Union St wrote:SimG, may I ask why it would not be a serious weapon. I'm thinking of 10-15 feet; it would kill, right?
The FN 1910 is a fine pistol, from the design genius that was John M Browning. And FN was an excellent manufacturer and not in the same ilk as the plethora of Belgian manufacturers churning out cheap versions of successful designs of the time.
And as 1066 stated, calibre wise, it was well down there even in its day. .32 ACP ball ammunition gives results that keep it off the bottom spot in terms of "stopping power", is that the .25 ACP is woeful! (According to Marshall and Sanow's work into the effectiveness of handgun ammunition) and yes, it has accounted for countless deaths and yes, three to five yards, even in .32, given it's a decent shot, center mass or head, it will kill. That above study gives it a "one shot stop" on an adversary, just under 50% of the time.
But as was also said above, small .32 and .380 cal pistols of the first half of the 20th century were as much badges of office for a man in uniform, or for that "just in case", for the gent around town. And as your novel is set in the early 60s, that FN 1910 is already a 50 year old design!
Even though Browning was a genius, the ergonomics compared to the guns of your protagonists time we're far beyond 1910. The FN had tiny sights, a short, slim grip, an awkward safety a magazine of 7 rounds and an awkward, small heel of butt magazine release. In terms of pockets pistols, the Beretta 70, even though in the same calibre had better sights, a grip you could hold. A better magazine release with one round more and an open top slide design that aided reliability no end. It was a massive improvement on the European pocket pistols, despite that Walther had the PP family, Mauser the HSc and Sauer the 38H.
But a man who needs a gun as a tool and knows what has to be done with that tool, would not choose a 50 year old obsolete design, to my mind.
In 1978 I was told by my grand dad that the secret to rifle accuracy is, a quality bullet, fired down a quality barrel..... How has that changed?
Guns dont kill people. Dads with pretty Daughters do...!