Free Republic

It reads like an ordinary patent. A citizen of the United States, living in Weber County, Utah, has invented “certain new and useful improvements in firearms.” No fanfare. No grand claims. Just a statement of fact. Yet those lines would lead to a sidearm that rode in the holsters of American troops from the muddy trenches of World War I to the jungles of Vietnam, and into the hands of special operations units long after it was officially replaced. On February 14, 1911, U.S. Patent No. 984,519 was issued to a quiet Ogden man: John Moses Browning. The document itself...

Hi-Power, meet the High Power.The Hi-Power — known as the Browning Hi-Power, the Browning Automatic Pistol, the Grande Puissance, P-35, Pistole 640(b), and so many other names — is arguably the most widely-used military handgun of all time. Present in historic conflicts from both sides of the toughest battles of World War II to the Iranian embassy siege in London that made the British Special Air Service a household name, this single-action semi-automatic pistol was unbelievably innovative for its time, boasting a number of features that made it truly higher power than other options of the day.Now, 87 years after...

"Browning was not a degreed engineer, but he is, to date, the greatest firearms designer who has ever lived. Consider this: had Browning done nothing but the 1911, he’d have a place in the top rank of gun designers, ever. But that’s not all he did, by any means. If he had done nothing but the M1917 and M1919 machine guns, he’d have a place in the top ranks of designers. If he’d done nothing but the M2HB, a gun which will still be in widespread infantry service a century after its introduction, and its .50 siblings, he’d be hailed...

A very nice looking gun. 100% made in the USA. Also Series 70.

The 100th anniversary of John Moses Browning's work of brilliance is March 29th. The gun which won WWI, WWII, Korea, was in Vietnam, and is still to this day one of the most popular platforms for guns. Curious what things, if any, people were doing to celebrate this work of brilliance/art. I am putting time aside that day to get out to shoot mine.

Sandy Koufax pitches a perfect game against the hapless Cubs while Gemini 4 astronaut Ed White executes the first space walk above the Earth. The Beatles play the first “stadium concert” in New York; Lyndon Johnson is sworn in for a full-term as president; and the first Colt M1911 Government Model is “combat customized.” The year is 1965, and the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill captures far more attention than the ministrations of Swedish gunsmith Armand Swenson. His remarkable modifications to a Colt Government Model, however, are proving to be a watershed event in the development of the M1911. Swenson...

A Browning M1911 semiautomatic pistol may soon join the sego lily, Rocky Mountain elk and sugar beet as official symbols of the state of Utah. The State Senate is considering a measure passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday that would declare the .45-caliber handgun the official state firearm — the first in the country. "This firearm was created by John Moses Browning, who was a son of Utah pioneers," said Republican Rep. Carl Wimmer of Herriman, Utah, during debate on the House floor. "This firearm really has defended liberty and freedom around the country and around the world....

Whether his birthday was 21 January 1855 or 23 January 1855, Americans were blessed the day he was born.

In 1911 the U.S. military adopted a new sidearm: John Browning’s venerable .45 caliber automatic pistol. That pistol served with distinction as our armed forces’ standard sidearm into the 1980s, when it was officially replaced by the Beretta M9 9mm automatic pistol. In recent years, however, the 1911 Model .45, in a more modern guise, has been enjoying a renaissance of sorts. At the time of the M9’s adoption, it was regarded as a more modern design and thus a suitable replacement for the tried and true .45, many examples of which were very elderly and worn out, giving it...