Instead of being a kind of assault weapon, as it was used in the trench warfare of World War One, the BAR supported the infantry group by covering fire during combat.Ī total of about 85,000 copies of the 1918 model were delivered and the original M1918 stock was sent to Britain in 1940 to equip the Home Guard and other secondary units. So now a bipod and shoulder strap were mounted to carry the BAR and it became the BAR M1918A1 in 1937. In fact, practical drills only emerged after the few months of war with American involvement had been analyzed after the November 1918 ceasefire. A drill did not last long, in which attacking soldiers should fire a shot with every left foot step forward. BAR M1918 with bipod (M1918A1).įor combat missions, the US Army had some combat exercises carried out for the BAR. In addition, the weapon could withstand heavy blows and a hard treatment well.įor maintenance and repairs, the BAR could be quickly and easily dismantled into its 70 parts and reassembled just as easily. The BAR was indeed an impressive looking weapon, was excellently crafted and had an excellent wooden stock. Also, a hot barrel could not be replaced quickly and easily.Īs a light machine gun the BAR was actually too light, while as an automatic rifle it was too big and too heavy.īut during World War One, the American soldiers were glad to have received the BAR and no longer had to fight with the terrible Chauchat machine gun.Īpart from the Springfield rifle, the BAR was pretty much the only real American weapon they had received and undoubtedly wanted to emphasize the quality of their national firearms. In addition, the box magazine contained only 20 rounds of ammunition, so that during automatic firing the length of the possible burst was very limited and much too short for most infantry fights. The first BAR, which were used in World War One, could only be fired from the hands, because they did not even have the bipod of a light machine gun. Why the American soldiers were so fascinated by the BAR is actually difficult to explain. So it took until September 1918 until the BAR could finally be used.īut then the weapon made such a great impression on the American soldiers that the BAR was still used in the Korean War and was used by the US Army until 1957. Original BAR M1918Īt the beginning of 1918 the BAR was produced in several factories, but since Colt held the Browning patents at that time, they first completed the technical drawings and models for the other manufacturers. It was still a relatively light and movable weapon, which could fire single shots or full-auto and was used by one man. In many other armed forces, the weapon later served as a light machine gun, but in the US Army it was initially used exclusively as an automatic rifle and was often used in a similar way to later assault rifles. The rifle was the size of an ordinary repeating rifle, but with twice the weight and made continuous fire possible by a gas pressure mechanism, which moved the locked breech. This Browning Automatic Rifle M1918 or short BAR did not fit into any category.
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