Wednesday, January 1, 2014

First Western Wednesday Of 2014...!

I just want to say "Thank You" to everyone that stopped by for a visit during the past year! I truly appreciate it!

Today I wanted to talk a bit about one of the fathers of the modern firearms, John Moses Browning! Starting at a very young age, Browning was a true genius in firearms design and much of what he started has not been improved on to any noticeable degree.


Jan 21, 1855:
Gun designer John Browning is born

John Moses Browning, sometimes referred to as the "father of modern firearms," is born 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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

BTW, this information comes to us from the folks over at History.com.Good source of historical stories about all types of happenings!

If it's all the same to you, I'd like to have coffee in the kitchen this morning! Much warmer in there, ya know?

Happy New Year, Everyone!

9 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

Browning here, Mauser over there, their designs are still with us.

Chickenmom said...

'Ya don't fix what isn't broken!
Happy New Year to you and your family Mr. Hermit! We are getting ready for some snow tomorrow..again!

JO said...

Nice detailed information. Saved lives but took some too. Such is the world.

I'm good with the kitchen it is nippy this morning on this first day of the New Year.
Happy New Year All.

linda m said...

Happy New Year!!! My hubby had a Browning rifle for years. He really loved that gun. We are at 3 degrees with snow falling, so coffee in your kitchen sounds good.

BBC said...

I am really sick, that's a poor way to start the new year.

MamaHen said...

Happy New Year!! hope it's a better one than last!

Mamahen said...

Interesting start to the new year....May 2014 be a blessed year for you and yours...I'll meet everyone in the kitchen :))

Dizzy-Dick said...

One of my favorite handguns was Patented in 1911, a 45 semi-automatic. Simple, but effective. Simple is much better than complicated when it comes to firearms.

HermitJim said...

Hey Gorges...
Some things never need to be messed with!

Thanks for coming by today!



Hey Phyllis...
Boy, how true that is!

Thanks for the visit today!



Hey Jo...
Most things can be used for good or bad Sad but true!

Not bad on the patio at 65 with no wind!

Thanks, sweetie, for dropping by today!


Hey Linda M...
Most folks that ever had one love 'em!

Thanks so much for coming by!



Hey BBC...
Sorry to hear that you are ill. Hope you get better soon!

Thanks for coming by today!



Hey Anne...
You and I have the same hope!

Thanks, my friend, for coming over today!



Hey Mamahen...
We can all hope for a more prosperous New Year!

Thanks for coming by today!



Hey Dizzy...
Sure would like to have a good working 1911! Expensive to buy a new one!

Thanks for stopping by today!