What if....

I make no apology for coming back to firearms of one sort or another. In truth I'm not trying to make some great macho statement but rather wonder what could have been if the designers of these hugely iconic firearms had turned their amazing talents to other things.

Case in point is the firearm pictured. Designed by one John Moses Browning it was the mainstay of the US armed forces for over 60 years. The design has never been beaten although, with modern metals and engineering tolerances improved on, the 21st century version is a vast improvement on the original. But the basic fundamental design has never been changed.

How can one man see such a clear picture of a design and know it will have no equal.. ever??!! John Moses Browning was also responsible, or had a hand in, the famous Winchester rifles - seen in countless John Wayne movies. The mighty .50 cal Browning machinegun was his, he designed the first 'modern' over and under shotgun and the first semi-auto shotgun. His Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) has become an icon of design too.

I shudder to think of what might have been had he turned his mind to other facets of engineering.


NOTE: for the educated - the pistol is a CO2 powered copy of the Tanfoglio 'Witness' 9mm semi-auto, but correct in every detail right down to field stripping and assembly.
The dummy rounds are for effect only as they are both .357 magnum rounds.