Firearm Inventors

• James Puckle
  – London lawyer
  – patented the world’s 1st machine gun

• Hiram Berdan
  1800-1893
  – Invented the Berdan primer 

• Reverend John Forsyth
  – 1805 – The Percussion Cap ignition system developed and patented
• Eli Whitney
  (December 8, 1765 – January 8, 1825)
  – Founded Whitney Arms Company
• Henry Deringer, Jr
  1786-1868
   – developed the short-barreled, pistol
• Eliphalet Remington
  (October 28, 1793 – August 12, 1861)
  founded E. Remington, what is now Remington Arms 
• Hiram Berdan
  1800-1893
  Invented the Berdan primer and perfected a method to make the first centerfire cartridge. 
• Jonathan Browning
  1805-1879
  American gunmaker and father of John Moses Browning

• Henry Bessemer
  1813-1898
  – making iron, new type of artillery shell

• Samuel Colt
  1814 – January 10, 1862
  – inventor of the first practical revolver
• Richard Gatling
  Sep 12, 1818 – Feb 26, 1903
  – invented the Gatling gun

• Alexander Henry
  1819-1894
  – invented the rifling system for the Martini-Henry Rifle. 

• James Monroe Jones
  1821 – 1906
  – Born as a slave in North Carolina
  – Purchased freedom for himself and his family
  – Worked as a gunmaker in London, OH
  – Built a finely crafted pair of derringer pistols to give to the Prince of Wales,
  the future King Edward VII
  – The only African-American gunmaker in Canada
• John Moses Browning
  Jan. 23, 1855 – Nov. 26, 1926
  -Born & Lived in Ogden, Utah
• Annie Oakley Butler
  1860-1926
  – famous rifle shot
  – appeared with Buffalo Bill Wild West Show
• Elmer Merrifield Keth
  (March 8, 1899 – February 14, 1984)
  – Developed the .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum .41 Magnum cartridges
  – Inspector at the Ogden, Utah Arsenal during World War II (OGEK stamp)
  – “Keith style”  semi-wadcutter bullets
  – Prolific writer, Books and Magazine Columns
• Roy E. Weatherby
  (September 4, 1910 – April 4, 1988 )
  – age 77
  – founder and owner of Weatherby, Inc.
• Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov
  May 22, 1914 – May 13, 1988
  – (Никола́й Фёдорович Мака́ров)
  – Designer of Makarov Pistol
• Mikhail Kalashnikov
  1919 – 2013
• Yevgeny Fyodorovich Dragunov
  Feb 20, 1920 – Aug 4, 1991
  (Евге́ний Фёдорович Драгуно́в)
• Alexander McCormick “Sandy” Sturm
  (1923 – 13 November 1951)
  – 1949 – Founded Sturm, Ruger & Company 
• Yisrael Galil
  (1923-1995)
  – invented Galil assault rifle
  – helped create the Uzi
• Ronnie Barrett
  (1954)
  – Founder of Barrett Firearms
  – Designer of first civilian .50 caliber rifle
• James Hale
  – Daisy engineer
  – 1970 invented the first commercially successful paintball gun (Splotchmaker)