HELP ON FN PISTOL

spoonbill

I had a friend who brought back this pistol from italy in 1945,he
recently died and i am trying to get some information for his son.
O the left side it has(FABRIQUE NATIONALE D/ARMES DE GUERRE)below
that (HERSTEL-BELGIQUE)below that(browning/ patent depose)to the
right of that there is waa140(hard to read)and a flying eagle.on
the right there are three serial numbers 2854 onthe bolt 552854
on the slide and 2854 on the frame,there is no serial on the
magazine,on the front of the trigger guaed there is IR,on the
bottom of the backstrap there appears to be JUP It has a round
hammer and i would guess the bluing to be origanal and about
80% The mag. was loaded with 10 rounds of 9mm lugers.the grips
are excellent.The holster is excellent(no serial #)he wants to
sell this gun, from this info.could somebody give me a date of
manufacture, a model # and an approxamate value.THANK YOU

arthur lux

mark christian

An FN GP-35 High Power. Does the pistol have fixed or adjustable (tangent sights)? It should be well within the Type II tangent sight range but one never knows. The WaA140 is the German Waffenamt proof (army inspectors stamp) and this particuar marking was used from late 1941 until the Germans abandoned the FN factory in September, 1944 making it the most common encountered. The German designation for this pistol was Pistole 640(b) and 319,000 were produced by FN under German supervision (who kept good records) for use by the the German Army. With wood grips and a straight numerical serial number your pistol was produced prior to 1943. The magazine should also bear an acceptance stamp of some sort and should hold 13 rounds? Is ten the maximum this pistols magazine will accept? Any Waffenamt marked High Power will be of interest to collectors but in the condition you describe it will not rate a premium. If the magazine is correct I'd say the pistol would retail for between $500 to $600. If the magazine is not correct the pistols value drops off becuase the magazines are expensive and hard to find on the loose. I know next to nothing about holsters but if origianl it too should bear military acceptence stamps
and if original would add to the pistols value.

Mark T. Christian

rufe-snow

I believe your friends pistol is a Browning Model 1935, High Powder. It was manufactured during the German occupation of Belgium during W W II, (circa 1940/1945). Over 300,000 of these pistols were made for the Germans during the 5 years of occupation.
Similar pistols are still in production, and are popular with collectors and as self defense/sporting weapons.
The pistol your friend owns would be quite desirable to a collector of W W II militaria, and probably be worth between $400 & $600, perhaps more if the condition warrants.

spoonbill

Thanks for your help on the fn pistol, the amount of knowledge is
amazing.The sights are fixed,there are no marks on the magazine.
it holds 10 shells.(a replacement?)I did find an inspectors mark
on the holster,the grips are plastic.THANKS FOR YOUR HELP

arthur lux

mark christian

The fixed sight version is much more common and far less desireable to collectors (I'm glad I asked). The 10 shot magazine is no doubt a commercial replacement and no where near as desireable as even a post war FN 13 shot magazine. The pistol is now sounding like $300 to me-- tops. This is a fine lesson of how features (or lack of) can effect value as much or more than condition.

Mark T. Christian

spoonbill

I want to thank evrybody for there help on the fn pistol,I think we have pretty well found a value for the gun.however i have found a
small mark on the mag.that appears to be waa140 and another mark
next to it with a circle around it,both are very faint.THANK YOU

arthur lux

mark christian

Take the magazine apart and see if has been blocked to ten rounds. If you can remove the block by all means do so (IF THIS IS LEGAL IN YOUR AREA) before you offer the pistol for sale. This sounds like the correct magazine, but it should hold 13 rounds rather than 10. If the magazine is correct your pistol just went up $50+ in value very quickly.

Mark T. Christian

spoonbill

Mark you are right on the fn mag. it came with 10 shells in it and
i assumed that is what it would hold,it does not have a block in
it so i tried 13 shells and it holds them fine.thank you again for
your expertise.

arthur lux