I THOUGHT I knew who John Browning was.

[DeepSouth]

I had done little to no reading about John Browning, but I did know he designed the 1910, 1911, Hi-Power, Browning Automatic Rifle, and the Auto-5. This was enough for me to easily give him the title of "Greatest gun designer ever" I was bored yesterday and did a little reading up on his career and the things I did not know amazed me. So I thought there were probably others like me out there who might be interested.

So here goes

He designed the first

....gas operated machine gun (What would become the Colt 1895 machine gun)

....handgun with a “pistol slide” (Colt 1900)

....successful auto loading shotgun design (Auto 5)

....successful Over/Under shotgun (Superposed)

....successful repeating shotgun (Winchester 1887 lever action)

....successful pump action shotgun (Winchester 1893 which later has refined to become the 1897)

.....25 ACP, .32 ACP, .38 ACP, .380 ACP, 9mm Browning Long, .45 ACP and .50 BMG firearms

I also did not know

From his first Winchester firearm the 1885 until 1902 every rifle and shotgun released by Winchester was designed by John Browning. He also designed the 1885 High Wall, considered by many to be the best falling block rifle ever made. He designed the 1886, which was the first Winchester lever action chambered for powerful rifle cartridges (.45-70). He designed the 1887 and 1897 shotguns which were the first commercially successful repeating shotguns(pump and lever action). He designed the 1892 made famous by John Wayne and a rifle that sold over 1 million copies in its production run. He designed the 1894 (Know more commonly as the Model 94) which was the most successful sporting rifle ever designed selling over 6 million copies. He designed the .22 caliber pump action 1890, which sold over 750,000 copies in its production run.

His pistols included the FN (Fabrique Nationale) Model 1899. FN also produced the Models 1900, 1903, 1906, 1910, and High Power or P35 of Browning design. Colt produced the Models 1902 Military, 1903 Pocket Hammer, 1903 Pocket Hammerless, 1905, 1908 Pocket Hammerless, 1908 Vest Pocket, 1911, and .22 Automatic Target Pistol (Woodsman).

Browning’s rifles include the Winchester Models 1885, 1886, 1890, 1892, 1894, 1895 and 1900 as well as the Remington Models 8 and 24 and the FN Patent 1900 (same as the Remington Model 8), FN .22 Caliber Automatic Rifle (same as the Remington Model 24), and the FN Pump Action .22 Caliber Repeating Rifle (Trombone Model).

His shotgun's included the Winchester Models 1887, 1893, and 1897; the Remington Models 11 and 17; the Stevens Model 520; and FN Auto 5 and Superposed. The Superposed shotgun was Browning’s last gun design.

Browning also designed five full auto machine guns. These are the Colt Model 1895 Machine Gun, the Model 1917 .30 Caliber Machine Gun, the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), the Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun, and the 37 mm Aircraft Cannon.

For the US Military he designed


-The Model 1895 Machine gun
-The M1911
-The 1917 .30 Machine Gun (water cooled)
-The 1919 .30 Machine Gun (air cooled)
-The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR)
-The Browning .50 Machine Gun (Ma Deuce)
-The Model 1897 Shotgun (Trench Gun)

These guns made a clean sweep for Browning. Every gun submitted to US Military trials won out over all competition and was accepted for military use.
.
.
.
.
.

There may be some historical errors as I just put this together from several internet sources. I hope you enjoyed.

 

[deadin]

If you ever get to within driving range of Ogden Utah, be sure to make the trip to the Browning Museum. It's worth it.
I got a kick out of the displays of the "prototypes" of some of the above mentioned guns. Ever heard of a Model 1893 or 1891 Browning? These are the ones built by Browning, not the ones built by Winchester.

 

[Tommygunn]

During his work with Winchester, the company bought most every design he came out with. The majority never went into production.
Why did this happen?
Winchester knew if they didn't buy it, J.M.B. would sell it to another company -- and they KNEW his designs would be great for their competitors!

 

[deadin]

I probably should have clarified, the M1891 Browning was the M1892 Winchester and the '93 was the '94. etc.

 

[rainbowbob]

And if you're a REAL John Browning fan, you can buy his mansion!

This is from XavierBreath's blog

House for Sale
$374,900
Beds: 8
Baths: 2.5
Square Feet: 6,912
Property Type: Residential Single Family
Status: Active

Remarks:
The John Browning Mansion - complete with turrets, dormers, grand staircases, amazing hardwood floors, original windows & moulding, new commercial-grade kitchen with corian counters, potential new baths for bed and breakfast use. A definite must see!

http://xavierthoughts.blogspot.com/

 

[nicholst55]

JMB also converted an M1886 Winchester into a gas operated automatic rifle. That was a one-off that he supposedly did as a 'I wonder if...'

 

[DeepSouth]

Somehow I think he did a LOT the average JMB fan knows little or nothing about.

 

[deadin]

JMB also converted an M1886 Winchester into a gas operated automatic rifle.

This one is in the museum in Ogden. It's kind of a "flapper valve" that hangs down in front of the muzzle and uses the escaping gas to operate a rod that works the lever.

 

[TEDDY]

auto lever

that was the bases for the colt potato digger.

 

[ArmedBear]

Sounds pretty cheap, actually.

 

[rondog]

I do believe the man knew what he was doing, that's for sure. Consider the tooling and machinery he had to work with too.

 

[walker944]

The invention he did that impressed me the most was the airplane mounted machine-gun which was timed perfectly to shoot the rounds between the spinning propeller blades. Now that's impressive work!!! I think it was deployed into service during WWI (IIRC).

 

[deadin]

I know JMB is practically a God among firearms designers, but the synchronized machine gun was not one of his inventions. He adapted the earlier system invented by a Swiss designer and perfected by Anthony Fokker to be used with his Browning machine guns.
Browning did his work on his in 1917-18 while the system was originally patented by a Swiss engineer Franz Schneider in 1913. The Dutchman Anthony Fokker developed a similar interrupter system circ. 1915.

 

[Jim K]

I don't know about the ancestry of those gentlemen, but none were as prolific as Browning (in regard to firearms inventions, that is). Garand, Williams, and Kalashnikov really produced only one notable gun, though Williams did some general design work for Winchester. Stoner did more work, but nowhere near the diversity of Browning.

Ruger produced a number of guns, but in the later years he was the inspiration but he had the help of a design team and company engineers. Only the Standard Model .22 is truly his alone. Mauser also had designers but as the owner of the company, his name went on a lot of patents, so it is hard to know how much he actually did.

I think JMB will always stand out as the "lone ranger" of firearms design, since most of his early work was done by himself. One small point - the famous Browning High Power was not really his design, as he died before taking it beyond a patent that was in fact not used. The actual designer was Saive, but FN decided to use the Browning name for marketing reasons.

Jim

 

[Jim Watson]

He also designed a 37mm light autocannon, adopted by the US Army but not put into production because of low post-WW I budgets.

What was Mr Browning doing before Winchester bought the rights to his single shot rifle and brought it out in 1885? Building guns. The patent was granted in 1878 and the Browning brothers put it into series production until it was noticed by a Winchester representative who started the wheels turning to acquire the design.

 

[ArmedBear]

He also designed a 37mm light autocannon, adopted by the US Army but not put into production because of low post-WW I budgets.

...but it was adapted to the civilian market and sold as the 12 Gauge Superposed, the first crew-served bird gun.

 

[Jim Watson]

One small point - the famous Browning High Power was not really his design, as he died before taking it beyond a patent that was in fact not used. The actual designer was Saive, but FN decided to use the Browning name for marketing reasons.

Mr Saive was a pretty sharp designer in his own right, but a look at the 1928-1935 series of developmental guns in Ezell's book tells me that one thing he did was to plow existing Browning design elements back into the FN as the Colt-Browning patents ran out. Keying disassembly to the slide stop was a big one, others included were a reciever side thumb safety and a barrel bushing (permanently installed in production guns but very like 1911 in next to latest prototype series.)


Mr Browning said that John Pedersen was the best gun designer he knew, a real engineer.

 

[Correia]

Other little known John Browning fact #127. John Moses Browning was also a powerful wizard and member of a secret society devoted to fighting the forces of evil. Along with Black Jack Pershing, Browning helped prevent Imperial Japan from using a Tesla designed super weapon against New York City in 1908.




And yes, I did just finish writing that book.

 

[KenWP]

I have the book his son wrote and it tells about the guns his father invented also. He had a mixed up family since he was a Mormon from the old school. He once when he was on his Mission went into a gun store to check out his lever action shot gun on the shelf. The way he handled it the fellow said he must have seen one before and his partner on the Mission said well he designed it and got laughed out of the store. He also got tared and feathered once and ran out of town. They say after he demostrated his machine gun which became the Big 50 the spectators sort of looked on in amazedment that it worked so well.

 

[mljdeckard]

We not only have the aforementioned museum in downtown Ogden, we named our local National Guard armory after him.

 

[Dimis]

JMB is a hero an idol and a god to the firearm world but can anyone tell me how Samual Colt measures up?

im seriously curious since no one seams to have done as much as J.M. Browning

 

[Shung]

He designed the 1886, which was the first Winchester lever action chambered for powerful rifle cartridges (.45-70).

nah, Winchester 1876 after Henry design. 45-60, 45-75, 50-90

 

[Tommygunn]

The 1876 was pushing the boundaries for the Henry toggle-link system.
The 1886 design was MUCH better suited to the powerful cartridges in common use at the time.

 

[JohnBT]

I remember reading about the reverence the citizens of Liege Belgium held for JMB. His pistol designs saved the company after 400 or so years of gunmaking and his ongoing inventions made them prosperous. There was no flying back and forth over the Atlantic, he went by ship and lived there for periods of time. The book said that when JMB walked around town the citizens stepped aside and bowed and curtsied.

This relationship with the family continued.

www.legacy.com/SaltLakeTribune/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=876318

From his obit: "John Val Browning was born on 30 June 1925 in Rocourt, near Liege, Belgium where his father, Val, was supervising the manufacture of guns invented by his own father, the great gun inventor, John Moses Browning."

"It was here, in Liege, that John Val spent his youth, living in a white house ("La Maison Blanche") on the banks of the Meuse. Val Browning moved his family back to Ogden in 1935. Perfectly at ease on either side of the Atlantic, John Val never lost his fluent French nor the formal and gracious manners of his Belgian youth. He was educated at Brown Military Academy and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied engineering and metallurgy."

"In 1949, John Val married Geraldine Ossman and moved back to Liege. The factories at Fabrique National had been very badly damaged by the war. John Val and his father Val devoted themselves to helping to re-build the factories and with them the sporting-arms business that had been interrupted by the war. After the factories were rebuilt, he worked to improve both the quality of the guns and the breadth of the product range. He and his wife were active in Belgian sporting and social circles, and built many lifelong friendships. Because of his work with FN, John Val was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre de Leopold, one of Belgium's highest distinctions, awarded by King Baudouin, for services to US-Belgium trade. He was also made a "citoyen d'honneur" (citizen of honor) of Rocourt. In 1960, John Val moved back to Ogden, where he assumed the presidency of Browning Arms."

John

 

[Shung]

The 1876 was pushing the boundaries for the Henry toggle-link system

sure, but it still worked