Posted on 05/16/2021 10:12:17 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
As the woke mob continues to rifle through the history books looking for icons to topple, it’s almost certain they will eventually get to firearms inventor John Browning. Thanks to a well-researched and very readable new biography, “The Guns of John Moses Browning: The Remarkable Story of the Inventor Whose Firearms Changed the World,” he’ll likely come into their crosshairs sooner rather than later.
In what is considered the only existing firsthand account of Browning at work in his workshop, an Ogden, Utah, newspaper described the scene in December 1889: “John M., the genius of the firm, lightly touched the trigger on a piece of machinery fastened in a vise and in an instant, too quick to be counted, 15 shots were fired into a box of sand placed to receive the bullets. The invention is what may be termed an automatic rifle.”
Arguably Browning’s most revered firearm remains the Colt 1911 pistol. At the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. Army was searching for a new sidearm. Mr. Gorenstein chronicles the painstaking specifications and trials for both the gun and the .45-caliber ammunition it fired. The competition eventually came down to weapons made by Browning and Colt and the gun manufacturer Savage Arms. After a series of trials, the final test required each weapon to fire 6,000 rounds without a malfunction. “When the firing stopped,” Browning “was momentarily uncertain whether the pistol had broken or had fired all six thousand rounds,” Mr. Gorenstein tells us. “The gun was disassembled and each part examined under a microscope for cracks or deformities. This time Colt metallurgy and machining met the challenge. No problems were found. The Savage suffered thirty-one malfunctions; plus, shooting it produced a sharp, distinctly uncomfortable recoil.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Owned both a Browning Hi-Power and numerous 1911s........
Current carry is a .45 but no longer a Browning design.....I think Browning would be delighted to see the advances in materials and machining available today...
Yeah, maybe - or maybe he'd be disgusted with the plastics, the cast parts and the roll pins.
Owned a Remington Model 11 with Browning patent 12 gauge. Had the telltale square back. Sold it for $100 back in the 80’s. Sigh.
Maybe, but I carry all day every day and I love my small lightweight.45 with all stainless steel parts and plastic frame.....
Am I mistaken remembering that I fired a Navy BAR in boot camp weapons training? (1971)
From a reply at the site:
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The Marines were the last of the U.S. military services to receive the much ballyhooed Beretta 9mm pistols in the early 1990’s. Marine infantry battalions got them first and turned in their Browning M1911 45 caliber pistols.
Within the first year my repair team at Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow had received 7000 Beretttas back for repair of broken upper slides.
These Berettas were poorly manufactured by the factory in South America. The infantry battalions got the reliable Browning M1911’s back until Beretta delivered functional 9mm pistols from their European factory.
Some of the Brownings we reissued were over 50 years old. They were indestructible.
John Moses Browning: my favorite Mormon.
My father gave all of us kids a Belgian made browning sweet 16 when we turned 11.
I have one of the early ones from the Belgium factory. It’s the same model that was used to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand prior to WWI.
I’ve packed the same Commander for 37 years. Good weapon.
The amazing thing is how durable his guns were despite the fact he didn’t spend years or even months endurance testing designs. He just had a knack for eyeballing a design and knowing that it was durable.
Just last summer Anniston Army Depot received Ma Deuce #324, sent from an active duty unit for a rebuild. When they checked the serial number they found that machine gun had never been rebuilt before. It had been in service for 87 years running on nothing but cleaning and lubing.
—”It had been in service for 87 years running on nothing but cleaning and lubing.”
A quick guess about equipment that Uncle Sam might still be using after 87 YEARS?
I enjoy sewing and made some wool anoraks from US-issue blankets.
Reenactors and collectors can make a close approximation of the vintage. The ones I used were probably manufactured before WWII. Thinking there are more than a few still in service.
Also, I have seen some very old ammo. They say it is checked out at the arsenal.
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