Not long ago I was working on a calendar project for the North American Hunting Club. My assignment was to develop a list of historical and commemorative dates of importance to a broad range of hunters. So I started trolling the internet, letting random thoughts and threads take me where they might.  It didn’t take long for one date to hit me square between the eyes.  It’s important to anyone who owns and shoots firearms.  January 21, 1855 is the birth date of John Moses Browning.

With a more modern day tip of the hat to the late, great William B. Ruger, John M.Browning is considered to be the greatest firearms designer in American history. Many of the designs he conceived are still in daily use today. How’s this for a partial list of history-changing weaponry designed by the brilliant mind of one guy?

The U.S. M1895, M1917, M1919,  M1918 BAR, and U.S. M2 .50-caliber machine guns; Winchester Models 1886, 1887, 1892, 1894 and 1895 lever action rifles (the cowboy guns); Colt Models1900, 1902, 1903, 1905, 1908, Woodsman, and U.S. M1911 pistols; FN Browning M1899/M1900, FN Model 1910, and Browning Hi-Power pistols; and the Winchester Model 1887 lever-action, Browning Auto-5 semi-auto, and Browning Superposed shotguns!

As I tried to wrap my head around this list of creations, the bell chimed on my computer marking the arrival of a press release from Browning. It announces in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the classic 1911 pistol, Browning will roll out a scaled-down, .22 L.R. version of this great firearm. The new pistol is almost an exact replica of the original 1911, just smaller. And in keeping things the way they should be the Browning 1911-22 will be proudly made in the USA.

No other firearm duplicates the “feel” of a M1911 in one’s hand. And though the new Browning 1911-22 is 85% the size of the original 1911 John M. Browning design it will maintain that legendary balance and confidence. All controls will operate just as those on the original John M. Browning-designed Model 1911.