Browning, John Moses (1855–1926)

US gunsmith and inventor. His breech-loading single-shot rifle was patented in 1879 and bought by the Winchester Repeating Company. His next patented designs were those for his repeating rifle, in 1884, and the Colt machine-gun, which later was accepted by the US army. Perhaps his best-known weapon is his Browning pistol, which was manufactured at Liège, Belgium, in large quantities and much used in World War I. He produced the Browning machine gun in 1917 and the Browning automatic rifle in 1918.

He was born in Ogden, Utah, the son of Mormon parents, and produced his first gun from scrap iron at age 13. He formed Browning Brothers Company and marketed his products through the Colt Company. During World War I Browning designed a new weapon capable of firing nearly 40,000 rounds before suffering a breakage; it was adjudged the best weapon in a series of tests made by the US war department. Both Browning automatics were used by US troops in World War II. The Winchester and Stevens sporting rifles and other types of sporting weapons were also Browning's designs. He expanded his business overseas and died in Belgium.

It was a Browning pistol that was used to assassinate Archduke Ferdinand in 1914 and so begin World War I.