Val Allen Browning
1895-1994
Val Browning was a younger son of John Moses and Rachel Browning. After graduating high school in 1913 Val studied engineering at Cornell University, despite his father’s feelings that such formal education was unnecessary. It is assumed, but unknown, that he graduated from university.
By 1917 Val had become one of a number of Browning Brothers’ representatives which assisted the set-up and production of M1917 machine guns and the B.A.R..
In early 1918 Val enlisted in the United States Army and was commissioned as second lieutenant with the 79th Infantry Division, arriving in France by May of that year. Val served during the war training troops in the use of the Browning Brothers arms, and saw combat near Verdun operating heavy machine guns. Following the armistice, Val returned to the US and was discharged in Washington, DC.
Val returned briefly to Liege in 1919 to report on the condition of FN’s facilities. From 1920 to 1922 Val stayed at FN to assist in rebuilding the company’s manufacturing capabilities. During that time he oversaw the development of the 1910/22 pistol and the pump action .22 caliber “Trombone” rifle.
When the Browning Arms Company was reorganized to handle US distribution of arms imported from FN, Val was named Vice-President along with his cousin Marriner.
In 1924, during a brief trip home to Ogden, Val married Anne Chaffin. By the end of the year the two moved to Liege, where Val continued to represent the family’s interests and work on product development.
When Val returned to FN in 1924 he also took along John’s prototype over-under shotgun, which would become the “Superposed”. Between 1924 and 1935 Val worked on refining the Superposed design, and assisted in the set-up and production of the B.A.R. as well as M1917 and M1919 machine guns.
In 1935 Val and his family fled the looming tensions of Europe. With his return to Ogden, his older brother John retired and Val became president of both the J.M. & M.S. Browning Company and Browning Arms Company.
Throughout the rest of his career Val worked to make the company a world leader in the sporting goods market, incorporating Browning Industries in 1955 and Browning Arms Canada in 1958.
Val retired in 1963 and was succeeded as president by his son John Val Browning. Val would stay on with the company, in an unknown capacity, and in 1988 was cited as the last Browning still associated with the Browning company, where he spent three to four hours daily.
Val Browning died in 1994 at the age of 98, father of four and widower since 1975.
Speaking of his own career within the shadow of his father’s, Val said the following during an interview: “He was such an extraordinary genius and accomplished so much that there wasn’t much left to do in firearms design except to take advantage of modern materials and methods”
Val is probably most well known for his work completing the superposed shotgun, and for creating the two-piece lifter for the Auto-5. While he lacked his father’s acumen for business and invention, Val would receive many of his own patents and successfully continue the Browning legacy. Val would also have the foresight to save his father’s early work by requesting prototypes be returned from their various manufactures. That collection was held by Browning Arms before mostly being donated to Union Depot Museum, now the Browning Firearms Museum, of Ogden, UT.
Patents:
| Submitted | Patent Number | Granted | Description |