G-MAN Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Browning's first prototype for an auto loading shotgun was quite a bit different from what would eventually become the Auto-5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryinIN Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 He had two ideas going at the same time. One about like what we know now, and that one (which I think of as the Luger Shotgun). Apparently, he was not sure which one was the better design until right before he took them to Winchester. It seems pretty obvious to me which was the way to go, but I wasn't there. He let half of Utah shoot them before deciding which one to push harder, so the toggle action must have had something going for it to get as far as it did. Interesting the placard distinctly refers to it as the first model. From the book (American Gunmaker) it makes it sound like they were parallel designs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-MAN Posted January 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 The patent application dates are the clue and show the progression in design rather than two parallel designs. The toggle action patent was applied for May 6, 1899. The locking breech block action patent was applied for February 6, 1900. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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