House of Browning

Browning Brothers 1878 and Winchester 1885 falling block rifle.

John Browning’s first patent application for a single shot rifle was submitted in 1879. The rifle was designed over the previous year while John and his younger brother Matt were running a gunsmith and general repair shop, the Browning Brothers Company. By 1880 the J.M. & M.S. Company was incorporated to produce the rifle in a small factory, employing three other Browning brothers. Approximately 600 rifles were produced between 1880 and 1883. Surviving examples show a wide range of finish quality and chamberings, from plain hunting rifles to elaborate schuetzen-style, in calibers from .22 to .45. Despite the patent being submitted in 1879 the rifle was designed within the year 1878, evidenced by family history and the date stamped on the model submitted with the patent application.

There are several well know stories about how the Browning brothers came to the attention of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and its Vice President Thomas Bennett, each with its merits and contradictions. We may never know the exact circumstances that brought Bennett to Ogden on December 10, 1883 but the contract purchasing John Browning’s first patent would fast track the careers of John and Matt and bring the world within reach of the Browning brothers. Winchester would produce the rifle as the Model 1885, chambered in 98 cartridges from .22 rimfire to 50-100 Express and 20ga.

The 1878 patent application was accompanied by a patent model, as required at that time. The model is currently housed in the Smithsonian’s National Firearms Collection.

Anecdotes suggest only one prototype rifle was made prior to beginning production. That rifle was reportedly stolen along with one of the first batches of production rifles during a break-in of the factory sales room about 1880. It is not know to have ever been recovered.

Adjustments and improvements began at Winchester even before Bennett finalized the patent purchase. In mid 1883 William Mason was tasked with developing as similar a rifle as possible without infringing on the Browning patent. Although Mason’s efforts proved untenable to circumvent the patent, he set the groundwork for Winchester production with alterations to the firing pin, lever, and mainspring. Throughout manufacture minor modifications would be employed to produce three distinct models; the high-wall, low-wall, and musket, as well as a take-down option for each.

Patents:

• 220271 – John Browning