Who do you think is the Most Influential Gun Designer (man portable) of all time.

The Nominees are:

John Mose Browning - father of the Autoloader, designer of Colt 1911, Browning High Power (P-35), BAR, M-2 .50cal Machine gun and many many more.

Paul Mauser - designer of the Model 98 bolt action which remains the basis of all bolt action rifles to date.

Mikhail Kalashnikov - designer of the AK 47, the most proliferated gun in history.

Samuel Colt - Designer of the Single Action revolver

Dieudonne Saive - Designer of the SAFN-49 and the FAL

Eugene Stoner - designer of the M-16, and the SAW

Oliver Winchester - developer of the lever action rifle and the pump shotgun

Aimo Lahti - designer of the M31 submachine gun

John T. Thompson - designer of the Thompson submachine gun.

These were off the top off my head, so it I omitted anyone it wasn't intentional.

Remember I did omit Dr. Maxim and Gatling because neither of these were originally designed to be man portable.

have fun,

hrxll

btw, I vote for Browning.

[Edited on 3-12-03 by HerExcellency]

[Edited on 3-12-03 by HerExcellency]

Garand ....the M-1 was a "quantum leap" ahead of other rifles

I say Mikhail Kalashnikov. His gun has killed more people than any in history. Actually, I wonder how he can live with himself....

As he is the father of all MGs.

And Kalashnikov didnt invent shyte.

His weapons are good, but are in fact puzzles of other weapons..

And whole concept is a rip off from STG 44/45 etc..
(and trigger assebly is about 100% Garand.. for starters..)



*Edit*

Aimo Lahti,

While he designed score of good weapons (and quite orginal ones..) they really didnt have that large influence over anything..

Only SUOMI M31 KP had (Finland SMG Model 31..) As Finnish use of those in winter war showed the rest of the world how good SMGs are for military use.. (and everybody started to use those on much larger scale..) also the design of SUOMI had great impact on Russians.. after all, they did copy it and produced it AS PPSh-41 and also SUOMI SMGs 71 round drum was directly copied by russians and used in those PPSh-41s..



But still my vote goes for Hiram Maxim.



[Edited on 10-12-2003 by FULCRUM]

Browning, definitely. Most innovative for his time.

"God made created all men equal. Samuel Colt made all men equal."

Answer your question?

It's either Colt or gatling.

I don't know about RL guns too much, but In counterstrike, that Colt M4 Carbine is quite possibly the best gun in the game.

I watched this PBS special about that Gatling guy one time. Seems like he did some pretty revolutionary stuff with guns just after the civil war.

Definatly browning, he was responsible for all but 1 thats rite 1 machinegun, the m-1941, and his guns are still being used today, (the m-2 has been around for like 80 years)

I'm gonna say Garand. For its time, the M1 was a leap ahead of other nations. The AK-47 wasn't the first mass-produced assault rifle- I believe that goes to the SG44, from which the AK borrows many components. But the Garand was the first semi-automatic rifle to be a standard issue weapon, and was a decisive element in WWII infantry combat.

As Patton said, the M1 Garand was "The greatest battle implement ever devised."

You forgot Remington!

I don't know about RL guns too much, but In counterstrike, that Colt M4 Carbine is quite possibly the best gun in the game.

You base what guns are best on a game? Well I will take the chain gun from the predator movie and game then. : )

I think if you were to look at who produced what and when and what is still in use and copied... Then you only have one candidate. Browning. His pistol is still considered by many to be the best combat pistol (although I like my P220), his .50 cal MG is in use as we speak in Iraq and Afganistan. His Winchester 30/30 is still a great weapon used for deer and varmints. The auto-5 shotgun is so common you cannot fail to notice many of them at any gun show. We cannot also forget the BAR and the Garand, Hi-Power. Most of the weapons from the WW2 era were Browning designed guns. No one even comes close to Browning yet.

Variable

i'm gonna go with gatling... just on the basis that he invented his gun with the basis to end all wars. he figured that as devastating as it was, no one would ever be stupid enough to run it.

plus, the gatling gun in the a-10 kicks ass!

It's got to be Browning. I mean come on - it's really not even close. The most original. He didn't have just 1 gun.

I dunno - it seems simple to me - he is way ahead of the rest. The only one that comes close is winchester.

I'd say H&K because they invented the MP5 Navy SubMachinegun which is used in many counter terrorism operations. The guns have killed many terrorists and save many lives. People just dont know that because these operations are kept secret.

Originally posted by CookieMonster000
I'd say H&K because they invented the MP5 Navy SubMachinegun which is used in many counter terrorism operations. The guns have killed many terrorists and save many lives. People just dont know that because these operations are kept secret.

Most people on this booard know about MP5. Plus the gun itself was nothing special. If you want talko about revolutionary gun from H&K talk about G11.

I'll go with Mauser since I own a K98 and I love it. Plus so many countries out there had versions of his rifles. If you want to go with killings I'd have to say that K98s have more than their fair share. If you want to go with an influence you can see, find out just how many countries ripped off the design. Not to say any of the others aren't deserving...

There is no "one" most influencial. Consider all aspects of weaponry (small arms). Pistols, Rifles, Carbines, Shotguns, Automatics, Semi-Automatics, etc. etc. etc.

The most influencial weapon cannot be determined, because all forms of weapons are influencial, and compliment each other.


Mr. M

Would have to agree with Starchild on this one, Browning started with Pistols and light/heavy machine guns, Paul Mauser, rifles, so thers no real winner, I say the price goes to that chinese guy who invented black powder!