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Manowar's Hungarian Weapons - Fémáru Frommer Pistols |
Made by Fémáru Fegyver- és Gépgyár Részvénytársaság, Budapest, 1921-39
The Liliput was a very popular pocket pistol in Europe. This was Rudolf Frommer's first move away from long recoil operation, this simple 6.35mm blowback was introduced in 1921. Manufactured until 1939.
The Liliput had an external hammer and a grip safety. The all-steel construction Frommer Stop design was expensive to massproduce and Frommer found that there was no need to lock small-caliber pistols.
The left side of the slide is marked 'FEGYVERGYÁR BUDAPEST - FROMMER PAT. LILIPUT - CAL 6,35m/m (.25)'.
There are slight variances in the usage of periods, dashes and slashes in the legend.
The pistol was easily convertable to .22 by changing the barrel and magazine.
Factory Options/Variants:
- Stainless steel costruction, called the 'Tropical Model', introduced in 1923
- Nickel-plating
- Pearl grips
- Plain wooden grips
The Liliput laid the foundation for the pistols which replaced the Stop in later years. (See Frommer 29.M)
Only the frame of the pistol is serialized. Original magazines are stamped '6,35 FROMMER', not serialized.
All parts were manufactured using the highest quality materials available with strict tolerance standards, so all parts were interchangeable between pistols.
Later export intended production pistols have an additonal legend 'Made in Hungary' on the left side of the slide.
Some export pistols have 'U.S.A Pats a.f.' [USA Patents applied for] written under 'Fegyvergyar'.
Photo by Martin from Germany.
Two types of slide hold open latches were made. The early version latches slide up and down, the later version rotates.
The Frommer Liliput pistols bear an official proof mark on the left front side of the trigger guard. Commercial proofs: St.Steven's crown above the letters 'BP' (for Budapest), enclosed in a circle.
The left side of the barrel is marked with the same St.Steven's Crown and BP in the circle. The barrel is also marked with '6,35' and 'FN' in a circle. FN stands for Fust Nelkuli (smokeless), not Belgian FN manufacture.
An example was reported with the 'circled E' (Elfogadva) acceptance mark insted of the Crown.
Original checkered grips are marked with a caligraphic 'FL', should not be confused with the similarly 'FL' marked Friedrich Langenhan pistols.
Different, but also original smooth grips have a picture of a horseman in place of the 'FL'. The horseman symbol was also on the frames of some of these pistols next to the serial number.
Factory original 25-round ammo boxes
SERIAL NUMBERING:
All Frommers are sequentially serialized, started with Model 1901 and continued through all Stop model changes, with the exception of the Liliput.
Apparently the Liliput serials were started at 400000 and ended around 435000.
Due to lack of available data, these are estimated approximate dates and serial numbers for the Frommer Liliputs:
Date - Estimated serials (Actual reports) 1921 - 400000-401500 (400290) 1922 - 401500-403000 (401950) 1923 - 403000-404500 1924 - 404500-406000 1925 - 406000-407500 (406660) 1926 - 407500-409000 1927 - 409000-410500 1928 - 410500-412000 1929 - 412000-413500 1930 - 413500-415000 (414677) 1931 - 415000-416500 1932 - 416500-418000 1933 - 418000-419500 1934 - 419500-421000 1935 - 421000-423000 1936 - 423000-425000 1937 - 425000-427000 (426994) 1938 - 427000-429000 (427908-428805) 1939 - 429000-435000 (432900-434710)Please, send us your Frommer Liliput serial number data, so we can correct these serial number ranges.
1922 dated Firearm Purchase Permit for one Pocket Pistol (Courtesy of Gabor Schneider)
1922 dated Bill Of Sale to purchase a Frommer Liliput Pistol (Courtesy of Gabor Schneider)