Browning Model 1903

Colt Pocket Hammerless
Pocket Hammerless in .32 ACP Caliber. Its serial number dates manufacture to 1935
Type	Semi-automatic pistol
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Designer	John Browning
Manufacturer	Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut
Produced	1903–45
No. built	~570,000
Variants	M1903, M1908 (Types 1-5)
Specifications
Weight	24 oz (680 g)
Length	7 in (180 mm) (Type I) 6.75 in (171 mm) (Types 2 - 5)
Barrel length	4 in (100 mm) (Type I) 3.75 in (95 mm) (Types 2 - 5)
Cartridge	.32 ACP (M1903) .380 ACP (M1908)
Action	single-action Blowback
Feed system	8-round detachable box magazine (M1903) 7-round detachable box magazine (M1908)
Sights	fixed front, rear drift-adjustable for windage

The Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless (not to be confused with the Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammer) is a .32 ACP caliber, self-loading, semi-automatic pistol designed by John Browning and built by Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut. The Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless is a variant introduced five years later in .380 ACP caliber. Despite the title 'Hammerless', the Model 1903 does have a hammer. It is covered and hidden from view under the rear of the slide. This allowed the pistol to be carried in, and withdrawn from a pocket quickly and smoothly without snagging.

Approximately 570,000 Colt Pocket Hammerless pistols were produced from 1903 to 1945, in five different types (see Variants paragraph below). Some were issued to US Army and US Air Force general officers from World War II through the 1970s. They were replaced in 1972 with the RIA Colt M15 General Officer's Model, a compact version of the M1911A1. The Shanghai Municipal Police issued the M1908 to its Chinese officers in the 1920s and 1930s and it was a popular model with police in the United States such as the New York City Police Department, Woonsocket RI, Chicopee Mas, Gloversville NY. Detroit MI and many others. In addition to lawful owners, many gangsters of the pre-World War II era favored the Model 1903 and Model 1908 because they were relatively small and easily concealed. It is said that Al Capone kept one in his coat pocket and Bonnie Parker used one to break Clyde Barrow out of jail after smuggling it into the jail by taping it to her thigh. Bank robber John Dillinger was carrying this model of pistol when he was shot by FBI agents outside the Biograph theater on July 22, 1934, and another famous bank robber, Willie Sutton had one when he was captured by police in Brooklyn on February 18, 1952.