Not to drift the thread too much but this description of the Browning FN relationship is not exactly right.
Absalom said:
The whole Browning/FN relationship is fairly complex, and you really need to read one of John Moses Browning's biographies to fully understand how they relate to each other. Just like Browning designs and the Browning brand in the US. Browning's most famous design, the 1911, was never referred to as a Browning or manufactured by a Company bearing his name, and it will always be primarily seen as a Colt product.
FN is a manufacturer and importer of firearms. Browning Arms is an importer, designer and licensee of firearms design founded by JMB. JMB would design guns and then license them to people like Colt and FN for manufacturing. They were then paid a royalty for every gun sold. They were never a manufacturer.
The 1911 is a Colt because it was Colt who contracted with JMB to design a gun for the Army pistol trials started in 1907 and completed in 1911 JMB and Browning never intended to produce the pistol. JMB was hired to meet the design spec and requirements of the 1907 pistol trials. The gun was not supposed to bear his name because it was not part of the contract spec.
Colt and FN had a special relationship with JMB. R. Blake Stevens explains it nicely in the first chapter of his book The Browning High Power Automatice" In july of 1896 the Browning Bros granted exclusive rights to Colt to manufacture use and sell within the US, Great Britain, Ireland all automatic pistols and their improvements designed by JMB.
In July of 1897 the same rights were granted to FN To se ll in Austria-Hungry, Spain, Belgium, France, Germany and everywhere else not covered by the Colt agreement.
This was done because Colt and FN saw each JMB pistol as a leap forward in design and function. Each design was considered a better mouse trap and Colt and FN knew it was better to divide the JMB world between each other then fight over it. A contract to this effect was signed in July of 1912. The exact details of the contract can be found in the Stevens book but I will highlight a few details.
Colts are to mark their Pistols as "Colt Automatic Pistols" and FN as "Browning Automatic Pistols."
Colt agrees to maintain in force American and British Patents, and FN maintains all European contracts.
The contract was for 5 years with 5 year extensions.
One can argue that the 1911 is not JMBs most famous design but it is certainly his most popular design in the US. We tend to be a little US centric and consider what we think of as the most famous to be the case internationally. I believe is his most famous pistol design but you have to remember the Auto-5 Browning Shotgun and the .50 caliber Ma Duce machine gun when you talk about his most sucessful "designs." IMHO
Absalom said:
In Europe the Browning HP is referred to as the FN Hi Power, since he designed it for FN and it was an original Belgian product, just like the FN 1910. In fact, the labelling as "Browning HP" in the US when the gun was introduced here was largely a marketing thing since here everyone knew the Browning name, unlike Europe; besides, he'd been dead for 10 years when the gun came out.
The FN Hi Power was not designed by JMB. It was designed by Saive. JMB's last pistol design was IMHO the Grand Rendement not the gun which was named the FN Browning High Power Automatic Pistol AKA P35, Browning Hi Power, Grande Puissance etc...
The pistol we know as the BHP was created by Saive after JMBs death in 1926. Saive at the direction of FN took up the abandoned pistol project after the French started to drag their feet. He started with a clean slate using the magazine he designed for the Grand Rendement and built a new pistol using his own ideas and incorporating many of JMBs design concepts IMHO. That however is a topic which deserves its own thread and discussion.
Either way when the pistol, we know as the BHP, was complete it was not imported into the US by Browning until after the war. Once Browning decided to import them as a sporting pistol they did so with a Browning rollmark instead of a FN rollmark. At the time they were located in St. Louis they later moved to Utah. They also had an import office in Canada located in Montreal. You can see it on the pistol below.
The Browning name was used because it was part of the Colt/FN contract and because it was as famous in Europe as it was in the US. FN also fully understood the marketing power of the Browning name. For many all over the world Browning="automatic pistol". FN also owed a great debt to JMB. He helped them save the company after WWI with the Browning 1900 and other pistols. They referred to him as “Le Maître” – “The Master”. The Browning name was always on the High Powerr even if they did not show it on the rollmark.
Absalom said:
So when you discuss this topic, be sure to keep John M. Browning himself, the modern US company named Browning, the historic Fabrique Nationale and the modern Herstal Group, in their proper perspective. They're all related, but not necessarily straightforward.
These days FN Herstal owns Browning and uses the name to license products and import some firearms. IIRC they bought them some time in the 80s. I agree the FN Browning relationship was a somewhat complicated one but in the end not too complicated.
