So I inherited this pistol… HERSTAL 7mm65

[Mark_C]

In the pile of goodies left by my wife’s uncle, I have a semi-auto pistol with the stamp “FABRIQUE NATIONALE DARMES DE GUERRE HERSTAL BELGIQUE” on the upper left side of the slide and “BROWNING’S PATENT DEPOSE” underneath that first stamp. The bolt is stamped along its top with the crown of Queen Wilhelmina, a star over a uppercase G with serif, a lion over an overlined “PV” and then on the lower part of the bolt is the stamp”7mm65”. All the serial numbers match and are 5 digit starting with “264”. The grips are plain and do not have the HERSTAL logo at the top. There is no eagle and swastika stamp below the bolt on the slide so I don’t think that this was one of those assigned to members of the Wehrmacht or Luftwaffe during WWII. I haven’t disassembled the gun yet to check for the internal QA stamps used by the German certification authority. I believe that the presence of Wilhelmina’s crown on the bolt indicates that this was produced pre-war for the army or police.

I’ve attached some photos. If anyone knows about these, I would appreciate your input.

 

[Lesau]

You should post this on the FN website. Probably more info there.

 

[Mark_C]

You should post this on the FN website. Probably more info there.

I submitted a request for some information about the pistol and wouldn't you know that Herstal apparently offloaded the particular part of their company that handled the upgrades, alternate models, and ongoing service for this particular line of pistols and no-one can tell me if there are still records existing for these firearms. I've searched for the 10-round magazine that fits this pistol (the pistol has a grip safety and a magazine detection safety, so even when I loaded a single round directly into the chamber, the gun would not fire because I didn't have the safety) but all sources were "OUT OF STOCK" and the last classified or ebay ad that I found was from about 6 months ago and the seller had sold two such magazines for $60 each. I found someone who knew a collector that either had some of these already or thought he could find some or have his gunsmith produce some. I was frankly tired of dealing with it, so I traded it for a nice scope with German-made optics.

Apparently Herstal makes a modern pistol that goes by the "Five and Seven" that fires an even smaller bullet 5.7x28 (bullet may be small, but it's aerodynamic and seems to have a decent-sized case to launch it, so probably more lethal and better range than that ole' .32) and utilizes a 20-round mag. It looks like a nice size for a carry gun (lighter and smaller than the .45, .40, or full-size 9mm and more controllable grip size than many mid-compact .380 or 9mm pistols). I had been mulling over a good conceal pistol and it seemed that most that I tried in the midsize compact profile just left my pinky feeling unstable and it seemed that the pistol was a danger to shift since it felt like I was balancing it between my thumb and forefinger. I found some magazines that had an extension to serve as the bottom of the grip, but it I'm going to have extra space that I'm going to have to conceal, I'd rather it actually be magazine than just an extension