Double Naught Spy
New member
My point in short order, it does not matter what JMB intended as the guns we carry are not the gun he originally submitted to the military. A lot of changes, per military spec and not JMB were stipulated. What JMB intended pertains to guns we don't have.
The gun designed by Browning and submitted to the Government for testing was not the gun we know as the 1911. Browning may have been a genius, but the "1911" is not his gun in the since that it was not a pure creation of the attributes that he felt were what was necessary and appropriate. He was competing for a contract through Colt with other gun makers like Luger. This was not a creation of Brownings as the ultimate fighting handgun that he convinced the government to buy. Instead, he was meeting the goals of the Government for a handgun. Strangely, Luger did very well in the testing as well and that gun is completely different on the specifics, but matched the Government's criteria. After the testing, the Government decided on other changes such as in the safeties. Archie mentioned some of the changes in short order.
Nobody has any idea what Browning intended. As implied already, most people don't even realize that the safeties of the 1911 are not of Browning's original design. A bunch of people don't even know they have 1911A1 varients and not actual 1911s.
To my knowledge, there are no notes that I have seen published that say what Browning perceived as the ideal handgun and my guess is that it was not the 1911 since so much of the gun's significant features were due to post hoc military changes, not of Brownings creation or wanting. Nobody knows if Browning intended any particular type of carry for the 1911.
One thing I do think Browning intended about the 1911 was that the bullets in the magazine were supposed to feed reliably into the chamber. Nintey years later, the same problems of magazines still plague the gun. He was instrumental in the development of a fine shooting gun with a not so fine bullet feeding system.
By the way, I love my 2001 1911A1 varient clone, but it sure as heck isn't what Browning submitted in 1906 that later became accepted as the 1911.
The gun designed by Browning and submitted to the Government for testing was not the gun we know as the 1911. Browning may have been a genius, but the "1911" is not his gun in the since that it was not a pure creation of the attributes that he felt were what was necessary and appropriate. He was competing for a contract through Colt with other gun makers like Luger. This was not a creation of Brownings as the ultimate fighting handgun that he convinced the government to buy. Instead, he was meeting the goals of the Government for a handgun. Strangely, Luger did very well in the testing as well and that gun is completely different on the specifics, but matched the Government's criteria. After the testing, the Government decided on other changes such as in the safeties. Archie mentioned some of the changes in short order.
Nobody has any idea what Browning intended. As implied already, most people don't even realize that the safeties of the 1911 are not of Browning's original design. A bunch of people don't even know they have 1911A1 varients and not actual 1911s.
To my knowledge, there are no notes that I have seen published that say what Browning perceived as the ideal handgun and my guess is that it was not the 1911 since so much of the gun's significant features were due to post hoc military changes, not of Brownings creation or wanting. Nobody knows if Browning intended any particular type of carry for the 1911.
One thing I do think Browning intended about the 1911 was that the bullets in the magazine were supposed to feed reliably into the chamber. Nintey years later, the same problems of magazines still plague the gun. He was instrumental in the development of a fine shooting gun with a not so fine bullet feeding system.
By the way, I love my 2001 1911A1 varient clone, but it sure as heck isn't what Browning submitted in 1906 that later became accepted as the 1911.