His inventions included the machine gun and the automatic rifle, which revolutionised hunting and warfare.
Born in 1855, mr Browning learned gunsmithing at his father’s shop in Ogden, Utah. from an early age, he showed interest in designing new, innovative firearms than repairing weapons. he built his first weapon at just age 14, a single-shot rifle for his brother, Matt.
In 1879, mr Browning and his brothers started their own shop, using steam-powered tools to produce more sophisticated weapons than they had been able to build by hand. he received his first patent the same year, for a breech-loading single-shot rifle.
The Browning Gun Factory, as the shop was known, soon acquired a good reputation, and demanded exceeded supply. mr Browning, however, did not have the capital to either expand production or set up a marketing network.
In 1883, he began selling the rights to manufacture his rifles to the Winchester company. The Winchester rifles so familiar to Wild West movie fans – among them, the iconic 1886 Lever Action Repeating Rifle and the 1897 Pump Action Shotgun – were Browning designs.
Profile: John Moses Browning, the world’s most inventive firearms designer