Chinese Warlord Pistols: Massive FN 1900 Copies in .30 Mauser

It's not too late to join the "Pistols of the Warlords" Kickstarter!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
The armies of Warlord Era China had quite a fondness for the FN 1900 pistol, but they also made extensive use of the 7.63mm Mauser cartridge. So what would be a more natural choice than to make copies of the FN 1900 in 7.63mm Mauser? We can look past the fast that the FN design (and its Chinese copies) used a simple blowback mechanism that was not strong enough for extended use with a cartridge as potent as the Mauser round...
There are a variety of different patterns of 7.63mm FN copies made in China. Some are only a tiny bit larger than the genuine FN 1900, often with a round-bottomed grip. Others are larger - some of them a LOT larger - with longer magazines and fitted for shoulder stocks.
Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N. Oracle 36270
Tucson, AZ 85740

[@grantlancaster9051]

“I’m warning you, don’t make me flip this thing from Europe to Russia!”

[@lev3k]

"homeopathic rear sight" is a brilliant phrase

[@justindunlap1235]

Homeopathic means "doesn't work" in Latin right?

[@ScottKenny1978]

@@justindunlap1235 "the smaller it is, the better it works"

[@IR4TE]

@@ScottKenny1978 I think you got that wrong, Homeopathic means 'useless shit'!

[@ScottKenny1978]

@@IR4TE while I agree that homeopathy is bullshit, the *idea* is that the less of whatever it is the better it works. Though some advertised preps are either nothing but water or several million times stronger than claimed.

[@muddyhotdog4103]

@@ScottKenny1978 ha ya, it's like they pretty much put a normal dose worth into a lake full of water and bottled it.

[@dreddfan01]

The markings are the Chinese version of Western people getting Chinese character tatoos, 'looks cool but damned if I know what it means' 😁

[@steveh1792]

One daughter got a, nicely done, tattoo of this sort years ago (mom is American-born Chinese). She showed it some time later to her aunt from Hong Kong, which elicited a smile from auntie. Nothing improper, but not quite what'd been advertised as the meaning.

[@TheWolfsnack]

I thin kit was the Chinese interpretation of some overly extended common German word....like the one for spark plug

[@mp3545]

I wonder what the Chinese character for “tramp stamp” is…

[@loganfong2911]

@@RonJohn63 lol 流浪汉邮票 actually means vagabond's ("tramp") postal stamp, whatever that may mean

[@loganfong2911]

@@RonJohn63 Google Translate has left the chat.

[@ekscalybur]

2 safeties are because of the .30 Mauser. You put the gun on fire, and the gun asks "Are you sure?"

[@krissteel4074]

After seeing the internals, you'll darn well think twice about it too!

[@kevinsullivan3448]

It would be funny if moving one safety to fire flipped the other to safe.

[@thesmallestminorityisthein4045]

Like picking CL4P-TP as a character in Borderlands: Pre-Sequel

[@Pcm979]

Given how dangerous that gun is, I'm glad it has two safeties. It's a second chance for you to decide whether you'd like to have all your fingers today or not.

[@austinmatney7591]

“You have selected to remove your fingers, please remove safety #2 to proceed.”

[@williamlloyd3769]

If your mistress stole your gun it would make it harder to shoot you with it. Pretty wild

[@reicherruschach3727]

I'm just glad they made sure to put the numbers on the pistol to make sure it works...

[@presbyterosBassI]

Or as Car Talk used to ask, "In your line of work, is it necessary to have the use of all of your fingers?"

[@MrSaerrock]

You're assuming that given the overall dubious quality of manufacturing that either or both will work

[@harbl99]

7:30 -- The 'Safe' setting is stamped on backwards. So the settings are 'fire' and 'inverse of safe'. No lies detected.

[@sparky6855]

these look like straight explosion pistols rather than straight blowback

[@HircineDaWolf]

straight blowback the action into your forehead

[@sparky6855]

straight blowback the user into the hospital

[@Pcm979]

I call them "straight blow-up."

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

They might seem unsafe to us but given that these things are all fairly well used they must have stood up.

[@hugopepe1722]

well it should work if the slide is heavy enough

[@jaimitodubs]

'european' for safe, 'russian' for go-time... makes sense to me.

[@GunFunZS]

Yes but on the rear safety Russian is for no-go time.

[@andersjjensen]

@@GunFunZS Nobody wants Russians on their rear....

[@Arthurzeiro]

But didn't european countries invade Russia twice with Napoleon and Hitler? They seem to be the go-time triggers.

[@GunFunZS]

@@Arthurzeiro they weren't go time. They were about halftime.

[@aidanfarnan4683]

When you walk into club Obi-wan in 1935 Shanghai and you're not sure if you want a hand-cannon or a hand-grenade.

[@reicherruschach3727]

Either way, you're sure to win so long as you take cover behind the gong.

[@JPR3D]

That's my secret captain, this pistol is both

[@Arthurzeiro]

Imagine loading 7.62 Tokarev into one of these babies. It'd live up to Brown's Patent, causing a code brown.

[@F1ghteR41]

And a Czechoslovakian or Yugoslavian SMG load would make it into a hand grenade.

[@iMoriMori]

Our gun is twice as safe as the competition

[@Zaprozhan]

That would be a selling point to some customers.

[@timcheeseman2956]

I like it that they still took time to decorate the guns with markings even though they had no idea what their meaning or function was

[@jameshealy4594]

Thousands of dudebros and basic white girls with chinese character tattoos show that the more things change the more they stay the same

[@Zaprozhan]

I can imagine... "I've completed your pistol, sir." "Where are the letters?" "Letters?" "The Belgium put more letters on their pistol." "Um......" "MORE LETTERS!" "Yes sir! ....... (mutters) f**** customers..."

[@mileslong3904]

Magic runes bro

[@AHopelessSemantic]

I love the phrase "homeopathic rear sight notch" so much.

[@mattfleming86]

Typically when internet personalities market their wares, i'm disinterested at best. When Ian does it, it brings me genuine joy. I'm glad the kickstarter did so well, and I love seeing him with the "I just shot a vintage machine gun" smile every time he mentions the book.

[@jpcaretta8847]

No need for sights as you close your eyes when shooting these !

[@MrBlindcat1]

The two safeties is probably just a case of the person that made it going, "One of these lever thingies is good, so two must be better".

[@Lazarus7000]

Could be he saw one with a fire selector but didn't know it was one so he thought it must be another safety (plenty of guns have two, just not usually the same kind).

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

I was thinking that it was an attempt to make the gun seem more impressive. Like they wanted people to think "whoa, this gun must be really powerful if it has *two* safeties!".

[@umi3017]

It's impressive that both of them actually work, rather than just a lever connected to noting....

[@alexreams1060]

"As you can see, this is a very fine Browne's Patent automatic in 7.63 Wauser." "Hmmm, yes, I can see. This gun has many markings on it, what do they mean?" "These are very mighty spells, wrought by sorcerers in the far realm of Bel-Jium, they will surely kill any enemy you fire it at."

[@ericstromberg9608]

Sounds totally legit.

[@kmseyam7897]

The Chinese craftsmen had done wonders without any blueprint and proper tools. I wonder what they would have accomplished with funding and better understanding of the guns..

[@masahige2344]

Presumably exactly what the arsenals did with their high-quality productions

[@LordEvan5]

On the two safeties, I used to know a guy who had a Monte Carlo with a bank of switches weird into his ignition the car would only start if they were in the proper order maybe it's like that

[@TheCrypto34]

Hell of an anti theft device lol

[@Enraged-Gecko]

I’ve seen some weird shit on cars, but that’s definitely unique. There’s a picture floating around of a shift knob with braille characters, which would really fuck with someone’s head if they didn’t drive stick.

[@iskandartaib]

I noticed in both examples neither "serial" number had the numeral "4". It makes me wonder if ALL artisanal pistol makers avoided "4" - in Chinese culture it's unlucky (it sounds like the Chinese word for "death"). Similarly, the numeral "8" is supposed to bring you luck - around here people can bid for license plate numbers so any plate number ending in "8888" brings huge bids from rich Chinese businessmen.

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

I always heard the 4 thing about Japanese culture. It applies to Chinese culture as well?

[@iskandartaib]

@@LonelySpaceDetective Yeah. That's where it came from. In Chinese languages "4" is pronounced "si" - which means "death". In Japanese it's the same thing - "4" is "shi", which also means death. Probably came from Chinese. The same superstition occurs in, I believe, Vietnam and Korea, and whereever there is a large Chinese diaspora (e.g. Thailand, Singapore). The most humorous expression of this, I've heard, is in computer servers, which use multiple CPUs. Around the world, four processor servers are very common, because they have advantages over two and six processor servers. Not in China, though - there eight processor servers are far more common, because eight is a lucky number.

[@rylanbovetsky932]

Brownells need to get working on some of these Wausers

[@sumvs5992]

Yo, did you not watch the video? These were clearly FNFNFN samples!

[@rylanbovetsky932]

@@sumvs5992 ah true my b man, I get them mixed up

[@Kaboomf]

And mark them "Brownellsbrownellsbrownells"!

[@ridgecart1529]

Browsers?

[@kevinsullivan3448]

@@ridgecart1529 One of the pistols he already covered was a Brauser.

[@thiccfork8664]

Well I'm up at 5am so I guess I will just fuel my brain with more gun knowledge to stay awake for the day

[@SimuLord]

Good ol' West Coast living. And this time of year, comes along with a sunrise.

[@salty_armorer4027]

I wonder if there's gonna be a section in the book about how the tradition of the Chinese making copies of pistols is still being done today in the coastal cities for the Triads and other criminals. It's an interesting subject in it's own right to study since the quality of the finished products are arguably worse now then they were 100 years ago.

[@partyrobbins4690]

The Chinese military has made a direct copy of the sig p226.

[@salty_armorer4027]

@@TheRealColBosch If someone ever drops comprehensive books on homemade weapons of resistance/terror groups and an in-depth explanation of the difficult issue of weapons and ammo logistics that force them to do the homemade route, I'll buy 10 autographed copies as soon as they drop.

[@rizaradri316]

Hmmm... So that tradition continues. I've never heard or even thought about some guy making crude, homemade firearms in Communist China; as if such thing is near impossible to do with very strict government control.

[@andrewsuryali8540]

@@rizaradri316 Well, it IS near-impossible to do. These "guns" are, like the OP says, much worse and generally far less safe to use than the mystery pistols from 100 years ago. Some are literally made from rusted plate steel hammered together to turn them into blocks. The barrels are repurposed from god knows what tubular metal objects the "gunsmiths" could find. There was one from a couple years ago where the barrel was actually a bolt they drilled through. The Chinese government keeps a strict watch over proper materials and tooling that may be used for producing proper firearms, so you end up with this kind of hazardous crap that are more likely to kill the users than their targets.

[@Redmenace96]

None today. Because: Mao and CCP. Dudes. We are more free because we are armed. 2A forever.

[@ZGryphon]

Aw, I was hoping the stocked one would have my second-favorite Mystery Pistol feature (after the gibberish lettering): a solid block of metal that has shapes on it like the working parts of a tangent sight, and range markings that count backward from 125,000 in increments of 13,329 or something.

[@veryberrykeri]

"homeopathic rear sight notch" made my day

[@susanbutler2498]

A 1900 in 7.63??!!! Far Out Man! The ANTICIPATION is nerve tingling! (of Getting my hands on this BOOK!) Ian, you are just too Splendiferous Mate! Thank you for being you.

[@jonathanbohm6489]

This is like the maxim silverman in 455

[@stephens2241]

I know exactly what the extra safety is for. Clearly somebody in procurement once experienced a negligent discharge which was "definitely not my fault, the gun just went off in the holster." And clearly they were important enough that people went along with it.

[@thesmallestminorityisthein4045]

As with a lot of copies, the maker usually knows "what" and "where", but rarely do they know "how" or "why"

[@keithallardice6139]

These pistols are fascinating - a whole plethora of differences between them and yet, fundamentally, the same weapon. I am so glad to hear you're not planning on firing any of them .. I would hate to see GJ lose a limb!

[@tdugong]

I admit, I laughed out loud when Ian uttered, "Chinese artisanal gunsmiths, the creative lots that they were..."

[@L-H-B]

"Homeopathic rear sight" bruh my sides are in orbit 🤣🤣

[@fredbloggs5902]

These seem more ‘organic’ somehow, makes me think of the “Moties” in “The Mote in God's Eye” by Niven & Pournelle.

[@LukeBunyip]

By the gripping hand!

[@pevtsovy]

modified by watchmakers. I'd like to see coffeemakers of the chinese warlord era.

[@mileslong3904]

Great book

[@user-ii5im7zm2t]

Chinese mystery pistols are like the tool examples the Moties used to test Sinclair, where he had to prove his engineering knowledge by showing how to fix them so they wouldn't hurt the person trying to use them.

[@ketchman8299]

Can't wait for range testing

[@muhammadnursyahmi9440]

When i first read the video title, i literally went "Whoa, that's one way to get rid your fingers"

[@calvingreene90]

Off a bench would be interesting.

[@NefariousEnough]

Great series, Ian!!

[@JohnHughesChampigny]

"Why not combine .30 mauser and the FN 1900 pistol"? Uh, because it's a stupid idea?

[@lightweight1974]

No stupid idea in the history of mankind has ever gone unfulfilled.

[@TheRedneckPreppy]

I laughed when you said "artisanally produced". True, I suppose, but not the word I think of when seeing these :-)

[@robertsaget6918]

Artisanally or "craft" produced are the gun world terms for "homemade" or "bubba'd"

[@DiggingForFacts]

Just because it was artisanally produced doesn't mean the artisan in question passed their Master's Test ;)

[@airgunfun4248]

As always fascinating historical information. You have my rapt attention sir.

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you , Ian .

[@AlMacasaet]

Very impressed with your project

[@Simon_Nonymous]

I am wearing my battle studded thunder shorts while watching this.

[@russmonte5176]

Wtf ian.ive been watching forgotten weapons and inrange for a while now.i really enjoy both.how did i not know about gunlab? I got a whole new level of respect for you now.loved watching you rebarrel that m48a mauser.i didnt know you were a machinist. Is that your shop? Are you self taught? You really are the Gun Jesus.

[@BootedVulture]

I really wish I could justify buying the book. Given the expense plus shipping to uk plus customs fees plus I'm not good at reading nonfiction.

[@GunFunZS]

But are you good at looking at pictures? These things are sure to go up and value so it's an investment. You're practically morally obligated. Plus maybe six dudes on your street have a range Rover, but you'll be the only one as a copy of pistols of the Chinese warlords.

[@jamiepeter3567]

i loved the cut on the screw removal, very slick :D

[@mefirst5427]

They love the 30 Mauser, I've seen Norinco Tokarev pistol manual label as such.

[@mfree80286]

5:58 It has two safeties to make up for being twice as dangerous to shoot. See, it evens out... half as safe X twice the safeties = 1.0 .

[@T65K2T65K2]

"民國九年"= 1920

[@jordanwalsh1691]

Probably too late to change, but it would be great if the pistol symbols on the purple cover were not only upside down, but also done in that cute cartoony engraving style that shows up on the real guns.

[@lancecorporalveteran0621]

Next warlord machine guns would be great to see.

[@user-ii5im7zm2t]

The idea of a Chinese mystery *machine pistol* terrifies me.

[@milgeekmedia]

As a graphic designer I find the Chinese interpretation of the 'FN' logo very interesting. Excellent video, thank you.

[@Darilon12]

The front safety switches the gun from russian to european. It's stamped right next to it.

you can load 7,62 tokarev when you switch it to Russian mod

[@leftnoname]

To be in line with the subject, Ian's book got to be printed on out of date grey toilet tissue with fading ink and pages falling out after they've been turned once and cause nothing, but buyers remorse.

[@vwtrey100]

The only reason I get up and go to work is so I can come home and watch Ian teach me history.

[@leftnoname]

One has to keep in mind that Chinese most definitely used their indigenous .30 Wauser ammo, which most probably wasn't up to original pecs. Hence, we look at a fake pistol shooting fake ammo and they work out somehow in the end. P.S. Terminal failures were not reported, perhaps, due to operator being no longer able to report on the casualty.

[@jorgechalub8930]

Muy bueno tu vídeo y explicación saludos desde Argentina

[@eizol568]

Ah my fav hand gun in Red Dead Redemption 2…I hope that gun I used wasn’t a Chinese copy 😏

[@Ugly_German_Truths]

Ahhh damn, Ian... i was expecting you to say "let me show you it's features"... which would have been glorious as I loved the imitation FOrgotten Weapons that Joerg Sprave from the Slighshot Channel did as "Forgotten Crossbows" ;) And the Features thing is HIS catchphrase, so it would have been a subtle but epic callout of this "pseudo collab" ;)

[@Cad8ane]

Yes, I'm a Chinese, I'm not an expert, but I still want to share my opinion. According to some of my understanding, those seemingly messy English letters are not completely meaningless, they have special functions. At the time people carved it into guns to magically enchant pistols and bullets, so they were actually magic runes. Like I said, I'm not an expert

[@mosquitomkv3487]

Homeopathic rear sight: A lil' dab'l do ya! Alternate joke: Browne's patent brevet Browning Fabrique system. When it absolutely has to fire Mauser by tomorrow.

[@der_bingle]

Great Video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@TestTestGo]

Maybe the two safeties is so that the customer can use the one in the style and position that they are most used to? You could leave the one you don't use in the "fire" position and use your favourite safety as normal.

[@petesheppard1709]

'Craft guns'...I like it!

[@mp3545]

.30 Mauser needs to make a comeback

[@davidgillon2762]

8:50 Might be interesting to run some of these serials past someone who understands Chinese numerology. Rather than the function of serials not being understood, it might be more that they were being repurposed for Chinese/Asian cultural specifics that Western manufacturers weren't addressing at the time. (I was reading just this afternoon how in 1988 South Korea requested and got the then very out of sequence Mk 99 for their variant of the Westland Lynx helicopter because 9s are lucky in Korean numerology).

[@M.M.83-U]

Ok, I will say that it's not as bad as the Isard, but it's close, very close. And I love those rounded magazines.

[@frankmurphy5]

That was so fascinating and incredibly Chinese.

[@stefanmolnapor910]

Brownes Patent, love it!

[@envoyend9149]

Shooter: *disengages 1st safety* 7.63 FN clone: Shooter: *disengages 2nd safety* 7.63 FN clone: "So you have chosen- death."

[@kake9312]

The 1900 from Belgian and its domestic versions are called '花牌撸子' in China during the first half of the 20th century. This refers to the flower-like and complicate label of this pretty pistol. Another fun fact about such nicknames is the '马牌撸子' or the Colt, for its resemblance to a horse. The '撸子' is the nickname for pistols or handguns.

[@andrewwight6875]

Great video series Ian! Do they have rifled barrels? And is the rifling random ?

[@T33K3SS3LCH3N]

Safety: EURopean or RUSsian

[@nicholasford4820]

I almost bought one of these years ago and I’ve been kicking myself ever since for passing on it.

[@mikewerden4056]

Such excitement for homemade handguns that may or may not function safely.

[@marcusrauch4223]

Seeing the second safety on the 7.63 Mauser gun makes it look like a mutant. Like a person with extra limbs.

[@yesman6559]

Yes

[@danielwilke7574]

It has two safeties because its not safe to fire and they want you to be absolutely sure that you want to fire it.

[@Lazarus7000]

I wouldn't be surprised if these are safe-ish with .30 Borchardt, dangerous with .30 Mauser, and excitingly dangerous with any flavor of 7.62 Tokarev. You just know that some poor bastard got hold of some of the "SMGs only!" hot loads and proceeded to have a really bad day. I qualify this with the fact that I don't recall exactly how much less power .30 Borchardt has vs. .30 Mauser.

[@anthonyhayes1267]

7.63×25 deserves a comeback

[@Chris-rp9df]

Mystery pistols are my favourite kind of pistols :)

[@WTF1wr1ownage]

Sick 🤙🏼

[@ericlipetzky4221]

"You got .30 Wauser in my F.N. 1900"! "You got F.N.1900 in my .30 Wauser "!

[@visje1996]

With two sights you can always keep one on fire and use the other one as your safety, this way you could use your preferred ergonomics

[@scumroyalsgaming]

Okay we have seen plenty of Wausers and Brownengs by now. Would be cool to have a video abou the Celts, Swithz & Weston and Wulthars

[@juiceFORfunNOTyet]

Спасибо за видео, коммент в благодарность

[@Ulani101]

Would be interesting to watch a brave soul, (fool?), firing a blowback like that in. 30" Mauser. On the clock in a competition would be even better.

[@Etherman7]

Not gonna lie, I'd love to have some latin inscriptions on a gun. Kind of like medieval executioner swords sometimes did.

[@matchesburn]

Honestly, the Chinese copy is much more appealing than the original factory offer of the FN 1900 because it's slightly larger and, most of all, because .30 Mauser is a hell of lot better as a cartridge offer than .32 ACP.

[@kevinsullivan3448]

The other FN copy produced by this 'gunsmith' was serial number 12345...

[@jousiammuntakanava]

I have shot one of those and it is one of the heaviest pistols i have ever shot.

[@10lauset]

Cheers

[@ronin_user]

The safety switches from European Union(EU) to Russia(RUS). Which has never applied for EU membership. So it makes perfect sense.

[@ronin_user]

In case my humor is too dry, I am absolutely joking.

[@robertbelcher5068]

Now on Antiques Roadshow "hand cannon" edition

[@hermatred572]

Nice

[@NastyWicked]

"Homeopathic rear sight notch" I died

[@GunFunZS]

Someday maybe we will be finding South American knockoffs of the Kel-Tec P3AT in 10 mm auto. Or perhaps it will be California knockoffs.

[@anon7631]

9:00 Sorry Ian, but you're definitely wrong here. That serial number is clearly sequential: 6-7-8-9-0, all in exactly the sequence they should be.

[@rageagainstthehygiene2357]

"Why not combine the two and give yourself an FN 1900 chambered in 30 Wauser?" Gee, I can think of a couple real good reasons but hey, don't let me stop you from making a blowback compact fire a high pressure tapered .30.

[@collinmclaren6608]

I just thought of this idea as you mentioned the gibberish english language characters Can you imagine if these pistols went completely undocumented, and in another millennia when some archaeologist stumbled upon them they'd try to decode the stampings like its hyroglifics

[@romanporebski5924]

Hej super pistolety