral Spirits or alcohol without fear of them damaging the bluing. The carb cleaner or brake clean is quicker and does a better job of thoroughly cleaning all of the oil and contaninates off of the steel. TAKE ANY WOOD GRIPS OFF before you use carb cleaner or brake clean. Any time that I am working on a firearm with a wood stock or grips I usually take them off when working with chemicals, cleaners and bluing.
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This one was made in Belgium but has the Browning logo so it was made prior to 1968 but after around 1955. I tried to date it and it seems like it may have been toward the end of Belgium manufacturing, around 67-68 by the serial number. I’m not sure if this has ever been fired. It sure is a strange one, with the handle safety and the way that it disassembles.
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Thanks for the info. I’ll start keeping an eye out for an old penny. I did soak those places in oil very well so at least no further damage will occur. The rest of it is like new, not a scratch on it. The mag was very rusty and I had to take some sandpaper to it to get it to insert. I also had to put a bunch of oil in and on it while working the spring to get it to operate smoothly. It wouldn’t cycle at all at first because the follower couldn’t rise smoothly, now it cycles fine.
Gun springs have come a long way in the last few decades. The steel and metallurgy has greatly advanced so replacing gun springs isn’t a bad idea on older handguns. I have bougt replacement springs for most of the handguns in my WWI & WWII collection. Wolff Gun Springs has replacement springs for many of the older handguns and magazines. It isn’t a bad idea to also replace old recoil springs in the handguns. For some wespons you can buy a spring kit for the weapon itself to replace all of the internal springs. If you have any cycling problems or chambering problems most of the time if you have cleaned and lubed the weapon then the next culprit is the magazine or magazine spring itself has gotten weak. Then check the recoil spring and then the internal handgun springs.
https://www.gunsprings.com/
Just another hint that I forgot about was to use 3m or scotch brite type pads to clean off rust with on something like a magazine from Amazon. With the 3m pads you can get different grades depending on how aggressive you want to be. The 3m pads pretty much only remove residue and rust. They don’t remove metal unless you intentionally try to remove metal. I have a professional rotary tool with a flex shaft that is powerful and I have a dermel tool with a flex shaft also. You can get these 3m round pads that you use with your dremel tool that makes things go a lot faster. You can also get pads fine enough to actually polish the steel or any other materal. I use them all of the time when I am working on or restoring an old firearm.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07NKRD2S4?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
If you call or email Browning usually they can tell you when it was made. Since John M. Browning held the patent rights to his firearm designs he gave FN the rights to manufacture many of his handgun designs in Europe somewhere around 1900. The Colt 1911, 1903 Colt pocket hammerless, 1908 Colt pocket hammerless, Colt 1908 vest pocket hammerless, the Browning 1910, Browning 1922 and a few more that I can’t remember off of the top of my head. They continued manufacturing his designs even after John Browning passed away. Even today they still make many of his designs like the Hi-power. For a long time FN manufactured many of his rifle designs but I think some of the modern rifles are now made in Japan. The heel magazine release is a European thing and in North America we had the frame mounted magazine release. If I am not mistaken I think that FN now ownes Browning. FN is the oldest firearm manufacturer in the world. They started manufacturing if I remember correctly sometime around 1760.
Took this to the range this weekend and it cycles just fine. Put 44 rounds through it without any issues at all. The sights suck balls, but other than that it’s a nice little pistol. It’s weird to shoot because of the handle safety and the barrel nut is a pain to get on and off. If you went to buy a self defense pistol in the early 1900s, there’s a good possibility this is what you would end up with.
From their website: There is no information available on this pistol other than it was introduced in 1954 and was discontinued in 1968.