Browning Arms Company is an American marketer of firearms and fishing gear. The company was founded in Ogden, Utah, in 1878 by brothers John Moses Browning and Matthew Sandefur Browning. The company offers a wide variety of firearms including shotguns, rifles, and pistols. Other products include fishing rods and reels, gun safes, sport bows, knives and bicycles. Initially the company was founded to market the sporting designs of John Browning, one of the world's most important and prolific firearms inventors. Nearly all of John Browning's innovative designs have been manufactured under license by other companies, including Winchester, Colt, Remington, FN Herstal, and Miroku. Browning is currently a fully owned subsidiary of FN Herstal. Browning Arms Company is best known for the A-Bolt and X-Boltbolt-action rifles, the BARsemi-automatic rifle, the BPR pump-actionrifle, the BPS pump-action shotgun, the Auto-5semi-automatic shotgun, and the Hi-Powerpistol. Browning also manufactures a set of trap shotguns such as the 725 Pro Trap, Citori CX series and the Cynergy series.
Browning introduced a line of hunting boots in 1968 and continued to design and manufacture footwear through outside vendors until 2001. In that year, a license agreement was reached with Connecticut-based H.H. Brown Shoe Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, to manufacture Browning Footwear. The product line included the John M. Browning collection, Field and Game series, and sporting and waterfowl lines. The line has grown to include Kangaroo leather boots, Rubber boots and waders, and upland game boots.
Knives
In 1968, Browning introduced a line of cutlery in the form of 3 fixed-blade hunting knives and a folding knife designed by Custom Knifemaker Gil Hibben. Over the years the lineup has grown and Browning has teamed up with other knifemakers such as Jerry Fisk, Bailey Bradshaw, John Fitch, Joseph Keeslar, and James Crowell of the American Bladesmith Society. In 2004 Browning partnered with several custom knifemakers to produce a series of "Living History Knives" honoring famous American Generals and battles. The lineup included a Liberty Tree Knife made by Larry Harley; a Robert E. Lee Knife and an Alamo Knife honoring Jim Bowie designed by Jerry Fisk; an Ike Knife honoring Dwight David Eisenhower designed by Jim Crowell; and a Crazy Horse Knife by Brent Evans. Browning has recently partnered with Big-game hunter, Russ Kommer as their knife designer.
Browning was the make of pistol originally depicted in the Nazi propaganda play Schlageter, from which the quote "when I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun", often associated with Nazi leaders, originates. The actual line from the play is slightly different: "Wenn ich Kultur höre... entsichere ich meinen Browning!" "Whenever I hear of culture... I unlock my Browning!". Browning is the sponsor of hunting show Goin' Country hosted by Kristy Lee Cook which used to air on the Versus channel before it became the NBC Sports Network. The relationship between Cook and Browning started after she was shown on American Idol wearing a Browning hat. A Browning shotgun appears in the Turnpike Troubadours songs "The Housefire" and "The Bird Hunters". The latter specifies that the gun was manufactured in Belgium.
