If you have ever seen or held a firearm, there is a pretty good chance you know the name John Browning. This gentleman is undoubtedly one of the greatest firearm designers in the world.
His influence on the progress of modern firearms can hardly be denied. Thanks to 128 patents and more than 80 different firearms, his contribution to the firearms industry is one of the most prolific, diverse and extensive. Today on our blog we will talk about Browning's greatest achievements and how he still influences firearm design almost ninety years after his death.
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Browning's humble beginnings
John Moses Browning was born in 1855. He was one of twenty-two children born to Jonathan
Browning, a successful gunsmith. Young John Browning became interested in firearms very early on, and at the age of ten he had already made his first pistol from spare parts from his father's shop. Slowly, Browning's firearms became a hit, and he had no idea yet that they would become, quite literally, a cultural heritage. 1918 was the year of the First World War, and it was precisely this situation that accompanied the rise of firearms from John Browning's workshop, which he supplied to the battlefront.
Fame for inventions in the hands of others
One of the reasons Browning did not conquer nearly the entire firearms industry, and why his name appears rarely, is that he sold some of his ideas. Browning's passion was focused on designing and inventing firearms, not on building and running a company, which is why he sold most of his patents to Winchester, Colt and Fabrique Nationale. As a result, each of these companies subsequently expanded rapidly, something they owe precisely to the firearms designed at Mr. Browning's company. This includes, for example, the Winchester '94, a leading lever-action rifle. It was the first “repeater” in 0.30-30, of which millions of units were sold, and it is still produced more than a century later. This rifle, the Winchester, was one of many designs purchased by the aforementioned companies from John Browning.
In fact, Winchester bought so many patents from John Browning that for 20 years they did not produce a single firearm of their own invention. It is, however, an undeniable fact that it paid off for them commercially, as they held more than 75% of the sporting firearms market in the USA. Winchester could not even manufacture all the designs it bought from the Browning company.
Features we take for granted today
We can consider Mr. Browning's greatest legacy to the arms industry to be the elaborate design principles and mechanisms of firearms. It is paradoxical that today these revolutionary mechanisms are already taken for granted. For example, the modern semi-automatic firearm as we know it owes John Browning for the recoil-operated mechanism, as well as short recoil mechanisms with tilting bolts. The pocket semi-automatic pistol is also Browning's creation, mainly thanks to his earlier invention of the pistol slide, which helped make handguns smaller and easier to handle. We often forget that Browning also played a significant role in designing calibers that are commonly used today, including .380 ACP and .45 ACP, as well as the less common .32 ACP and .25 ACP.
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And what about the semi-automatic shotgun? Yes, that too was Mr. Browning's invention. It is true that most of us know that John Browning was behind the design of the Browning A-5, but few realize the true magnitude of this achievement. It took more than 50 years before another semi-automatic shotgun became a rival to the A-5, and guns based on the original A-5 principle are still being produced today, more than a century later.
As time went on, Browning not only innovated but also continued to design new types of firearms. Many types of his firearms became exceptional aids in establishing order in the ranks of police forces and armies around the world.
Browning firearms are part of wars and armed conflicts
The first military firearms from John Browning's workshop were used in World War I. In fact, a Browning M1911 caliber pistol was involved in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It was this murder that sparked the outbreak of World War I.
In addition to machine guns and the M1911 pistol, a large number of Winchester 1897 shotguns were also used during the war. The weapons were so devastating in the trenches that the Germans officially protested against their use in combat and threatened to execute any captured soldier found using them.
The one who still writes history today
Fortunately, John Browning did not live to see World War II. He would probably have been very surprised at the popularity his firearms achieved and how they spread throughout the world.
The greatest personality of the firearms industry, Mr. John Browning, died in his shop in 1926, where he was working on a shotgun he called the Superposed. It was the first affordable shotgun of its time, which was responsible for the great popularity of over-and-under shotguns.
During his lifetime, no Browning firearm ever failed a military evaluation. He laid the foundations on which almost all modern firearms were built. He was a master of his craft and one of the few innovators in history who were truly so unique.
