John Browning
John Moses Browning (January 21, 1855 â€" 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 â€" 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 M1895â€"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.
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
World War I. The pistol was rediscovered in 2004. [
1]
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.
|
A Winchester Rifle, circa 1894 |
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. BrowningUntil 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.
Several of his designs are still in production today. Some of his most notable designs include:
Firearms
 |
Mid-1945 produced US.M1911A1 U.S. Army Colt |
*
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:
*
.25 ACP*
.32 ACP*
.38 ACP*9mm Browning Long
*
.380 ACP*
.45 ACP*
.50 BMGThe 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.
* 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
Hermann Göring often remarked, "Whenever I hear the word 'culture', I reach for my
Browning," a misquote from
Hanns Johst's play
Schlagater: "Wenn ich Kultur höre ... entsichere ich meinen Browning" - "Whenever I hear the word culture... I release the safety-catch of my Browning!" (Act 1, Scene 1)
*John Browning & Curt Gentry.
John M. Browning, American Gunmaker. NY: Doubleday, 1964. OCLC 1329440
*
Winchester Repeating Arms Company*
Browning Arms Company*
Remington Arms*
Fabrique Nationale de Herstal*
Val A. Browning*
The Ogden Union Station Browning Museum*
M-1911 Pistol History
