Firearms design way back when

I have read that when John Browning was designing this weapons - from the single shots and levers up to the autos - he made his first patterns out of wood so he would have a physical reference as to how things fit together. After he worked out the glitches in the wood model he would make a metal pattern. This seems like a pretty good way to do design and would probably work today for anybody who doesn't have computer aided engineering programs.

Anybody care to comment in greater detail?

RIKA