John Moses Browning

1855 – 1926

John Moses Browning was born January 1855 to Elizabeth and Johnathan Browning in the settlement of Ogden, Utah Territory. Johnathan was an early Mormon convert, traveling across the country with his wife and children before settling in Utah and marrying twice more. With the first family somewhat estranged from the latter two John would become head of the Utah families after Johnathan’s death in 1879.

Johnathan had been a gunsmith prior to his move west, including producing rifles of his own design. However, such a specialty was rarely needed on the frontier and Johnathan would maintain a blacksmith shop while also exploring other business ventures once in Ogden. John grew up working in his father’s various business ventures, including the metal working and repair shop, and found particular talent as gunsmith and stock maker. John and his younger brother Matt officially took over their father’s repair business about 1877, creating the Browning Brothers Company.

In 1879 John received his first patent, for a single-shot rifle. The J.M. & M.S. Browning Company was created by John and Matt to produce the rifle, approximately 600 of which were made between 1880 and 1883.

During that time John also invented three all-in-one reloading tools, as well as a bolt action and lever action repeating rifle. The repeating rifles were never produced, but the loading tools were sold as accessories to the single-shot rifles. The first loading tool was patented and later sold to Marlin in 1882. The second was produced between 1882 and 1883 before Winchester claimed patent infringement. The third was briefly produced during 1883 but never patented.

Winchester purchased the single-shot rifle patent in 1883 and John would forego manufacturing to focus the rest of his career on independent invention of firearms. Meanwhile, Matt and several other Browning brothers would turn the former factory and repair business into one of the largest sporting goods stores in the country. The ability to maintain a relative independence from the companies that produced his designs contributed to Browning’s creation of a wide range of firearm types.

Although properly lauded as America’s preeminent firearm designer, Browning would spend roughly half his life in Belgium where Fabrique Nationale produced some of his most successful designs. It was in the FN factory at Leige where Browning died the day after Thanksgiving, 1926.