The FN Browning M1922 was a very popular pistol in many Armies and Police forces. Serial numbers. 6-digit number right on slide extension (not matching). Pistols of the German Wehrmacht. Contact: office@tague.at. Germany P.08 P.38 Walther Modell HP Mauser 1934. FN Browning M1922 - P.626(b), P641(b) 1st Variation WaA613. 2nd Variation WaA613. Serial number: 6-digit number right on frame. 6-digit number inside slide.

The photographs on the left are of the front and back of the FN Browning M1922, while the pictures on the right show the top and bottom of the pistol. In each of these photographs the magazine is shown fully inserted. In the picture on the bottom left the grip safety is visible. There is actually a total of three safeties on this pistol, a magazine safety which blocks the firing of the pistol when the magazine is removed, a grip safety and a manual safety that is located on the left side of the frame and operated by the users thumb. The M1922 also incorporates a disconnector in conjunction with the trigger bar which prevents the sear from being tripped unless the slide is fully forward.

The serial number should be found in four different places, on the right side of the frame above the trigger, on the right side of the barrel chamber, on the inside rear of the slide and on the right side of the slide extension at the muzzle of the pistol. This encompasses the four major parts of the firearm. The smaller parts are not numbered with a partial serial number.

Due to the increase in demand for arms during the war, the serial number markings were later simplified in 1944 to include just the full serial number on the slide and the last four digits of the serial number on the receiver. The photograph on the left is of the left side slide inscription. The top line reads as follows, 'FABRIQUE NATIONALE D'ARMES DE GUERRE HERSTAL BELGIQUE' and then underneath that is 'BROWNING'S PATENT DEPOSE'. The top line is in French and translates to 'National Factory of Weapons of War Herstal Belgium'. The bottom line tells us that the Germans are in full control and that the Browning patents to this pistol are no more. Also shown in the photograph on the left is three WaA 140 Waffenamt's or Weapons Office inspector stamps and two eagle over swastika in a circle stamps. Two of the WaA 140 stamps are located on the slide at either end of the bottom line in the slide inscription, and the third one is located above and to the rear of the trigger.

Directly above the Waffenamt 140 stamp at the rear of the trigger is a German military test proof in the form of an eagle over a swastika in a circle. There is another one of these military test proof stamps on the slide located directly below the letter 'E' in the word 'DEPOSE'. The picture on the right is of the rear of the barrel and here again we have two more WaA140 Waffenamt stamps. On the other side of the barrel and above the serial number is another German military test proof in the form of an eagle over a swastika in a circle. Notice as well the notches that are milled into the bottom of the barrel.

These notches mesh with a similar set that has been milled into the receiver and are used to secure the barrel to the receiver when the pistol is being fired. The purpose of the Waffenamt stamps was to prove that each firearm and its components met the quality standards set forth by the Heereswaffenamt or Army Weapons Office.

In order to carry this out, inspectors were assigned to individual firms for large corporations or to a specific area if there were several smaller manufacturers. These inspectors and their Waffenamt or WaA were responsible to the Heereswaffenamt rather than the manufacturer to which they were assigned. Each weapons office can be correctly identified by the individual acceptance stamp they used. During production of the M1922 pistol, the inspectors at Fabrique Nationale d'armes de guerre plant used the eagle over 140 stamp. Resource: German Handguns by Ian Hogg German small arms markings by Joachim Gortz & Don Bryans The standard directory of proof marks by Gerhard Wirnsberger Official guide to gunmarks by Robert Balderson Mauser military rifle markings by Terence Lapin Handbook of military rifle marks 1866-1950 by Richard Hoffman & Noel Schott.