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Ian

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I got to visit John M Browning's former office at FN Herstal - woo!

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Got to tour the manufacturing buildings as well, which was a blast. Quite the shop they have there, and now I really want to pick up an FNP45.
 

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On a trip to Utah many years ago wife1 and I visited the Browning Museum in either Provo or Ogden and somewhere I have slides of his first toolroom model 1911 as well as his first potato-digger machine gun and other goodies. One of these days I'll have to search for them and publish them.

I later tried to find out about that museum but apparently it was either closed or moved somewhere.

Were any of these artifacts displayed where you went? Did Val Browning (his son) have an office there, too?

Terry, 230RN
 
No, they didn't have any guns displayed in the room - it's currently used as a board room for FN. It's fortunate that the place is still standing, as most of the buildings that Browning would have used were destroyed by the Germans late in World War II.

I did get to see their reference collection, but that is mostly post-WWII things. Still fantastic to see, though - prototype FALs, among other things.
 
Unfortunately, I only have the photo above and one outside the main building. Photography wasn't permitted in the production houses or the reference collection. :(
 
Yeah, no kidding. The .30 Carbine FAL prototype was so cute you just couldn't stand it.
 
I highly recommend getting an fnp-45. Picked mine up about 8 months ago and I'm mad I didnt get one when they first came out! I have or have had and sold 13 polymer pistols (maybe more I can't remember) ranging from glock, s&w, sig, and ruger and the fnp45 is hands down my favorite/best one. You can pick em up pretty cheap now too but if you have small hands it might be a little big.
 
You tour the Hershey factory, you get free chocolate. You tour the Ben & Jerrys factory, you get free ice cream. You tour the Brownings factory....I want my free guns Dammit!
 
Yep - back in the 50s, .30 Carbine was the hot thing. FN made a FAL prototype for it, Beretta made a .30 Carbine, the San Cristobal was manufactured, and the French spent a ton of time working on .30 Carbine designs. Then it got dropped by NATO, and the idea faded away.
 
I've always liked the cartridge and my M1 Carbine is definitely my favorite gun to shoot. I'll have to read up on those.
 
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