John Browning

John Moses Browning (January 21, 1855 – November 26, 1926), born in Ogden, Utah, was an American firearms designer who developed myriad varieties of weapons, cartridges, and gun mechanics, many of which are used in the U.S. military and elsewhere to this day. He is arguably one of the most important figures in the development of modern automatic and semi-automatic firearms and is credited with 128 gun patents—his first (for a single shot rifle) was granted October 7, 1879.

One significant contribution is the pistol slide design, found on nearly every modern automatic handgun, developed in the 1890s and introduced on Colt and Fabrique Nationale (FN) pistols such as the M1911. He also developed the first gas-operated automatic machine gun, the Colt-Browning M1895—a system that would surpass recoil-actuated in popularity. Other successful designs include the Browning .50 caliber machine gun, the Browning Automatic Rifle, and a ground-breaking semi-automatic shotgun, the Browning Auto-5.

History

From 1883, Browning worked in partnership with the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, and designed a series of rifles and shotguns, most notably the Winchester Model 1887 and Model 1897 shotguns and the lever-action Model 1886, Model 1892, Model 1894 and Model 1895 rifles, most of which are still in production today in some form.

Perhaps the most famous singular Browning-designed firearm was a FN Model 1910 handgun, serial number 19074. In 1914, the pistol was used by Gavrilo Princip to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie. This event arguably sparked the First World War. The pistol was rediscovered in 2004. ^*

Browning belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a two year mission in Georgia beginning on March 28, 1887. His father Jonathan Browning, who was among the thousands of Mormon pioneers in the mass exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois to Utah, had established a gunsmith shop in Ogden in 1852.

In 1926, while working on a self-loading pistol design for FN in Liege, he died of heart failure in the office of his son Val. The 9 mm self-loading pistol he was working on when he died was eventually completed in 1935, by Belgian designer Dieudonne Saive. Released as the Fabrique Nationale GP35, it was more popularly known as the Browning Hi-Power. The Superposed shotgun was completed by his son Val A. Browning

Until his death, Browning designed weapons for Colt, Remington, his own company and Fabrique Nationale of Belgium. In 1977 FN acquired the Browning Arms Company which had been established in 1927, the year after Browning's death.

Products

Several of his designs are still in production today. Some of his most notable designs include:

Firearms

Colt Model 1895 Peacemaker, the first gas-operated machine gun
Colt Model 1897
FN Browning M1899/M1900
Colt Model 1900
Colt Model 1902
Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammer (.38 ACP)
Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless (.32 ACP)
Colt Model 1905 (1st .45 ACP)
Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket (.25 ACP)
Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless (.380 ACP)
FN Model 1910
U.S. Model 1911, the first .45 ACP military handgun
Winchester Model 1887 lever-action repeating shotgun
Winchester Model 1894 lever-action repeating rifle
Winchester Model 1897 pump-action repeating shotgun
Browning Auto-5 semi-automatic shotgun that caused a rift with Winchester.
U.S. Model 1917 water-cooled machine gun
Model 1919 air-cooled machine gun
Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) of 1917
Browning M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun of 1921
The Browning Hi-Power, the last firearm Browning developed

Cartridges

In addition, the cartridges he developed are still some of the most popular in the world. They include:

Military weapons

The Colt 1911, Browning 1917, and the BAR saw action in World War I, World War II and the Korean War, with the 1911 going on to serve as the United States's standard military sidearm until 1986; a variant is still used by special operations units of the USMC and FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, and the design remains very popular amongst civilian shooters. The Browning Hi-Power would have a similarly lengthy period of service outside the United States, and remains the standard sidearm of the United Kingdom's armed forces. The M2 heavy machine gun is still in widespread use throughout the world.

Selected patents

Winchester 1885 single-shot, Browning’s first patent
Winchester 1886 and Model 71 lever action rifles
Winchester Model 1887/1901 lever action shotgun
Winchester 1890 pump action rifle
Winchester 1893 and 1897 pump action shotguns
Winchester 1892 lever action rifle
Winchester 1894 lever action rifle
Colt 1895 machine gun
Winchester 1895 lever action rifle
Colt 1900 automatic pistol
Winchester 1900 bolt action single shot .22 rifle
FN/Browning Auto-5 shotgun, also Remington Model 11
Remington Model 8 semi-automatic rifle.
Browning Model 1917 machine gun
Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless automatic pistol
Stevens 520 pump action shotgun
Colt Model 1905 in 45 ACP (predecessor to the M1911)
FN Model 1906 and Colt 1908 Vest Pocket in 25 ACP
Colt 1911
Browning .22 Automatic Rifle
Remington Model 17 and Ithaca 37 pump action shotguns
Colt Woodsman
Browning Automatic Rifle Model of 1918
FN "Trombone" pump action .22 cal repeater (Rare in USA)
37 mm automatic cannon
Browning Superposed over/under shotgun
FN and Browning Hi-Power pistol
M2 machine gun in 50 caliber

References

John Browning & Curt Gentry. John M. Browning, American Gunmaker. NY: Doubleday, 1964. OCLC 1329440

External Links

Gourt Home::Gourt :: John Browning