Posted on 10/22/2018 11:13:57 AM PDT by Perseverando
From the Long rifle to the AR-15, the story of firearm innovation is inextricably tied to the story of the United States.
1. Kentucky Rifle
Martin Meylin has been credited with being the first great American gunmaker and inventor of the Pennsylvania long rifle—which was to become known as the Kentucky long rifle (“Kentucky,” in those days, being anything in the wilderness west of Pennsylvania). Meylin’s small cobblestone workshop still stands off a two-lane road in Lancaster. Local schools are named after him. Plaques have been erected in his honor. State politicians have even written legislation commemorating his contribution to American life.
Well, while we know that Meylin left his home in Zurich, Switzerland, around 1710, and ended up in the German-speaking area of Lancaster County—a place that would become the center of American gun innovation for more than a century—we don’t know much else. And while it is tidy to give a single inventor credit for the gun, it’s probably the case that numerous inventors and blacksmiths engineered the Kentucky rifle over a period of decades.
The invention created by these German-speaking immigrants and their children changed the way Americans hunted, fought, and explored. Captain John Dillin, author of a popular book about the Kentucky rifle in the 1920s, would claim that the gun “changed the whole course of world history; made possible the settlement of a continent; and ultimately freed our country of foreign domination. Light in weight; graceful in line; economical in consumption of powder and lead; fatally precise; distinctly American; it sprang into immediate popularity; and for a hundred years was a model often slightly varied but never radically changed.”
The rifle—the word derived from the German riffeln, meaning to cut grooves—was first developed in Europe as
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Anyone see any room for improvement on this list? (Just kidding - let the Freeping begin.)
Ma Deuce
Winchester 1873
Another vote for Browning M2.
A century later it’s still rocking.
I might have chosen a couple of others but overall a pretty good list.
Winchester 94.
Browning Hi-Power.
I would think that the M1 Garand deserved to be on the list.
Tough enough to pick 10 much less 5.
The entire GAU series airborne, naval, and ground.
My brother in law passed away earlier this year. One of 3 handguns he left and my wife asked me to sell was a 1911, not a browning but still, those 1911 fans are a very loyal subculture and love them .45s for sure.
I probably would have replaced the Spencer but not sure with what.
I read a story in one of the old west magazines which was actually about my late wife’s family in Texas just after the War Between The States.
They were headed into Indian territory and the Army actually gave them two Spencer rifles and 2000 rounds of ammo. Totally different world.
We need a bigger list.
Please see my post #9. The other was a Browning Hi-Power. Those fans are about like the 1911 people. They love ‘em.
My dad left me the Colt 1911 he bought during the Cuban Missile Crisis. My favorite gun, along with my Marlin model 60 .22lr from my youth.
The Five Most Important Guns In American History According to Megan:
1. The rifle that fired first at Lexington starting the American Revolution.
2. The rifle carried by John Brown at Harper’s Ferry starting the US Civil War.
3. The pistol belonging to John Wilkes Booth.
4. Lee Harvey Oswald’s rifle.
5. James Earl Ray’s rifle.
The 1911 I sold was a Colt. 1933 Argentine government issue in VGC. I knew nothing about those until I did the research so I would know what it was worth........now I regret selling it.
Agreed!
I would wager that the number of rounds fired at our nation's enemies via the M1 would outnumber those fired by the 1911.
no 5—MI Garand
Well one could say the little .32 auto used by Gavrilo Princip in 1914 and it was made in Belgium.
Yes he was Serbian and in Serbia but the gun was invented by an American and later involved America in WWI.
Pennsylvania long rifle, Gatling Gun, Colt 1911, M1 Garand, Ma Deuce.
No plastic riles allowed.
The Browning M2 “Ma Deuce” is still a very effective weapon in 2018. That heavy firepower was something that was very effective against the Germans and Japanese in World War II.
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