The BAR continued to receive praise in the Korean War as well, thanks to its portability, stopping power, and automatic fire that made it an excellent weapon to engage targets at longer distances or against masses of enemy attackers. The BAR also saw extensive service in Korea, which was also the time where the last contract of BARs were shipped out and deployed. Subsequently, many units had to carry older BARs that had seen service in the First World War. One man would serve as the gunner, while the second would assist and also carry extra ammunition.Īll in all the BAR was one of the most in-demand firearms for the American military in the Second World War, and the supply could not catch up with the demand. This was later reduced to two men BAR teams after it was discovered that a three man team was just a little impractical.
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In fact, it was issued as the sole support fire weapon in a typical twelve man squad, and each soldier was trained with the basics of how to use the weapon if needed.Įach infantry company was also assigned three man BAR teams, where one man would operate the weapon, another would assist, and yet another would carry ammunition.
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It gained much more prominence during the Second World War, where by this time it was in full service. The BAR continued to be used in service with the United States military after the First World War and became one of the standard firearms in the arsenal. This concept would eventually expand into the future when assault rifles such as the STG 44 and AK-47 were introduced. So while the BAR may have seen limited service in the First World War, it still was used to great effect as soldiers would use it by ‘walking fire,’ where they would fire the weapon in semi-automatic or fully-automatic from the hip while keeping the weapon slung across their shoulder for stability.
In fact, several of the pieces in the initial batch of BARs were not even interchangeable with one another because they were out of spec!Īround four thousand BARs were built for the First World War, and by the end of the conflict nearly ten thousand were being made every month. The BAR was rushed into service so it could see action in the 1st World War, although the first units were admittedly low quality because they were rushed into production. Long story short, the military went with both machine guns, with the M1917 fulfilling the true light machine gun role and the BAR mainly being used as a lighter support weapon that could be easily carried by a single infantryman. Both machine guns were chambered for the. John Browning submitted the M1917 water cooled machine gun as well as the BAR, which at the time was referred to as the BMR or Browning Machine Rifle. Thus, it was decided that the military needed updated weaponry, which included new machine guns. The United States military, however, had less than two thousand machine guns in its total arsenal, and each of those machine guns were very old and obsolete ( some were even from the late 1800s). When the United States officially entered the First World War in 1918, it was woefully unprepared, and that included a lack of modern or suitable firearms.Īt that time, the typical form of combat was by trench warfare, where mass volumes of armies would rise from one trench to charge another, and this type of battlefield was dominated by machine guns. Granted, the BAR was designed to be primarily used as a support weapon or for covering fire (and as such many models came installed with a bipod).
The BAR is classified as a light machine gun, as that was the purpose it was designed for, but it can also be effectively wielded as a shoulder fired weapon, sort of like a modern day assault rifle.
Forty round magazines were also built and saw service briefly, but were completely withdrawn from service by the late 1920s as the 20 round magazines were more practical despite having only half the capacity. 30-06 round, the same caliber used for the Springfield M1903 and the M1 Garand service rifles, the BAR is fed with a twenty round magazine. A fire selector lever on the side of the rifle also allows the user to alternate between semi-automatic and fully-automatic mode, as well as safe.Ĭhambered for the. The BAR is officially classified as a striker fired firearm, although the bolt carrier essentially acts as the striker. It is also air cooled and it fires using an open bolt system. The BAR is a selective fire automatic rifle that uses a long stroke and gas operated piston rod.
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