Okla-homey
1/21/2008, 07:44 AM
January 21, 1855 Gun designer John Browning is born
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9684/zzzzjohnbrowning3pl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
123 years ago today, John Moses Browning, sometimes referred to as the "father of modern firearms," is born to a Mormon family in Ogden, Utah. Many of the guns manufactured by companies whose names evoke the history of the American West-Winchester, Colt, Remington, and Savage-were actually based on John Browning's designs.
The son of a talented gunsmith, John Browning began experimenting with his own gun designs as a young man. When he was 24 years old, he received his first patent, for a rifle that Winchester manufactured as its Single Shot Model 1885.
Impressed by the young man's inventiveness, Winchester asked Browning if he could design a lever-action-repeating shotgun. Browning could and did, but his efforts convinced him that a pump-action mechanism would work better, and he patented his first pump model shotgun in 1888.
http://aycu36.webshots.com/image/42715/2002817601016421860_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002817601016421860)
Browning's lever-action shotgun of 1887
Fundamentally, all of Browning's manually-operated repeating rifle and shotgun designs were aimed at improving one thing: the speed and reliability with which gun users could fire multiple rounds-whether shooting at game birds or other people.
Lever and pump actions allowed the operator to fire a round, operate the lever or pump to quickly eject the spent shell, insert a new cartridge, and then fire again in seconds.
By the late 1880s, Browning had perfected the manual repeating weapon; to make guns that fired any faster, he would somehow have to eliminate the need for slow human beings to actually work the mechanisms. But what force could replace that of the operator moving a lever or pump?
Browning discovered the answer during a local shooting competition when he noticed that reeds between a man firing and his target were violently blown aside by gases escaping from the gun muzzle. He decided to try using the force of that escaping gas to automatically work the repeating mechanism.<BRILLIANT!>
Browning began experimenting with his idea in 1889. Three years later, he received a patent for the first crude fully automatic weapon that captured the gases at the muzzle and used them to power a mechanism that automatically reloaded the next bullet.
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/120/zzzz18957so.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Brownings first automatic pistol design patented in 1895. It would evolve into the M1911 and Browning "Hi-Power"
In subsequent years, Browning refined his automatic weapon design. When U.S. soldiers went to Europe during WWI, many of them carried Browning Automatic Rifles, as well as Browning's deadly machine guns.
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/42256/2000970138582566019_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000970138582566019)
The Browning Automatic Rifle, Pat No. 1,293,022, was invented by John Browning in 1917, and was used in the latter days of WWI. It was the U.S. Army's squad machine gun of WWII and Korea. It fired a 30.06 bullet with great accuracy. It was the favorite gun of Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde, as well as the favorite of WWII and Korean War veterans.
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/2843/zzzzfwwbrowning0zq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Big John firing one of his water-cooled .30 calibre machine guns.
http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/39693/2002774166264908802_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002774166264908802)
Browning's M-2 (or "Ma Deuce") .50 caliber machine gun, Designed in 1921, it is still killing bad guys today.
The Principal Browning Gun Patents
The Winchester Model 1887 lever-action repeating shotgun
The Winchester Model 1894 lever-action repeating rifle -- more deer killed than any other firearm in history
The Winchester Model 1897 pump-action repeating shotgun -- the "trench sweeper" combat shotgun of WWI and WWII.
The Browning Model 1902 Auto-5 semi-automatic shotgun-- First auto-loading shot gun in history. Well over 2 million produced by 1970
The Browning Model 1910 semi-automatic handgun
The Colt Model 1911 semi-automatic handgun -- countless millions in service
The Model 1917 water-cooled machine gun
The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) of 1918 -- the first infantry squad single man portable fully automatic weapon
The Browning M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun of 1921.
-- used on ships, by the army and aboard combat aircraft, still in US military service
http://aycu36.webshots.com/image/39595/2000979500895839828_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000979500895839828)
John Browning designed the .32 Colt automatic pistol pictured as well as the .32 ACP round that it fires.
During a career spanning more than five decades, Browning's guns went from being the classic weapons of the American West to deadly tools of world war carnage. Amazingly, since Browning's death in 1926, there have been no further fundamental changes in the modern firearm industry.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/40414/2003917480845968150_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003917480845968150)
Another legend. The Winchester Model 94. Designed by Browning, it is often disparaged today in favor of fancier deer killers, but the fact remains, this model rifle chambered for 30-30 WIN has harvested more deer since its introduction in 1894 than any other firearm. Dependable, easy to operate and clean, and balls on accurate at the range most people take deer.
In fact, firearms are about the the only commonly used machines that still lack electronics. Brownings designs simply cannot be improved by adding electronic controls. There is virtually no other device with moving parts of which that can be said...except maybe toilets.
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/5454/zzzzbrowninglgcol2ze.gif (http://imageshack.us)
The Browning patent of 1911 automatic handgun. First manufactured by Colt. The only significant handgun advance since Sam Colt invented the revolver way back in the 1840's
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/2677/insane7zo3zr.jpg
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9684/zzzzjohnbrowning3pl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
123 years ago today, John Moses Browning, sometimes referred to as the "father of modern firearms," is born to a Mormon family in Ogden, Utah. Many of the guns manufactured by companies whose names evoke the history of the American West-Winchester, Colt, Remington, and Savage-were actually based on John Browning's designs.
The son of a talented gunsmith, John Browning began experimenting with his own gun designs as a young man. When he was 24 years old, he received his first patent, for a rifle that Winchester manufactured as its Single Shot Model 1885.
Impressed by the young man's inventiveness, Winchester asked Browning if he could design a lever-action-repeating shotgun. Browning could and did, but his efforts convinced him that a pump-action mechanism would work better, and he patented his first pump model shotgun in 1888.
http://aycu36.webshots.com/image/42715/2002817601016421860_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002817601016421860)
Browning's lever-action shotgun of 1887
Fundamentally, all of Browning's manually-operated repeating rifle and shotgun designs were aimed at improving one thing: the speed and reliability with which gun users could fire multiple rounds-whether shooting at game birds or other people.
Lever and pump actions allowed the operator to fire a round, operate the lever or pump to quickly eject the spent shell, insert a new cartridge, and then fire again in seconds.
By the late 1880s, Browning had perfected the manual repeating weapon; to make guns that fired any faster, he would somehow have to eliminate the need for slow human beings to actually work the mechanisms. But what force could replace that of the operator moving a lever or pump?
Browning discovered the answer during a local shooting competition when he noticed that reeds between a man firing and his target were violently blown aside by gases escaping from the gun muzzle. He decided to try using the force of that escaping gas to automatically work the repeating mechanism.<BRILLIANT!>
Browning began experimenting with his idea in 1889. Three years later, he received a patent for the first crude fully automatic weapon that captured the gases at the muzzle and used them to power a mechanism that automatically reloaded the next bullet.
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/120/zzzz18957so.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Brownings first automatic pistol design patented in 1895. It would evolve into the M1911 and Browning "Hi-Power"
In subsequent years, Browning refined his automatic weapon design. When U.S. soldiers went to Europe during WWI, many of them carried Browning Automatic Rifles, as well as Browning's deadly machine guns.
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/42256/2000970138582566019_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000970138582566019)
The Browning Automatic Rifle, Pat No. 1,293,022, was invented by John Browning in 1917, and was used in the latter days of WWI. It was the U.S. Army's squad machine gun of WWII and Korea. It fired a 30.06 bullet with great accuracy. It was the favorite gun of Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde, as well as the favorite of WWII and Korean War veterans.
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/2843/zzzzfwwbrowning0zq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Big John firing one of his water-cooled .30 calibre machine guns.
http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/39693/2002774166264908802_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002774166264908802)
Browning's M-2 (or "Ma Deuce") .50 caliber machine gun, Designed in 1921, it is still killing bad guys today.
The Principal Browning Gun Patents
The Winchester Model 1887 lever-action repeating shotgun
The Winchester Model 1894 lever-action repeating rifle -- more deer killed than any other firearm in history
The Winchester Model 1897 pump-action repeating shotgun -- the "trench sweeper" combat shotgun of WWI and WWII.
The Browning Model 1902 Auto-5 semi-automatic shotgun-- First auto-loading shot gun in history. Well over 2 million produced by 1970
The Browning Model 1910 semi-automatic handgun
The Colt Model 1911 semi-automatic handgun -- countless millions in service
The Model 1917 water-cooled machine gun
The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) of 1918 -- the first infantry squad single man portable fully automatic weapon
The Browning M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun of 1921.
-- used on ships, by the army and aboard combat aircraft, still in US military service
http://aycu36.webshots.com/image/39595/2000979500895839828_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000979500895839828)
John Browning designed the .32 Colt automatic pistol pictured as well as the .32 ACP round that it fires.
During a career spanning more than five decades, Browning's guns went from being the classic weapons of the American West to deadly tools of world war carnage. Amazingly, since Browning's death in 1926, there have been no further fundamental changes in the modern firearm industry.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/40414/2003917480845968150_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003917480845968150)
Another legend. The Winchester Model 94. Designed by Browning, it is often disparaged today in favor of fancier deer killers, but the fact remains, this model rifle chambered for 30-30 WIN has harvested more deer since its introduction in 1894 than any other firearm. Dependable, easy to operate and clean, and balls on accurate at the range most people take deer.
In fact, firearms are about the the only commonly used machines that still lack electronics. Brownings designs simply cannot be improved by adding electronic controls. There is virtually no other device with moving parts of which that can be said...except maybe toilets.
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/5454/zzzzbrowninglgcol2ze.gif (http://imageshack.us)
The Browning patent of 1911 automatic handgun. First manufactured by Colt. The only significant handgun advance since Sam Colt invented the revolver way back in the 1840's
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/2677/insane7zo3zr.jpg