The Belgian FN

The Belgian FN Rimfire Pistols The Belgian FN Rimfire pistols I would like to show are designed by Bruce Browning based on an improved version of the Colt Woodsman. At the time of creation around 1960-‐1962 it was abbreviated by FN with the name PA-‐22 (Pistol automatique caliber .22) It was brought to market in 1962 in 3 version. And with different names for the European and American market. This still today makes it very difficult to give the right name to the right gun. I will try to clarify and document were possible. This document was made with the help of a 86 year old club member shooter who worked at the FN factory in the wood department and guided me a little bit down the road when he saw my small FN collection of rimfire pistols. 1962. FN came to market with 3 new rimfire pistols. The Nomad – Challenger and Medalist. Naming – as far as I could trace back with some help. European name American name Standard Nomad Tir Challenger Tir 150 Challenger (Long barrel) Concours/Medalist Medalist / Match Concours 150/Medalist 150 Medalist 150 / Match 150 / International Medalist International I Second Model International (International II) Challenger II Challenger III I know this is confusing. I hope afterwards if you read through the pages it will become more clear what kind of gun you have. Example of the Belgian Owners guide of the Challenger and Nomad. (In Europe called Standard & Tir) Since the Medalist was not recognized for International Target shooting. FN created a smaller version with the same functionality as the medalist but with a shorter barrel (150 mm), and a smaller grip since this all needed to fit into a box of 300 x 150 x 50 mm. This gun was called Concours 150 in Europe, and received various names in America. Later a third model appeared called “Browning International I” These models can easily be identified as they where at that time all exclusively produced in Belgium and had a special rear sight. So barrel stampings should read made in Belgium. The later Model II was made under license in France and Canada. Around 1982 there was an improved form of the basic design with changes to the sight and trigger mechanism to comply with changes of the ISSF rules. The most obvious change concerned the rear sight, which was a solid-‐leaf “box” pattern instead of a crude looking stamped-‐strip type. This new model was called second model International or International II. There was later a third model without anatomical grip and palm rest. This was called Practice 150. But the gun itself remained the same.

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