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Show 7 John M. Browning looks over one of his early machine guns. Inset shows how he appeared when 1 8 years old. Father of Modern Firearms by Seventy HE -- five years ago, a man of peace patented the first of his many weapons that were put to use in war WAS a man of soft-spok- en Yet his handiwork barked defiance at freedom's enemies. He perhaps "killed more people than any other individual since time began." Yet he had "little interest in the instruments of war." Such a living paradox was John Moses Browning, father of the Browning machine gun, the Browning auto-matic rifle, the hammerless repeating shotgun, and numerous other weapons for war and peace." " ' It was just 75 years ago that Browning received the first of his 200 patents. It was for a lever-actio- n, single- - ... ettAn "Well done," said the elder 'That's a better gun than any I'll ever make." When his father died, young Brown- his le- ing decided to rifle. He vowed to build an inventory of 600 before offering any for sale a feat which required three mass-produ- ce ver-acti- on O years of constant work. But then the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. bought all 600 plus the patent and manufacturing rights. Winchester didn't recognize Browning as a true master of the art when they asked him to design a .22 repeater and rejected the plans he submitted as unworkable. Undeterred, Browning made the .22 his original' drawings . by hand from and delivered it to Winchester with this simple note: 'This is the gun I showed in my plans. You said it wouldn't work, but it seems to shoot pretty fair to me." As a matter-of-- f act,, theModelL90, Winchester became the favorite of four, decades of spbrtsmeni Designing guns was a most unscientific process for Browning. Models of precise engineering, his weapons were the result of simple observation fol lowed by rough and repeated experi- mentation. In making a new one, for instance, he would ask his workers to make him a piece of iron "this long and this wide" drawing a blueprint in the air with his fingers. While hunting one morning in 1892, Browning noticed how the marsh grass bent low in the wake of a speeding bullet Obviously, a powerful stream xof gas followed the bullet as it left the gun muzzle. Why let this as escape? Browning i as the 79 Model Winchester. Young Browning, then - 24 years old and a real marksman, had made the breechloader in , his father's gunsmith shop in Ogden, Utah. xAt 14, John began to, follow in his father' footsteps and . whittled his first gun. And before he was 20, Browning made a handsome hunting rifle out of scrap he found in his fa- 4 Vt Ana's Jerry Klein , asked himself. Why not harness its energy and put it to work? Back in Ogden, Browning drilled a tiny hole beneath the barrel of a gun, which allowed the escaping gas to be trapped and then utilized to drive a rod which reloaded the weapon. What time and effort this saved the hunter who so often was busy cocking and reloading while his prey fled into the brush! But the benefits of the gas mechto-b- econfined-- - to. anism were-notsportsmen or to the ways of peace. Trouble was brewing down in Cuba and soon the new principle was ap- plied to machine guns, replacing the old hand-crank- s. Firing ten shots a second, the Browning machine gun helped the United States win the Spanish-AmericWar. The Marines used it with telling effect to put down the Boxer Rebellion. And by the time of 'World War I, Browning saw with sad eyes how more and more of his work was destined for military use. A .45 pistol Browning perfected in 1905 eventually became the Colt Model 1911 which is still the standard side-ar- m of our armed forces. When American machine-gun companies marched into France in 1917, they were armed with an improved, water-coolversion of recoil-operathis machine gun. -- an semi-automa- tic ed ed , "Browning adapted the machine gun to fighter planes, synchronizing, it so it fired between the propeller blades. And his automatic rifle became the famous BAR. of both World Wars. But even when World I was over, Browning was unable to devote himself once more to making guns for sport The shy and peaceful Mormon said. "There will come another war, and America must be prepared to defend itself." . ,Someof hisfinal efforts led to improved machine guns, antiaircraft cannon and the .303 guns, the on the famous British Spitfire pursuit plane. Even the G.L's Garand rifle used the same system Browning devised before the turn of 37-m- m. gas-operati- ng the century. It has been truly said that in World War II the Ogden inventor "walked beside every soldier who carried a gun and .flew with" every fighter pilot" Browning died in 1926 while in Belgium to see the first production of a new shotgun with double triggers and automatic ejectors. His last days were once again occupied by happy thoughts of the hunter trudging pver the fields with a dog and la gun the sportsman, not the killer. " And today the Browning Arms Co. of Ogden, Utah, still makes shotguns designed for the ways of peace by the father of modern firearms. II. ' The famed inventor holds one of his --first automatic guns. - v.V 1 Closeup shows expert craftsmanship that went Into making of all Browning weapons. v X Browning superposed shotgun. .L-! - Browning automatic shotgun. - aFsniitM. ip Aiiuiaii r-J, I t r7 jl -- - r "; I i 2 1 .... i ' " This was the ers' gunshop John stands FAMILY WECKLY MAGAZINE MAICH 6, 1935 Browning broth- Ogden, Utah. third from left. in ; |