Firearm Inventors

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)
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