This Browning Baby Lightweight is chambered in .25 ACP and was made in Belgium, serial 2819xx placing it in 1963 on Browning’s factory serial number records. It is the Lightweight variation, with the lightweight alloy frame in a contrasting satin finish, a highly polished chrome plated slide and exterior steel, factory pearl pattern grips and a gold plated trigger. Condition is approximately 98 percent or better, with very little evidence of handling. The bright surfaces keep a mirror polish, the satin frame is very clean, the gold trigger holds strong original finish and the pearl grips are excellent. The pistol is observed as unfired and is mechanically excellent. It comes in its period Browning fitted presentation case, black outside with a molded Browning logo and a red fitted interior.
The Baby Browning was designed by Dieudonne Saive and based on John Browning’s 1908 Vest Pocket pistol, Saive developing it between 1926 and 1927 and Fabrique Nationale introducing it in 1931. It is a blowback operated, striker fired single action pistol in .25 ACP, feeding from a six round magazine, with a 53.6mm barrel, a length of 104mm, a height of 72mm and a weight of 275 grams. Browning’s serial records place the 1963 production run between 279000 and 286099. Contemporary Browning advertising identified the lightweight .25 in this configuration as having chrome and satin finish, pearl grips and a gold plated trigger. Exports of the pistol to the United States ended in 1968, when the Gun Control Act restricted the importation of small handguns of this kind; FN continued to build the original model until 1979, some 550,000 in all, after which production passed to Manufacture d’armes de Bayonne in France until 1983.
Specifications
Manufacturer: Fabrique Nationale, Belgium
Model: Baby Browning, Lightweight
Serial: 2819xx
Year: 1963
Caliber: .25 ACP
Capacity: 6 rounds
Frame: Lightweight alloy, satin finish
Slide: Polished chrome plated
Grips: Factory pearl pattern
Trigger: Gold plated
Condition: Approximately 99 percent or better, represented as unfired
Mechanical condition: Excellent
Included: Period Browning fitted presentation case
