If you could interview one gun designer / innovator / maker, who would it be?

[ferret427]

Not one person, but the team that designed the P7M8. Would love to see what that group could do to the design now with modern tech, if anything...

 

[CountryGent]

I'd probably have to go with Hiram Maxim due to the impact on small arms and, for that matter, events of world history that his creations have caused.

 

[BillyJean]

Jesu Moses Browning.

I'd ask "230 grains or 200?"

 

[P7M13]

I'd likely relish a chat with Mr. P. O. Ackley or Elmer Keith, because they had great ideas on how to make the best of what was produced.
Among the living, if he'd suffer the company of a nerd, I'd probably enjoy shadowing Alex Wheeler in his shop for a few days.

 

[jbett98]

The script writer who came up with this scene.

 

[NeoBlackdog]

Mr. Jennings...

 

[CountryGent]

Yah, though I'm sticking with Hiram Maxim, it is hard to disagree with Elmer Keith. Development of the .41 and .44 Magnum, the voluminous writing, and the cigars and wackiness ...

 

[Maligator]

The guy that made the Hi Point, find out wtf he was thinking.

 

[Mono1]

Eugene Stoner would be among the top of my list.

+1 !!!

 

[po18guy]

Well, it "was" Daniel Wesson, of revolver fame. I had the great good fortune and dumb luck to spend a couple of hours with him at the old school house factory at 293 Main St. in Monson, Mass. I got the guided tour of the factory and handled prototype .44 frame #4. He also allowed me to handle the Sig P210 he kept in his desk drawer. A very humble and nice man and proto-prepper. Sadly, he passed away only two months after I spoke with him in 1978.

 

[nammac]

The lord of all semiautomatic firearms, John Moses Browning, whose designs are still being copied today…

 

[pharmseller]

The guy who invents the phased plasma rifle.

Or the phaser.

 

[TTSX]

Whomever the first Chinese guy to shove a flammable powder into a tube with a rock on top of it, hold that tube and light it off happened to be

 

[P7M13]

Whomever the first Chinese guy to shove a flammable powder into a tube with a rock on top of it, hold that tube and light it off happened to be

His name was Chin Gou Bang.

 

[Hueco]

Not a direct answer to the op, but thought it was interesting...

In trying to research "A.O. Zischang" - as referenced in a recent classified ad, I came across this online version of a book copyright date 1920: http://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/our_rifles-firearms_in_american_history_1920.pdf

What I found interesting was this quote - pages 383 through 388:

The American Revolution and the War of 1812
provedthevalueofriflesasmilitaryweapons. The Civil War caused the muzzle loader to be discarded
in favor of the breech loader. Our little war with
Spain evolved our repeating Springfield. The World War has shown that the rifle of the future will be
a combination weapon, single shot, repeater, and automatic in one. It has clearly indicated also the
need of an entire change in infantry rifle training, and, moreover, the probable lines along which progress in rifles and ammunition will develop.
Starting on the base of knowledge of the past and understanding of the inadequacies of the present, we can, with the combined leadership of our civilian
and military arms scientists, begin to march, first slowly, then at quick time, to a wonderful near-by future.
First, and while continuing the use of our present
styles of sporting and military rifles, the skill of the
trapshooter with his shotgun must be taught to, and acquired by, riflemen. The means to be em- ployed are another story. But the need of accurate snap-shooting is evidenced by the fact that we have just been using about 7,000 shots for each enemy
casualty produced. Upon our entrance into the World War, in recognition of the impossibility ofmarksmanship in our huge, new, non-shooting civil-

ian army, we adopted the principle of a stream of bullets thrown as a stream of water from a hose. It
produced results of a sort, using automatic and machine rifles, but it was and is too wasteful to be
permanent. Wemustneveragaingetcaughtinthe fixofbeingnationallyunfamiliarwitharms. Hence-
forth the tendency will be toward accurate shooting
with individual bullets fired by soldiery trained while
civilians in snap-shooting; trained by compulsion if necessary, but trained as members of rifle clubs.
Second, concurrently, we must force the lines of development of arms and ammunition. These de-velopments if normal will occur step by step, and if so occurring will be accepted and assimilated easier and quicker than radical changes, which always pro- vokestrongopposition. Atthesametimeprogress may be rapid.
Rifles must be fired electrically. Five hundred years of use of the ancient trigger have more than warranted its discard. Its pull, heavy or light, disturbs the aim of any but the most accomplished rifleman. Mastery of the trigger requires a long apprenticeship. Its use intrudes an appreciable interval of time between the will to fire at a right instant and the actual explosion which occurs later at a wrong instant. Force, movement and time are to be reduced.
Rifle sights of all varieties now in use are still in theirinfancy. Theymustbemagnifying,light-gath- ering, range-indicating; simple, protected; multum in parvo.

A rifle must handle several kinds of ammunition. And ammunition must be both lighter and cheaper. To this end a cartridge shell less in both weight and cost than brass will replace the present one. Prob-
ably it will be made of aluminum-compound having a metal value about one-fifth that of brass, and the
cost of work upon it with punch and die will be greatly lessened by the absence of the present form
of expensive primer pocket and primer, both of which will become unnecessary with electric ignition
of the charge.
Sound, flash, and smoke of explosion need re-
duction to the minimum, approaching zero as closely
as possible. And the loud snapping sound of the
bullet in flight, caused by the air-whip behind it,
can be greatly reduced, perhaps eliminated, by im-
provementsinbulletshape. Astotheelimination
of audible and visible qualities, perhaps the first
step may be in the improvement of modern air
rifles. Already in European markets powerful air rifles can be had which fire from eight hundred to
a thousand times from one filling of the air reservoir ; the first hundred shots are fired with pressure aver-
aging about 15,000 pounds to the square inch; the reservoirs do not leak; the same sighting holds good for a considerable number of shots. While for target
practice they would be unsatisfactory, for certain kinds of military use they could be made admirable.
A soldier could carry easily a thousand bullets and
an extra charged reservoir; the latter, of steel, need not weigh more than a pound.


Projectiles will be of many kinds to suit varying purposes, all used by one arm. Ultimately a rifle will project gravity-influenced solids and composites, and also non-gravity-influenced pencils of light or heat which will be electrically corrosive at impact. Present experiments with projectiles may have to do with such as are primarily mechanically fitted for two-groove, elliptical, or hexagonal bores; the projectile


and the cartridge shell - or perhaps only
the head of the shell to have the same cross sec- tion, and to be handled by a rifle mechanism which will instantly and unvaryingly serve the ammuniti
correctly.
Solid bullets will have stream lines and both ends
pointed, and the center of gravity will lie in the forward half. Recent tentatives having been un- successful need discourage no ballistical scientist; the attempts were by inventors whose basic knowl-
edge was faulty. The objectives are higher speed,
lower trajectory, greater accuracy and penetration, less wind-drift, and the reduction or elimination of
flight-sound.
Composite bullets will be either miniature shrap-
nel greatly simplified, or shot so encased as to open automatically without explosion at set distances;doubtless both.
Last, and in a haze through which we now see but
dimly, is the uninfluenced-by-gravity straight line ray directed by an electrically operated rifle. How may a ray of heat or of ultra-X-ultra-violet electric mani- festation be isolated and maintained intact as a


destructive force? Here indeed is a problem re-
"
quiring the application of many minds.
attention! Arms, Electrical, and Mechanical En- gineers,sixpacestothefront,march! Closeranks! Guide right! You are to operate as a unit. Squads right, forward, quick time, march! " And win.
Whatever the future may be, it will be in the handsofanewclassofprofessionalmen. Theywill be Arms Engineers. And, as all there are in the world at present worthy of the name can be counted on the fingers of two hands, and as the need for many more is very great, it will be necessary to create them. There must be established in each of several of our university technical schools a chair of Arms Engineer- ing, because an Arms Engineer cannot at present be
created in half a lifetime from some other variety of
engineer; the new species will require a part of the basic education of all the others and a great deal of
special technical training besides.
From the Arms Engineer considered as a parent
trunk will spring three branches: the Consulting Arms Engineer, the Professor, and the Executive.Circumstances to some extent, but principally cer- tain qualities of mind and disposition, will determineinto which of these niches a new man will fit.
The Consulting Arms Engineer, proper, will be a free-lance and will have the world for his field of
service. On the one hand he will win honor and revenue; on the other he will serve nations for the
publicgood. Butletnoupstartyoungsterseekthis rank and power. There must be solid foundations


of education, extensive and intensive knowledge of
this specialty, experience, and the cold judgment that
accompanies maturity.
As to what the Professor will do for the furtherance
of his science and for the world that may safely be left to the Professor.
The Executive Arms Engineer will be the head of a
"
plant." Probably he will outrank the others ininfluenceandpower. Hewillcombine,asnever yet, the qualities of an administrator and executive with those of the scientist. In peace times the ex-
perimental laboratory of his great arms plant will follow lines of original research under his personaldirection. In time of war he will be ready to offer
his country new and practical developments for standing off the enemy. At all times the plant of
which he is ruler will be kept in the plastic state, so
that in an emergency it may expand under govern- ment subsidy to any size. In time of war he will rule
twenty to fifty thousand operatives, dispense funds supporting their families to the number of perhaps
quarter of a million persons, and have as much sway over men and events as he chooses or as his mentality
permits.
Through Arms Engineers there will be, as never
before, discoveries and progress, not merely along
lines of destruction, but, better, along lines of de-
velopment in power and speed and generalities ap-
plicable industrially, which will cause nations to pros-
per and which will result in longer intervals of peace.
"
great
There will be no
Halt !" to this march forward.

Specifically, in 1920 they were thinking of:

We must never again get caught in the fix of being nationally unfamiliar with arms. Hence-
forth the tendency will be toward accurate shooting
with individual bullets fired by soldiery trained while
civilians in snap-shooting; trained by compulsion if necessary, but trained as members of rifle clubs.

Rifles must be fired electrically. Five hundred years of use of the ancient trigger have more than warranted its discard.

Rifle sights of all varieties now in use are still in theirinfancy. Theymustbemagnifying,light-gath- ering, range-indicating; simple, protected; multum in parvo.

A rifle must handle several kinds of ammunition. And ammunition must be both lighter and cheaper. To this end a cartridge shell less in both weight and cost than brass will replace the present one. Prob-
ably it will be made of aluminum-compound having a metal value about one-fifth that of brass, and the
cost of work upon it with punch and die will be greatly lessened by the absence of the present form
of expensive primer pocket and primer, both of which will become unnecessary with electric ignition
of the charge.

Quite interesting stuff.

Tagging @Andy54Hawken. It ain't a muzzle loader (well, maybe, I kind of jumped around) - but it's old!

 

[Bon Sauvage]

Sam Colt!

 

[CountryGent]

Have to give a nod to Jean Alexandre LeMat. I mean, the wacky goodness:

 

[elsie]

David Williams

elsie

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

George Kellgren, to ask why he lets those innovative designs get utterly runined by crappy quality control.

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

George Kellgren, to ask why he lets those innovative designs get utterly ruined by crappy quality control.

He didn't ask