HISTORY AND NOW WHAT DO WE DO?

I was asked the following question:
 
QUESTION:
You have referred to several names in your “rants”. I would like to know if you wouldn’t mind, giving a small overview of the actual people named in firearms publications and your posts as you call them: i.e. Browning, Stoner, Colt, Smith & Wesson etc. Are these simply the names of manufacturers of guns? Thank you.

I truly apologize. I tend to assume when I shouldn’t. I have been graced with very sharp trainees as a whole and it is wrong for me to assume that their research and understanding of firearms is as mine. I truly apologize for that, and the fact that since I am a rank amateur as a writer I didn’t do proper historical or bibliographical references during my posts. So let me give a very basic overview of the actual names.
1.    Browning, Winchester, Smith & Wesson, Colt, Remington, Beretta, are all the names of major manufacturers of firearms of all types mostly common to the USA. They are derived from the names of their original design and patent holders in homage shall we say. (The Europeans have many that although imported to the US are not as common or widely sold and distributed as the previous group i.e. Walther, Luger. Benelli, Sauer, Heym, Enfield etc.)
2.    BROWNING: John Moses Browning is the world’s most prolific gun designer. His designs include, most notably the 1911 .45 ACP pistol, the Browning P 35 Hi Power 9mm high capacity (13 rounds) semi auto pistol, the .50 Cal. Machine gun M2 “Ma Deuce”, the Model 1913 Browning .30 Cal. Machine gun, the Browning Automatic Rifle “BAR”, the Model 5 semi auto shotgun . The list goes on and on but Browning influenced every single name mentioned above and sold his firearms under all of those named except Beretta as far as I know. He literally held thousands of patents of firearms design and guns that are manufactured today by all the manufacturers listed and many others.
3.    STONER: Eugene Stoner is the designer and father of the M-16 rifle and all of its progeny and descendants to date. He was an aerospace and aeronautic engineer who pioneered using plastic and lightweight alloys from the aircraft industry and aerospace technology to design the original AR series of rifles (M-16) for the Armalite company thus the AR not (automatic rifle though that became the accepted designation. Originally sold as the AR 10 and later the AR 15 and carbine versions the US Military through Gen. Curtis Le May acquired the weapon design and gave it the designation M-16. The carbine version when fielded was simply named the Colt Commando as Colt had the Govt. contract to produce the M-16 originally and solely.
4.    I was familiar with different versions of the carbine issued as the XM 10, and XM110 and 115 with 15” and 10” barrels and collapsible butt stocks.
5.    GARAND: John Garand designed and built the M 1 Garand semi auto rifle in 30.06 caliber, issued to troops in WWII.
6.    KALASHNIKOV: Mikhail Kalashnikov designed the AK 47 rifle at the end of WWII, and it is in service to this day as the main competitor of Stoners M-16
7.    COLT: Col. Samuel Colt designed some of the world’s first commercially and militarily successful revolving cylinder handguns. The Patterson, Walker, Navy, Army, Peacemaker, models were all handguns that he held the patents to. (He did not design the first American “bored through” cylinder handgun after percussion designs. A man named Wheeler held the original patent on the first revolving cartridge design that both Colt and Smith and Wesson wound up producing )
8.    SMITH and WESSON: Horace Smith and Daniel Baird Wesson salesmen and entrepreneurs who owned patents but were not designers of firearms.
9.    WINCHESTER: Oliver Winchester was a shirt sales man who acquired the patent to the Henry Rifle and the Volcanic pistol design. He also was not a designer of guns but started the company that bears his name.
10.    REMINGTON: Eliphalet  Remington was the original American manufacturer of what is considered truly American firearms with rifling and percussion firing mechanisms and his manufacturing techniques were the basis of what is now historically called the “Industrial Revolution” and mass production.
11.    JOHN MOSES BROWNING : his designs of firearms were produced under patent by all of the major manufacturers and some are to this day. Remington and Winchester rifles and shotguns, Colt 1911-A1 pistols, Browning Hi Power pistols, are but a sample of his designs that made all these companies what they are today. It is why Browning is acknowledged as “The Father of Modern Firearms Design.” and rightfully so. His 1911 pistols and M-2 “fifty cal” machine guns proudly serve in the field with the U.S military proudly dispensing justice to terrorists in all corners of the globe one round at a time for 100 years. Bringin the hate to the bad guys and sendin it down range. American designed and known worldwide.

Hope this helps although there are many others, these are the basis of the Americans who have had their influence felt across the spectrum of firearms manufacturing and design.

Elections are coming up so pay attention. Gene Green, S.Jackson Lee, John Cornyn, Bill White are all names of people I will personally do everything to see defeated in the upcoming round of voting. Do the duty folks. I hate to get political but defeat all the non gun candidates and check the NRA and TSRA websites for info on who they are. I say these candidates because their agendas go far deeper than just Gun Control issues. These are the folks who would rather society destroy itself than lose their personal agendas to what is right for the people….all the people….not just their people.

EDDIE