Which individual has had the greatest overall impact on firearms?

Like Tirod, I think Eugene Stoner should be in this poll. Still, that wouldn't have affected my vote for John M. Browning.

It's tempting to place Georg Luger in the top 5 since besides his groundbreaking Luger he introduced the 9mm Luger cartridge about 110 years ago which has become the most popular center fire handgun cartridge in the world.

JMB already had three guns in production, which BTW are still being copied today 1885 single shot, 1886 lever rifle and 1887 lever shotgun.

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Dollars to doughnuts that there are more mauser variants sitting in gun-safes and closets worldwide than all three of those models combined.

The fact that you put Bill Ruger on the same list as John Moses Browning offends me deeply lol.

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+1, especially with the absence of John Pedersen on that list.

As for the poll, that's a tough one to answer. The process of gun development has been interative over centuries, with many substantial contributors. So while JMB probably can be credited with the most influence over contemporary firearms design, where would he have been without the invention of gunpowder, or the development of mercury fulminate which later led to self contained metallic cartridges? How do we weigh which invention has greater merits? And then there's the fact that with so many interested parties and the successive (as well as parallel) development of new technologies, it's not a matter of whether or not each thing would come to fruition, but only when and by whom.

I went with JMB but Obama certainly should have made the list as the best salesman in recent years.

John Moses Browning was to firearms as Nikola Tesla was to electricity. Funny, they were only a bit over a year apart in age too.

On the negative side, I'd say Al Capone and Oswald. Because of them law maker's instituted the era of restrictive gun laws that made the public believe guns were the problem with society's ills.

Dollars to doughnuts that there are more mauser variants sitting in gun-safes and closets worldwide than all three of those models combined.

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Double or nothing tilting barrel locked breach vs mauser bolts

None of the options. Eli Whitney had the most impact.

Whitney was the fellow who invented the whole American System of Manufactures...the idea of truly interchangeable parts, made in a repeatable manner through the use of one-operation jigs. He also invented the milling machine.

Whitney pioneered...the rest followed in his footsteps.

It's foolish to continue to hold a grudge against Ruger.

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Why? Just because he is deceased? A legacy is posthumous. That's sorta what makes it a legacy.

We don't stop liking or disliking who or what people where just because they pass. Do you give other notably dislikable characters a pass just because they're no longer drawing oxygen? Hitler? Stalin? I'm not likening Bill Ruger to genocidal dictators, just making a point.

The Chinese guy that invented gunpowder.

murf

Just think of the tens of millions of .22 bolt action rifles alone. Then add the tens of millions of military bolt rifles. Then add the millions of bolt action hunting and sporting rifles.

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A: Not all bolt guns are based on the Mauser action and damn few 22s are for sure.
B: While I get there are a lot of bolt guns that are based on the Mauser action you do realize that with very few exceptions all semi auto handguns 9mm and larger use Browning's tilting barrel short recoil system so add up all the 1911s and BHPs then add in Glocks, SIGs, CZs, Smiths, Rugers, Springfields and the dozens of other manufacturers that use it.

Dang it Murf! I was going to put the Chinese guy who invented gun powder! How about the handful of authors of the Wujing Zongyao, the first guys to write down the gunpowder formula? Nothing exists without the sharing of this information.

mavracer said:

A: Not all bolt guns are based on the Mauser action and damn few 22s are for sure.
B: While I get there are a lot of bolt guns that are based on the Mauser action you do realize that with very few exceptions all semi auto handguns 9mm and larger use Browning's tilting barrel short recoil system so add up all the 1911s and BHPs then add in Glocks, SIGs, CZs, Smiths, Rugers, Springfields and the dozens of other manufacturers that use it.

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Do you also realize that most countries outside the USA either prohibit auto-pistol ownership or severely restrict it? The USA is the premier hand gun market but compared to world population we are but a drop in the bucket.

Think about it from a price and saturation perspective, back in the 70s my uncle claimed to have bought a crate (I assume that means 10) of milsurp Yugos by picking up bottles on roadsides for recycling. How many nickles would you need to buy a crate of browning clones vs mauser clones? The very price structure lends its self to the conclusion more people would be able to afford a rifle and therefore probably do.

The Beretta family company comes to mind. 500 years in the firearms business and counting.

My vote would be for some unknown Chinese guy who lived a long long time ago and somehow figured out that if you mix ground up charcoal, sulfur and saltpeter together in the right amount you could make things go bang!

He put the fire in firearms and without him there would not be any firearms at all!

Gong Hay Fa Chouy y'all.

JJ

Dang! I was the third one to mention the Chinese!

The USA is the premier hand gun market but compared to world population we are but a drop in the bucket.

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While the USA only accounts for a bit less than 5% of the world's population, it is home to almost half of all firearms in the world, and that's including all of the world's military arsenals.

Have to go with John Moses Browning as my first choice as having the greatest overall impact on firearms. Samuel Colt would come in second with Paul Mauser in at third place.

Most influential would be Browning. Many designs today stem from his blowback and locked breech designs.

Favorite would be Kelgren. He was a major part of three major firearm companies that were immensely popular, one of said designs completely revolutionized the polymer pocket pistol industry and became one of the most copied designs in recent history. Another was one of a select handful of guns banned by name during the assault weapons ban.

Why isn't Elmer Fudd on the list?
Or James Puckle?