Bill Ruger vs. John Moses Browning

G

gizamo

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Messages
2,406
Reaction score
865
Location
Maine
Both exhibited genius. But based on who was more productive, ingenious, and innovative....who would get the nod as most sucessful?

giz
 
Register to hide this ad
I would have to say browning, his guns to this day in some cases are still concidered the top of the mountain by many, and his design itself is elegant as well as fully funtional and thought out on many different aspects
 
Hands down to Browning. Ruger made some good products, gave the public what they wanted, right quality, right price, but Browning had more innovative ideas.
 
Re read the question...

We are not talking about the genius of the design.

And to be fair, Bill Ruger was years dead before any of these recent recalls happened.
 
I'd throw John Pedersen into the discussion. If you've not heard of him, be was Remington's answer to John Browning. He designed several guns for Remington, including the daddy of the conceal carry pistols, the 51 Remington. He also designed several obscure, yet innovative devices like the Pedersen device that changed the 1903 Springfield into a semi automatic. He wasn't as well know as the two men you mentioned, but, in my opinion, just as innovative.
 
Last edited:
Ruger was a genius, and innovative, at least as far as taking advantage of the latest techniques. I am sure he helped advance investment casting as much as most invvolved in it. No doubt he is an icon in gun manufacturing. He was probably more personally successful in terms of financial gain.

Browning was a true inventor, going where few had been, and going there unguided by those who had. I don't thinki he became as personally wealthy as Ruger, but I bet his heirs did!
OK, reread the ques- Browning was far more productive, ingenious, and innovative.
Think of the term "Browning type" auto pistol. He picked up on gas operation watching the muzzle blast make grass wave. The recoil op A-5. The BAR, to give troops a 'portable' machine gun to take across no-man's-land. All the 'good' Winchester levers (and SS). The Superposed. On and on.........
 
Last edited:
My vote goes to John Mose.

His designs were produced by Winchester, FN and Remington plus the U.S. military contractors. Winchester is supposed to have bought Browning designs just to keep other manufacturers from making them.

I have several Ruger guns, and like them, but Browning was more successful.
 
GIz that's a tough question-the more I think about it the tougher it gets. For pure pull a new Idea out of the air-it's tough to beat Browning-case in point the first auto loading shotgun. For pure marketing savy and giving the publis new inocations regarding gunsmithing-Ruger hands down. But look at the product-Ruger took proven ideas tweaked them made them better and cheaper and made a fortune. Browning on the other hand invented stuff nobody had ever heard of. My vote goes to Browning-It's like comparing Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan :D
 
Not even close.
John M. Browning!

"productive, ingenious, and innovative"
look at the number of guns he designed for productive.
look at the different types of gun he designed and helped produce.
look how long those guns have been on the market and used by the Military, Police and Citizens.

I don't see how it could be anything "close".

Rule 303
 
Last edited:
Cocked & Locked said:
nuff said!
Click to expand...


Evidently, you missed hearing about the salt-cured stocks. And some long guns bearing the Browning name just strike me as a little weird.

Of course, Browning himself was long dead before that stuff happened.

I met Bill Ruger and feel that he was a great industrial innovator and a shrewd businessman. He also knew how to promote his products.

But John Browning was probably a better all-round designer, for his day, especially. I think he was, overall, the greatest gun designer of all time. Too many today are just engineers who design guns.

T-Star
 
it seems like JMB was a pure genius - who never really was very good at marketing / making & selling what he invented. Granted, I've read more about Browning - guess I need to do a little reading up on Ruger.
 
I think Browning was contracted to tweak the design of existing guns...like Winchester lever actions.

Those making the point that all Bill Ruger did was tweak existing designs really need to look at some of Brownings work. Surely they are not saying that he invented the lever-action...they were invented long before he came to Winchester.

Hiram Maxim was the inspiration for Browning's machine guns.

You can't have it both ways....saying Ruger was a gun tweaker ~ when Browning was contracted to do much the same thing.

I would give Ruger single credit for saving the Single Action. Colt had walked away from them. Bill improved the design and brought it back. The Ruger No.1 is another example of taking the Single Shot rifle and putting it into the hands of a average wage earner...nobody will argue that it is a elegant design. Elmer Keith and Skeeter championed the guns that Ruger developed for the magnum caliber handguns.

Somehow, Bill Ruger shoehorned himself into history. Colt is barely the company it once was, Winchester is gone, and Ruger's legacy is a viable company that is still pushing the envelope.

What we need are some more Brownings and Rugers to carry on the tradition....



giz
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top