FN Herstal

Founded in July 1889 by a consortium of Liège gunmakers to fill a Belgian contract for Mauser rifles, and transformed a few years later by an American: John Browning brought FN his self-loading pistol after Colt declined it, and the partnership that followed produced the Browning Auto-5, the Hi-Power and a great deal else. The company remains the largest small-arms exporter in Europe, and its designs — the FAL, the MAG, the Minimi, the P90 — are in service on every continent.