To provide a fine metal particle manufacturing method which can improve the manufacturing efficiency by continuously manufacturing fine metal particles, and reduce the variance in diameter of the manufactured fine metal particles by stabilizing the arc shape.

In the fine metal particle manufacturing method by achieving the arc discharge between an electrode and a molten metal placed on a cooling hearth in a generating gas atmosphere, a continuous wire formed of the same material as the molten metal is fed to the molten metal on the cooling hearth. The arc discharge voltage is detected, and the wire feeding speed is controlled according to the detected arc discharge voltage. Since the distance between the electrodes can be maintained, and the arc shape can be stabilized, the variance in diameter of the manufactured fine metal particles can be reduced.