[calex59]

Browning then took his shotgun to FN and received a welcome far better than he had from the American gunmakers. He also left them the design for a little .32 automatic pistol. The FN plant was nearly bankrupt and most of the machines idol. Before long they were turning out his .32 automatic pistol in the hundreds of thousands. These were the first guns to have “Browning” stamped on them. For a long time the word Browning was better known in Europe than America.

Here's something to think about and most people won't mention it or think about it.Almost every semi-auto handgun invented since Browning made the first successful semi-auto, owes its existence to John M. Browning. One of the few truly different designs was the Luger and it still used some of the basic principles of Browning's designs(I.E. Blow back mechanism, magazine in the handle, etc).

[yarddog]

I sometimes wonder how handguns would have developed if it were not for Browning.

There were some interesting early designs such as the 1896 Mauser, the Luger, the Glisenti and the Nambu. Unfortunately Browning’s invention of the slide killed them all off, at least I think that is what stopped other developments.