Yes, I get that...but if he doesn't design it to that first, FN would have likely not made the gun as we know it now, I think. Ill look forward to your post tomorrow.
Here is my take in it. A lot of credit goes to Anthony Vanderlinden, R Blake Stevens, Burgs, Stephen Camp and Submoa. A lot of this info is my modified version of information that Submoa posted many years ago on another forum. He no longer posts much anywhere but knows more about the BHP than anyone I have ever interacted with. He makes me look like a Kindergartener and I am told his collection is one of kind. This is a pic of the last Patent JMB ever filed. It is the 1922 design of the Grande Rendement prior. The patent was filed for on June 23,1923. This was prior to FN/Saive later modifications.
The only features of JMB's original locked breech design of 1922 that are still part of the pistol we shoot today are the barrel lock-up, the multi-articulated trigger and the “High Capacity” magazine. JMB did not design the magazine. Dieudonné Joseph Saive designed/prototyped at the request of FN because JMB refused to because he thought capacity over 7 or 8 rounds was unnecessary. The foundation of the pistol the staggered column/single feed “High Capacity” magazine was designed by Saive and then used by JMB in the 1922 design.
JMB's original 1922 locked breech prototype was delivered to FN by JMB's son along with a near identical blowback prototype which FN immediately dismissed. The remaining pistol was a large/heavy, hammerless/striker fired, cylindrical interrupted screw-modular/removable breech bolt design in which the slide reciprocated within the frame similar to the CZ75. It had a sliding safety catch situated at the rear face of the slide and no external slide lock. It lacked the signature “BHP cut” at the front of the slide.
With Val’s input, FN immediately modified the JMB 1922 locked breech design and produced a pair of tool room pistols to be used for the French Military Trials of 1922. The FN tool room design drawings for this 1922 FN improved JMB pistol became the US Patent drawings JMB submitted in 1923. Immediately following the "promising" initial 1922 French Trials…in which Val assisted FN’s Captain Chevalier, FN undertook major design modifications in an effort to satisfy the everchanging modifications of the French Trials. The gun evolved over this time. It got smaller & lighter. A hammer was added to satisfy the French. IIRC this is one of the 2 prototypes which is on diplay at the Browning Museum in Utah.
Still it retained the complicated cylindrical interrupted screw-modular/removable breech bolt design. The slide still reciprocated within the frame and still used a sliding safety catch situated at the rear face of the slide remained. There was no external slide lock. Was referred by a new name the "Grand Rendement” but for all intents and purposes is was an FN improved JMB 1922 design. JMB was not doing the design work on these changes. Saive and the rest of the FN designers did this work. This is an important point. IMHO The French Trials pretty much went nowhere fast. FN had put time money and effort into satisfying them but still had no contract to show for it. FN instructed Dieudonné Joseph Saive to design a 9mm pistol intended for the wider Military market. They were smart to give up on the French Contract because they did not win it in the end.
JMB died in 1926 while at his desk in Liege. Some people incorrectly state that he died working on the BHP. He did not. He was working on an elegant Superpose Shotgun design. Over a year after JMB’s 1926 death Saive took elements of JMB's 1922 design along with the many subsequent FN/Saive improvements, finally adding elements of JMB's 1911 design after those patents expired. Saive in some ways started with relatively clean slate which producted the Saive/Browning 1928” design. Some people claim that Saive and FN were waiting for the 1911 Patents to expire before continuing development but I have found no proof of that. The fits and starts of the French Contract were more the driver of the timing then the 1911 patents. IMHO
This is the actual direct ancestor of the BHP we know today. This was the first design that mimics the gun we shoot today. Saive’s 1928 pistol looks and feels like the gun we know as the BHP. It is mechanically similar in a practical sense and in its size, contour, profile, operation. Again, look closely at the Grand Rendement of 1927 v. the Saive/Browning of 1928...then compare the Saive/Browning of 1928 with the what we call the BHP. Everything that makes the Browning High Power what it is today was Saive’s design improvements. All that is left of the JMB design are the barrel lock-up, the multi-articulated trigger and the “High Capacity” magazine. Remember he did not design the magazine. As Meatloaf used to sing “2 out of 3 ain’t bad…..”
So if JMB did not design the pistol we shoot today why did FN name the 1934/35 production design the “Browning 9mm High Power Automatic Pistol”. They even advertised as a JMB design by rollmarking the pistols “Browning’s Patent Depose”. I believe that the reason for doing this was twofold.
First JMB’s name on a pistol was considered Gold. Each of his pistols designs at the time were considered huge leaps forward. They were great sellers to militarys all over the world which is where FN made its money and still does today. Many considered the name Browning to be synonyms with = “Automatic pistol”. A Browning design was a guaranteed seller.
The Second reason is that FN adored JMB. They referred to him as “Le Maître” – “The Master”. He was in some ways FN savior. The Browning 1899 pistol which became the 1900 was a huge success for FN. The designs that followed kept FN on top in the European market. The 1903/1905/1910 and 1910/22 all sold well. That does not even take into account the shotguns he designed for them.
Not only did FN professionally and personally revered JMB but there was also the practical matter that FN had to honored the business agreements with Browning, FN and Colt. These 3 had a long-standing agreement to divide and control the JMB pistol market around the world.
Now do not get me wrong. I like many other worship at the feet of JMB. The 1911 is still the world’s finest combat handgun and the king of feedway stoppages…. LOL I however believe that in our blinds worship for the greatest firearms designer ever we short the real designer of the BHP. Dieudonné Joseph Saive In many of the fluff pieces people write about the development of the BHP they refer to Saive as JMBs assistant when in fact Saive was FN’s lead designer. JMB was not even a FN employee but rather a contract employee who was paid via royalties not by salary. I believe we should give credit where credit is due.
This IMHO is a more accurate telling of the history of the BHP than most people tell. I am sure that others will disagree. They always do when I post this info. I am interested in what Anthony Vanderlinden adds to the narrative in his newest 3rd Edition of FN Browning Pistols, Side Arms That Shaped the World which is due to be published later this year.
) items with original boxes DO bring a premium for sure.
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