John Browning
- For other persons named John Browning, see John Browning (disambiguation).
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.
One claim made about Browning is that his designs made Winchester a household name. It is strange to compare the relationship with Winchester and the very different relationship with FN. Despite the obvious importance of the Browning designs to Winchester over the 18 year collaboration, the relationship was cold and unfriendly. FN on the other hand treated Browning as a god. Winchester bought the Browning designs to prevent anyone else getting them. Only a quarter of the designs bought were sold commercially. This coldness was never more evident than when Browning presented Winchester with the "world's first automatic shotgun"; Winchester's did not want to buy it, but equally they did not want anyone else to get their hands on it. Browning then broke his ties with Winchester and the FN relationship was born.
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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 infamous 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.
On November 26, 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
- 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, the first .45 ACP
- Remington Model 8 (1906), a semi-automatic rifle
- 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
- U.S. Patent 0,220,271 Winchester 1885 single-shot, Browning’s first patent
- U.S. Patent 0,306,577 Winchester 1886 and Model 71 lever action rifles
- U.S. Patent 0,336,287 Winchester Model 1887/1901 lever action shotgun
- U.S. Patent 0,385,238 Winchester 1890 pump action rifle
- U.S. Patent 0,441,390 Winchester 1893 and 1897 pump action shotguns
- U.S. Patent 0,465,339 Winchester 1892 lever action rifle
- U.S. Patent 0,524,702 Winchester 1894 lever action rifle
- U.S. Patent 0,544,657 Colt 1895 machine gun
- U.S. Patent 0,549,345 Winchester 1895 lever action rifle
- U.S. Patent 0,580,924 Colt 1900 automatic pistol
- U.S. Patent 0,632,094 Winchester 1900 bolt action single shot .22 rifle
- U.S. Patent 0,659,507 FN/Browning Auto-5 shotgun, also Remington Model 11
- U.S. Patent 0,659,786 Remington Model 8 semi-automatic rifle.
- U.S. Patent 0,678,937 Browning Model 1917 machine gun
- U.S. Patent 0,747,585 Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless automatic pistol
- U.S. Patent 0,781,765 Stevens 520 pump action shotgun
- U.S. Patent 0,808,003 Colt Model 1905 in 45 ACP (predecessor to the M1911)
- U.S. Patent 0,947,478 FN Model 1906 and Colt 1908 Vest Pocket in 25 ACP
- U.S. Patent 0,984,519 Colt 1911
- U.S. Patent 1,065,341 Browning .22 Automatic Rifle
- U.S. Patent 1,143,170 Remington Model 17 and Ithaca 37 pump action shotguns
- U.S. Patent 1,276,716 Colt Woodsman
- U.S. Patent 1,293,022 Browning Automatic Rifle Model of 1918
- U.S. Patent 1,424,553 FN "Trombone" pump action .22 cal repeater (Rare in USA)
- U.S. Patent 1,525,065 37 mm automatic cannon
- U.S. Patent 1,578,638 Browning Superposed over/under shotgun
- U.S. Patent 1,618,510 FN and Browning Hi-Power pistol
- U.S. Patent 1,628,226 M2 machine gun in 50 caliber
Trivia
Hermann Göring often remarked, "Whenever I hear the word 'culture', I reach for my Browning," a misquote from Hanns Johst's play Schlageter(1933): "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)
References
- John Browning & Curt Gentry. John M. Browning, American Gunmaker. NY: Doubleday, 1964. OCLC 1329440
See also
- Winchester Repeating Arms Company
- Browning Arms Company
- Remington Arms
- Fabrique Nationale de Herstal
- Val A. Browning
- John Moses Browning House
External links
Categories
1855 births | 1926 deaths | American inventors | American autodidacts | Firearm designers | Inventors | Latter Day Saints | People from Utah