Читать книгу Gun Digest 2011 онлайн

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Firearms designer extraordinaire and emeritus Bob Hillberg holding the Olympic arms copy of the Whitney Wolverine pistol.

Onserving the vast sales potential for a pump action shotgun and the complete absence of this type of shotgun in Browning’s line of guns, I couldn’t help but wonder if a well-designed, premium-quality Browning pump gun that offered advanced features could compete with the legendary Winchester and Remington. I was further tantalized by the fact that it would be a natural move for Browning, since John M. Browning pioneered the very first pump action shotgun with several advanced features not even found today on the Remington 870.

The more I thought about developing and presenting a proposal for an advanced, premium quality pump shotgun to Browning, the more enthusiastic I became. It seemed to me to be a natural, considering the early patent and history of the first Browning-designed pump. I reviewed the past history of the pump action shotgun with my boss Howard Johnson, president of the Bellmore Johnson Tool Company (BJT) of Hamden, Connecticut. I was employed as BJT’s chief engineer at the time, and in 1970 I persuaded Howie to let me design a prototype of the proposed shotgun, later known as the BPS (Browning Pump Shotgun). He became equally enthusiastic about the possibility of selling the BPS and gave me permission to design the gun’s layout in detail prior to the actual presentation to Browning.