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Melior Model 1920

The Melior Model 1920 was manufactured by Robar & Co. a Belgian manufacturer based in Liege. Robar had specialised in small revolvers and pistols since the turn of the century with a number of H. Rosier designs offered before the outbreak of World War One. The Model 1920 began life before the outbreak of war with patents covering the design being filed in 1913 and 1914. The name Melior comes from Latin roughly translating to ‘the best’. The pistol was chambered in 7.65x17mm Browning (.32 ACP) and fed from a 7-round single stack magazine. 

While the pistol shares a exterior resemblance to the FN 1910 its internal operation is very different. To disassemble the pistol the breechblock has to be removed from the slide. The breechblock is separate and inserted into the slide from the rear, a locking plate is then passed across the top of the slide and engaged a groove in the block (see image #5). The plate was retained by a spring catch, releasing the catch and driving out the plate separates the slide and breechblock. 

image

Melior New Model 1920 6.35mm (source)

The pistol’s overall length is approximately 5.9 inches and it weighed ~22oz unloaded. It had both a full length grip safety and a manual safety, 50,000 pistols into production a half length grip safety was substituted (see images). Another smaller ‘New Model Melior’ pistol chambered in 6.35mm (.25 ACP) was also introduced in 1920 at the same time. 

The .32 ACP Melior remained in production into the early 1950s although production was again halted when Germany invaded Belgium. As well as the original .32 ACP chambering and the smaller .25 ACP pistol there were also .22LR and 9mm Short (.380 ACP) versions made during the production run. The Melior pistols were well made and it proved to be a steady selling pocket pistol.

Sources:

Image One Source

Photographs courtesy of Steve Short, CSM, US Army (Ret)

Pistols of the World, by I. Hogg & J. Weeks (1992)


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