Did John Moses Browning carry a pistol?

[Trebor]

JMB was a Mormon?

Yes, and evidently quite devout as well. He did the missionary work that was expected at the time.

His father was involved in the westward migration of the Mormons after they were essentially driven out of (IIRC) Illinois.

 

[hqmhqm]

I got a reply from the person who runs the Browning museum in Utah, Keri Wilde Museum Manager, who said

He carried a Baby Browning, mostly.

I guess that might add some fuel on the old ".45 vs 9mm" argument

 

[Limeyfellow]

I think it's fairly safe to say that most men in the United States carried a handgun of one kind or another for self defense until some time in the middle of the Twentieth Century.

The weird thing being in the 19th century it was illegal to carry in almost every city and town in the US, with rules particularly harsh in southern and western towns. Even though some people carried illegally the vast amount of people didn't. Even in the early twentieth century it wasn't as high as the myth of the time would suggest.

 

[TimM]

Why would he carry a sidearm when he could simply smite his foes with a lightning bolt?

The Gospel According To John (Moses Browning)



The Holy Gospel of John (Moses Browning)
As translated from the original ancient manuscripts by Fr. Frog.
© copyright 2002 by John C. Schaefer

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.

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. (a)

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 unamenable to the artisans of earth and 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 prophet 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 (b) by the followers of John.

(a) Several old manuscripts add the following text. "And they [also rendered as "these men"] didst chamber it for cartridges who's calibers startith with numbers less than the Holy Number 4. And lo the Lord did cause great grief amongst these men when their enemies who were struck in battle with these lesser numbers didst not fall but did continue to cause great harm."

(b) or Hell

© copyright 2002 by John C. Schaefer

For the faithful, the "feast day" of St. John Moses Browning is January 23.

 

[rcmodel]

He carried a Baby Browning, mostly.

Before Penicillian a .32 in the plumbing would kill you as dead as a .45, it just took longer.

+1
We often fail to fully appreciate that fact today.

Gunmen feared getting gut-shot with a small caliber pistol more then a through & through chest wound with a bigger handgun.

The prospect of dying a slow and painful death from sepsis was a frightening prospect before antibiotic's were invented in the 20's, and became commonly used in WWII.

Prior to that, a Baby Browning .25 was just as deadly as a .45, if not more so.


rcmodel

 

[1911Tuner]

I guess that might add some fuel on the old ".45 vs 9mm" argument

Not really. Since Browning didn't really have a pressing need to carry...or even a perceived need...he likely carried something that was small and light because he understood that it's better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Or...how was it once put so eloquently...

"If you don't need to carry a gun, carry one anyway. If you need to carry one...carry two."

 

[Avenger]

John Moses Browning carried a magical 1911. One fatefull day he fire it at a mighty oak tree and Chuck Norris emerged from the smoldering hole.

Which brings me to a question: Were JMB and Chuck ever photographed together? And which one would have been the secret identity?

 

[Andrewsky]

"Browning enjoyed long walks in the woods with his .30 caliber Automatic Rifle slung over his shoulder along with 8 extra 20 round magazines."

 

[Andrewsky]

I actually just made that up.

 

[dourdave]

Obviously, he did not know about the P7.

 

[Sharps-shooter]

Why not a .45? Mainly because there weren't as many tweaked, hopped-up crackheads who spent the last 10 years pumping iron in the prison exercise yard running around loose in those days.

I would have assumed that it was because people hadn't read as many articles from gun magazines. In JMB's day, you could buy Cocaine (pronounced coca-een) over the counter at your neighborhood drug store. Not quite the same as crack, I suppose, but not exactly vitamin C either.

Before Penicillian a .32 in the plumbing would kill you as dead as a .45, it just took longer.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but even today, a gut shot is probably going to kill you. Basically, you're getting a raw-sewage IV, and no amount of antibiotics are going to fix it, unless you can get surgical (to fix the holes) and antibacterial therapy, really, fast. And even then you might die. Of course, a minor leak isn't as bad as a big one.

 

[Joe Demko]

I would have assumed that it was because people hadn't read as many articles from gun magazines. In JMB's day, you could buy Cocaine (pronounced coca-een) over the counter at your neighborhood drug store. Not quite the same as crack, I suppose, but not exactly vitamin C either.

I concur. In the old days, cocaine, opiates and other things that are illegal as hell today were readily available over the counter. The criminal element then was as prone to chemcal forms of recreation as it is today. One of the rallying cries of prohibitionists (doesn't matter which kind) is that it will "reduce crime."
In any case, back in JMB's day there were hooligans "hopped up on goofballs" just like today. Somehow the people of the day managed to defend themselves with handguns that held only five or six shots of cartridges considered wholly inadequate today. Yet, right here on THR, I am regularly assured that people were tougher then than we are now.
I think somewhere along the line we've made a bunch of mistakes.