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The Superposed Browning
by Col. W. R. (Reid) Betz
From the pages of the Double Gun Journal. Volume 1, Issue 1 - Winter 1989.
Col. W. R. (Reid) Betz retired from the United States Air Force in 1976 after 48 years of military service in the Nebraska National Guard and the Army of the United States as well as the Air Force. He has written hunting and fishing stories, as well as a number of articles on Browning guns for magazines in Switzerland and the U.S. He is presently Executive Director of the Browning Collectors Association.
Today the Browning name is associated with fine guns the world over. Browning rifles, pistols, shotguns, machine guns and machine cannon have served the Armed Forces of the U.S. well from the Boxer Rebellion in China to the rice paddies of Vietnam, and some are still in the military inventory.
John M. Browning, the world’s greatest firearms inventor, was born in Ogden, Utah in 1855. His father, Jonathan, was a gunmaker who came to Utah with the Mormon emigration in 1852. A one time blacksmith, he had helped arm the Mormons for their trek across the hostile plains from Illinois. His revolving rifles, similar to, but not copies of Sam Colt’s, and his “harmonica” repeaters were rugged, well designed, and accurate, characteristics still built into Browning guns.
John M’s first invention, the single shot rifle was made in 1878. Its success on the western scene came to the attention of Oliver Winchester’s salesmen, and the patent rights were sold to Winchester, who produced it as their Model 1885. This was the beginning of 17 years of close relations between inventor and producer, but Browning’s name never appeared on the lever action rifles made by Winchester from 1886 until this day nor on the Model 1887, 1893 or 1897 repeating shotguns invented by Browning. Winchester bought 13 shotguns from Browning, but produced only three of them. The rest were purchased as insurance against their purchase by a competitor.
