History:
In 1903 the Belgish Gunmaker Charles Ph. Clement in Liege got a British patent (No.5180/1903) on a remarkably designed selfloading pistol, originally chambered for a Spanish centerfire-cartridge in caliber 5mm. This cartridge was constructed for a pistol designed and made by Garate y Anitua in Spain, but, due to the success of the Clement Model 1903, got better known as "5mm Clement" than as "5mm Charola-Anitua".
Near the end of the production periode, when in 1906 the new cartridge 6,35 mm Browning (.25ACP) for the Belgish vestpocket-pistol FN Model 1906 conquered the market, the Clement Model 1903 was changed to the new caliber too. There are also known conversions to that new caliber.
As in 1907 and 1908 redesigned Models were put on the market, the production of the Model 1903 was stopped in 1908.
Numbers of produced and sold pistols are unknown, however it may be assumed they were not too low, as the 5mm Clement cartridge was produced by big ammunition-manufacturers like DWM or G.Roth until the begin of the 1930ies.
Still this pistol is already kind of scarce today.
Technical Data:
SYSTEM: self-cocking pistol with mass system and firing pin
CARTRIDGES : 8
CALIBRE : .25 ACP
BARREL LENGTH : 69 mm , 6 grooves right hand twisting
WEIGHT EMPTY : 440 g
TOTAL LENGTH : 135mm
TOTAL HEIGHT : 115 mm
TOTAL WIDTH : 24 mm
TRIGGER : Single Action
SIGHT : fixed
SAFETY : safety-lever
FINISH : blued
GRIPS : hard rubber