Comments by "" (@RedXlV) on "FN Grand Browning: The European 1911 that Never Happened" video.

You have to wonder how things would've turned out if the Grand Browning had been adopted. Would the Hi-Power have been designed for the same 9.65mm round? Probably, since that would've become the Belgian military standard, and once France lost interest in the Grand Rendement the design became focused on the Belgian contract. And if the Hi-Power was in 9.65mm, how widely accepted would that round have become? Would it have resulted in the Hi-Power being less successful on the export market, or would it have resulted in the 9.65mm round becoming the world standard instead of 9mm?
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Not really. The reason the 1911 ended up selling so well as a commercial pistol for Colt was its success as a military sidearm. And there wasn't big civilian demand at the time for a large pistol. FN already owned the civilian semi-auto market in Europe with the Browning 1900 and 1910 pocket pistols and 1905 vest pocket pistol. Those were what European civilians went for. There was more interest in large pistols in America, but FN's agreement with Colt meant they couldn't sell Browning designs to that market. If the Grand Browning had gotten a military contract, that probably would've led to some civilian demand for it down the road. But that would've still been niche compared to the military sales and pocket pistol sales. It wasn't until later that full-size pistols became more popular for civilian ownership. By which point Browning had the Hi-Power.
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@PrototypeSpaceMonkey 9x19mm wasn't universal yet in 1914. It was already popular, but it wasn't until later that it became the default military pistol cartridge. Had WW1 come a bit later and the Belgian military (or the Serbian military, which IIRC also had some interest) adopted the Grand Browning, the 9.65mm round would've come into wide-scale production and would've been seen as a perfectly normal caliber.
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