Festival of John Moses Browning

| January 23, 2022

Today we celebrate the birthday of John Moses Browning, and his Gospel. Sit you down and harken.

The Holy Gospel of JMB

As translated from the original ancient manuscripts by Friar Frog.

1) In the beginning was the 1911, and the 1911 was THE pistol, and it was good. And behold the Lord said, “Thou shalt not muck with my disciple John’s design for it is good and it workith. For John made the 1911, and lo all of his weapons, from the designs which I, the Lord, gave him upon the mountain.”

2) “And shouldst thou muck with it, and hang all manner of foul implements upon it, and profane its internal parts, thou shalt surely have malfunctions, and in the midst of battle thou shalt surely come to harm.”

3) And as the ages passed men in their ignorance and arrogance didst forget the word of the Lord and began to profane the 1911. The tribe of the gamesman did place recoil spring guides and extended slide releases upon the 1911 and their metal smiths didst tighten the tolerances and alter parts to their liking, their clearness of mind being clouded by lust.

4) Their artisans did hang all manner of foul implements upon the 1911 and did so alter it that it became impractical to purchase. For lo, the artisans didst charge a great tax upon the purchasers of the 1911 so that the lowly field worker could not afford one. And the profaning of the internal parts didst render it unworkable when the dust of the land fell upon it, and these profaners didst try and fit more rounds of ammunition into the magazines than the holy number of seven, appointed for the .45.

5) And lo, they didst install adjustable sights, which are an abomination unto the Lord. For they doth break and lose their zero when thou dost need true aim. And those who have done so will be slain in great numbers by their enemies in the great battle.

6) And it came to pass that the Lord didst see the abomination wrought by man and didst cause, as he had warned, fearful malfunctions to come upon the abominations and upon the artisans who thought they could do no wrong.

7) Seeing the malfunctions and the confusion of men, the lord of the underworld did see an opportunity to further ensnare man and didst bring forth pistols made of plastic, whose form was such that they looked and felt like a brick, yet the eyes of man being clouded, they were consumed by the plastic pistol and did buy vast quantities of them.

8) And being a deceitful spirit, the lord of the underworld did make these plastic pistols, filled with tiny springs and parts that were easily lost, and they were unmendable to the artisans of earth so they were unable to muck much with the design, and lo these pistols did appear to function.

9) And the evil one also brought forth pistols in which the trigger didst both cock and fire them and which require a “dingus” to make them appear safe.

10) But man being stupid did not understand these new pistols and didst proceed to shoot themselves with the plastic pistol and with the trigger cocking pistols for lo their manual of arms required great intelligence which man had long since forsaken. Yet man continue to gloat over these new pistols blaming evil forces for the negligent discharges which they themselves had committed.

11) And when man had been totally ensnared with the plastic pistol, the lord of the underworld didst cause a plague of the terrible Ka-Boom to descend upon man and the plastic pistols delivered their retribution upon men. And there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the land.

12) Then seeing that the eyes of man were slowly being opened and that man was truly sorrowful for his sinful misdeeds, the Lord did send his messengers in the form of artisans who did hear and obey the teachings of the prophet and who didst restore the profaned 1911s to their proper configuration, and lo, to the amazement of men they didst begin to work as the Lord had intended.

13) And the men of the land didst drive out the charlatans and profaners from the land, and there was joy and peace in the land, except for the evil sprits which tried occasionally to prey on the men and women of the land and who were sent to the place of eternal damnation by the followers of John.

Now go ye forth and sin no more.
Amen.

Category: Blue Skies, Second Amendment, The Warrior Code

16 Comments
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The Neanderthal

Amen.

SFC D

Amen, hallelujah, praise the lord and pass the ammunition! Let us all now turn to Revelations 19:11, and rejoice in his creation!

KoB

And ALL of the Disciples of His Most Saintly JMB (Howitzer Be His Name) said AMEN and sang Praises. Apple frosting pound cake with Butter Pecan Ice Cream for all hands. For those that wants to, freedom seed sowing with my NIB Kimber 1911 Custom LW is authorized.

Anonymous

Amen!

jeff LPH 3 63-66

I’ll second that……..

rgr769

Anyone here who plans a trip that passes through Ogden, Utah should plan a stop there at the old train station. It is a railroad museum, but also house the Browning museum, which displays virtually all of our firearms saint’s creations.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

While I was in the ARNG 1975-1977, we had WW2 1911’s made by the Remington Rand typewriter company if I remember correctly.

rgr769

Remington Rand made more 1911A1’s than any other gov’t contract manufacturer. 1,086,624 pistols were made by them between 1942 and 1945. Colt only made 438,527 1911A1’s from 1924 to 1945. There were three other companies who made them during WWII (Singer, Ithaca, and Union Switch & Signal). The Singer sewing machine company made the least, only about 500. Because of their rarity, they are the most valuable to collectors.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

Singer gave Rem Rand the tooling after the 500 were made.

mmcm(sw)nuc

As Mike Hammer would say: “Amen”

A Proud Infidel®™

AMEN to Saint John Moses Browning, Howitzer be his name!!!

I’m in the midst of reading a terrific book about him called “THE GUNS of John Moses Browning” by Nathan Gorenstein which chronicles his legacy from THE very first firearm he built as a kid!

Last edited 2 years ago by A Proud Infidel®™
rgr1480

You forgot to post the icon image of him …. again!

St.JohnMosesBrowning.jpg
Martinjmpr

Unpopular opinion: The High Power (P-35), JMB’s last design, was a superior gun. The 1911 was a significant weapon for its age (1905 – 1911) but by 1930 there had been a lot of advancements in firearms that were incorporated into the P-35. There’s a reason no modern gun uses a swinging toggle under the barrel or a removable barrel bushing JMB removed those for the Hi Power for a good reason. He also eliminated the grip safety, which is only there because the US military required it.

I get the sentimental attachment to the 1911 (and the S&W DA revolver, and the Colt SAA revolver) but objectively speaking, there are better guns out there than the 1911.

SFC D

I agree, there are handguns that are mechanically superior. Problem is that a 1911 is ergonomically perfect for my hands and shooting style. It works well for me, your mileage may vary. I stick with what works. Not fond of double-stack 9mm’s or micro 9’mm’s, they just don’t fit right. Like blonde chick with the bears said, “This one is just right”.

Martinjmpr

Isn’t that kind of a chicken – vs – egg question though? If you grew up with the 1911, learned to shoot on the 1911 and are most familiar with the 1911, then of course the 1911 is going to feel “ergonomically perfect” for you. I learned to shoot handguns on a Smith & Wesson revolver so that’s what feels most “natural” to me but there’s nothing inherently good or bad about the 1911’s grip shape or grip angle.

When it comes to automatic pistols, I find the Glock’s more angled Luger-type grip leads to a more natural “point” for me.