A MARRIAGE MADE IN LIÈGE

Paul Austin traverses the 135 years of FN innovation and 100 years of the Browning B25, a reminder of why deep engineering partnerships, purposeful innovation and timeless gunroom design still shape commercial opportunities today.

An exclusive invitation led me to Liège, a city in Belgium that is often regarded as the epicenter of European gun manufacturing . The culmination being a truly unmissable event as FN Browning filled the Liège museum with a mixture of iconic invention and design. Ars Mechanica: la force d’innover – a true celebration of the gun-making art. But that’s only part of the story…

When John Moses Browning walked through the gates of Fabrique Nationale d’Herstal in 1897, neither side could have guessed how profoundly their collaboration would shape the modern gun trade. Browning brought the design genius; FN supplied first class machining and the appetite to think beyond convention. The results were immediate and commercial: the .32 ACP Model 1899 self loader became a runaway success that – quoting FN’s own archives – “saved the company financially ”.

Over the next three decades the trans Atlantic routine became familiar. Browning would board a steamship in New York, land in Antwerp, and head straight to Herstal to work shoulder-to shoulder with FN’s draughtsmen. Twenty six crossings later, the portfolio included the Auto 5 - the first mass-produced semi auto shotgun - and a succession of pistols and machine guns that changed both military procurement and sporting practice.

By the mid 1920s Liège gunsmiths referred to their American guest simply as Le Maître. He died at his FN workbench on 26 November 1926 while refining a 9mm prototype - an ending as poignant as it was fitting. The factory fell silent; the boardroom became a chapel of rest. Few partnerships in engineering finish with such an unequivocal full stop.

135 YEARS OF AGILITY

Founded in 1889 to build Mauser rifles for the Belgian Army, FN Herstal has rarely stood still. A snapshot of its wider ventures underlines a culture of “solution first, product second”.

• Automotive and two wheels: bicycles, motorcycles, cars and commercial trucks rolled out of Herstal up to 1970.

• Aerospace powerplants: post war, FN assembled turbofans under licence and later manufactured F 16 and Airbus engines and even Ariane rocket components.

• Mechanised oddities: typewriters, medical pumps, even milking machines all carried the FN hallmark at one time or another.

By 1987, the board trimmed the portfolio back to core small arms and ammunition. The detours, however, left an invaluable reservoir of metallurgical and production knowledge, and that same know how today feeds FN’s military contracts and commercial sporting lines.

BROWNING ’S BLUEPRINT FOR THE MODERN GUNROOM

John Browning filed 128 firearms patents; very few sit gathering dust. His mechanisms underpin the contemporary handgun slide, the gas operated GPMG and the over and under alike. Notable long life products include:

• M1911 .45 ACP (1911): 75 years as standard US side arm; still favoured by military specialists.

• Hi Power GP35 (1935): the de facto service pistol across five continents for most of the 20th century.

• M2 “Ma Deuce” .50 BMG (1918): a century of continuous service and counting.

For the field sports professional, Browning’s influence is still tangible every time a pump gun cycles smoothly or an auto loader spits out empties without a hiccup.

THE BROWNING B25 – A CENTENARIAN AND STILL IN ACTION

In 1925 Browning sketched the shotgun that would rewrite the rule book: the B25 Superposed, the world’s first commercially successful over and under. Its stacked barrel layout delivered a single sight plane, superior pointability and a locking geometry robust enough for hard daily use.

Browning did not live to witness its market debut; Val Browning and FN’s master gunmakers finalised the drawings after his death. By 1930, sportsmen across Europe were queuing for a gun that handled like a best London side by side yet carried a more accessible price tag. The side by side’s long monopoly never recovered.

HAND BUILT WITHOUT INTERRUP TION

Nearly a century on, the B25 is still cut, struck and regulated by hand in Herstal. Modern iterations - B525, B725 and B825 supply volume sales, but the original remains Browning’s flagship craft gun: bespoke dimensions, exhibition grade walnut and engravings - limited only by budget and imagination of its owner, with some ultra-bespoke examples requiring over 500 hours on the engraving bench.

The choices are the CNC driven engineering for the B5,7 and 8 series, a B15 for a more frugal collector looking for a truly hand-finished gun, or the 100 percent hand-made allure of the B25. The latter does come at a cost, with B25’s ranging from €20,000 to €100,000 depending on your design aspirations. The order book is full with typical waiting times running between 18-24 months.

So why does a 1920s action survive in an era of CNC receivers and composite stocks? Ask any instructor or fitter: balance, controllability and mechanical integrity. The JMB inspired locking bolt keeps the action tight long after many competitors develop yaw. Collectors, meanwhile, value an unbroken lineage to Le Maître himself.

WHY HISTORY MAT TERS TO THE TRADE

Proof of concept for longevity: products conceived before the Wall Street Crash are still billing in 2025. That is brand equity worth leveraging.

Engineering culture as IP: FN’s excursions into engines and vehicles fed back into metallurgical standards now mandated by NATO tenders.

Consumables pull-through: a living gun platform guarantees ongoing demand for OEM parts, ammunition and high margin accessories.

Whether you stock high volume semi autos or commission prestige pairs for corporate clients, the FN-Browning story is a timely reminder that deep R&D and thoughtful manufacturing outlast fashion cycles.

A CLOSING SHOT

From the boardrooms of Herstal to game lines across Europe, the lessons are clear: partnerships that respect both engineering rigour and market reality build legacies measured in centuries. As FN Browning Group enters its next chapter, the B25’s centenary serves not as nostalgia, but as a case study in product resilience – and a cue for the industry to keep innovating without discarding what already works.