Gun Digest 2011. Dan ShidelerЧитать онлайн книгу.
was further tantalized by the fact that it would be a natural move for Browning, since John M. Browning pioneered the very first pump action shotgun with several advanced features not even found today on the Remington 870.
The more I thought about developing and presenting a proposal for an advanced, premium quality pump shotgun to Browning, the more enthusiastic I became. It seemed to me to be a natural, considering the early patent and history of the first Browning-designed pump. I reviewed the past history of the pump action shotgun with my boss Howard Johnson, president of the Bellmore Johnson Tool Company (BJT) of Hamden, Connecticut. I was employed as BJT’s chief engineer at the time, and in 1970 I persuaded Howie to let me design a prototype of the proposed shotgun, later known as the BPS (Browning Pump Shotgun). He became equally enthusiastic about the possibility of selling the BPS and gave me permission to design the gun’s layout in detail prior to the actual presentation to Browning.
I proceeded to set up the design project objectives for the new project as follows:
1. The gun must be completely ambidextrous and favor both right and left hand shooters. Bottom ejection was essential, and the side ejection receiver ports would be eliminated.
2. The safety must be thumb operated, centrally located on the receiver tang and easily controlled by the thumb on the trigger finger right or left hand.
3. It must be loaded from the bottom ejection port opening without depressing the lifter and with no restriction or finger pinching by the lifter during the loading operation.
4. Twin action bars must be employed for smooth non binding slide operation.
5. The receiver must be machined from quality high strength steel. All components should likewise be quality materials. (No die-cast parts.)
6. Smooth, streamlined receiver, stock, and forearm shape. (No humpback shape to rear of receiver.)
7. Best quality balance and user-friendly stock dimensions in accordance with Browning’s high standards.
8. Absolute top quality to be employed in all components with no substitutes in materials or methods.
9. Tremendous reliability of function and smoothness of operation to be absolutely mandatory.
10. Addition of a trigger disconnector to positively eliminate the possibility of accidentally firing when shucking the slide while holding the trigger to the rear.
This illustrates the thumb engaging the central position of the BPS’s ambidextrous safety without moving the trigger finger to operate the safety for a fast shot, as is necessary with a conventional crossbolt safety.
With these project objectives now clearly established, I was at last ready to start the new design layout with a clean sheet of paper. This was the beginning of many decades of long, laborious hours of detailed design work for me. It also involved an intensive study of the competition to analyze their good and bad features.
I was then engaged in making the largest and most complete design layout I have ever made. After countless design studies following the project objectives, the layout consisted of detailed sectional drawings of the action in the locked firing position, the eject position, and the loading position. Full scale outlines of all the action components were illustrated along with a complete parts list and heat-treat specifications.
When the design layout was finally complete, Howie and I were ready to make a presentation to the Browning executives at their beautiful corporate headquarters at Morgan, Utah, in the foothills of the rugged Wasatch mountain range.
We were well received by company president John V. Browning and the owner, Mr. Val A. Browning, a well-known Utah industrialist and son of the great John Moses Browning. Val’s father acquired 126 firearms patents in his lifetime and created a myriad of the world’s most famous commercial and military guns of all types. Needless to say, it was a prestigious moment for me to meet these people. The meeting couldn’t have gone better because they were intrigued by the proposal of adding a quality pump shotgun with a touch of the original Browning heritage in its design. They were well pleased with my design layout.
Val Browning was a Cornell law and engineering graduate and a gun designer in his own right with 48 patents. He pored over my proposed BPS design layout and understood exactly what I was trying to accomplish. Howie and I were more than pleased at their interest, and we all agreed the next step would be to build a prototype for test. Building new model guns from scratch was old hat to us at BJT. We had for years built many first model and experimental guns for Hi-Standard, Winchester, Marlin, Colt, the CIA, and the Springfield Armory. We had a staff of the area’s best tool and die makers. It was agreed that we would make detailed engineering drawings from the layout and actually fabricate and preliminary test the gun. This was right up our alley as we had done this successfully many times before. For this phase, Browning agreed to our building the prototype at their expense. We also agreed on a royalty to be paid on each gun sold in production.
The bottom loading and ejection port opening showing the retracted lifter and the bottom of the locked bolt with an unobstructed access for loading a fresh round with the bolt and slide in the foreword or firing and loading position.
The bottom port opening showing the lifter in the down or eject position with the slide and bolt in the rear position.
Howie and I returned to BJT elated at our success, and we made plans for the final phase of our agreement, the actual building and test of the prototype. This required many hours of concentrated effort by carefully-chosen tool makers. Once again our good fortune held. The prototype went together as planned, and it performed beautifully right from the start. Quite frankly, I was very proud and grateful to the many individuals who made it happen. Usually a new prototype generally requires parts redesign and fabrication due to malfunction, worn or broken parts in test, awkward assembly, etc. – but the BPS required absolutely no rework.
Our involvement in the BPS program was virtually over at this point; it was up to Browning to put the final approval on the gun and get it manufactured in quantity production. For many years Browning guns were manufactured by Fabrique Nationale de Herstal in Liege, Belgium. The Browning Company was required to seek an outside contractor to manufacture the BPS because they lacked the large facility necessary to build the production guns in the U.S.A. A decision was made to make the BPS in production by the Miroku Firearms Mfg. Co. in Japan to Browning’s exacting quality standards. Browning sent an early sample of the production gun to BJT for our examination. We were highly pleased with the performance and high quality of this production gun. Howie gave me the gun as a souvenir for proposing and designing the BPS.
Things had progressed from a dream to a reality. BJT kept their word and shared one half of the Browning royalties with me during the first production phase. Unfortunately for BJT and me, that arrangement would come to an early termination.
The Browning Arms Company was established in the United States in 1927 a year after the death of John M. Browning. Half a century later, in 1977, the Belgium firm of Fabrique Nationale acquired the company. At that time the BPS was in full production and our BJT royalty was in full effect. The new organization wanted to continue to produce the gun but did not want to pay the royalty to BJT. As a result, Browning offered BJT a lump-sum cash buyout to eliminate the royalty agreement. We accepted this offer and our participation and all future communications with Browning regrettably came to a close. I have worked for numerous firearms companies and the military over the years as a designer, court expert witness and consultant, but I have never enjoyed working for anyone more than I did Browning. To me, they have always been a class organization in every respect.
The BPS saga did not die at the ending of our involvement. In fact, it was only the beginning, and the BPS is still being made today with numerous options to meet public demand.