A Short Introduction
John M. Browning has generally been popular throughout the United States since World War I, especially in connection with automatic rifles and machine guns.
The straightforwardness, roughness, and adequacy of both his recoil operated and gas operated automatic guns and rifles, together with the basically current characteristics of flexibility to large-scale manufacturing and compatibility of parts have made these weapons standard equipment in the military of the United States, the decision of one of the best educated and most demanding groups of specialists of any country, the United States Ordnance Department.
Under the rigorous conditions of actual battle that they write indelibly in history these guns have been found to be very powerful, the name of their modest inventor, being among the best weapon manufacturers who have positively impacted the course of human events. However these weapons may have independently gained the limelight of public praise, they are but a comparatively small part of the prodigious work of John M. Browning.
Browning spent his early life during that transition period when breech loaders replaced the muzzle loaders. The whole vista of conceivable sorts and classes of breech stacking weapons was opened to his real imagination, extraordinary mechanical sense, and affection for his work, resolute enthusiasm, and endless humility. Evidently, these attributes would without a doubt have made him exceptional in any line of the mechanical attempt.
It happened that he was born and raised in the Pioneer Far West when the firearm was regarded as the most critical component of every man’s belongings for purposes of protection from the beast, hunger and salvage man.Browning’s father was himself an outstanding maker of guns and had specifically developed a conviction which drives men to love and become proficient in the use of any weapon. For Browning, it became obvious that he should take advantage of the opportunities presented by the gas-tight cartridge case invention and perfection, the percussion cap, and later smokeless powder presented.
How many police officers know who designed the semi-automatic sidearm which efficiently helps them in maintaining law and order? How many individuals are aware that the little pistol which inspires a feeling of security from marauders of their persons and homes is a product of the same man who designed the machine guns? Much pleasure, physical development, and relaxation are afforded true sportsmen in the lure of the great outdoors. The call of the marshes, the forests, and prairies, echoes and re-echoes in the heart of the man with a gun. Do the millions of sportsmen in the field or at target and traps which are enjoying the fruits of the imagination of this American inventor, realize the origin of their pet ultra-modern rifle or shotgun, or perhaps the still efficient favorite gun handed down to them by the father? It is the purpose of this website to set down briefly, and without an attempt at great descriptive embellishment or technical detail, the accomplishments of the Browning’s.