M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle

The **Browning Automatic Rifle** (**BAR**) was a group of American automatic rifles and light machine guns. It was used by the United States and several other countries. The most-used type of BAR was the **M1918**. It was designed by John Browning in 1917. It was supposed to replace the French Chauchat and the M1909 Benet-Mercie machine guns.

The BAR was designed to be carried by soldiers that were moving forward. It was supposed to be put over the shoulder on a strap and fired from the hip. This was called "walking fire". It was thought that walking fire was needed for trench warfare. However, it was usually used as a light machine gun and fired from a bipod.

## History
 expert on rifles, is with him. They are discussing what is good about the BAR.]]

When the United States joined World War I, they did not have very good machine guns. One reason for this was because there was no military doctrine for their use. The U.S. declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917. At this time, the commanders were told that the U.S. only had 670 M1909 Benet-Mercies, 282 M1904 Maxims and 158 Colts, M1895 to fight the war. After a lot of arguments, they decided that the U.S. would have to build up more American weapons. However, until then, U.S. soldiers would have to take what the French and British could give them. The machine guns given to the U.S. by the French were often not very good. They also fired different cartridges from what the U.S. soldiers usually used. This meant that soldiers and machine gunners had to be given different kinds of cartridge. Congress Heights is just outside of Washington D.C. On 27 February 1917, Browning tested the automatic rifle in front of 300 people. The crowd was so impressed that he was immediately given a contract for the weapon. It was quickly brought into service. The water-cooled machine gun was tested further. However, Colt was already making as many weapons as they could (as they were making the Vickers machine gun for the British Army). They asked for the military to wait a while, as they were opening a new factory in Meriden, Connecticut. Because of how much the weapon was needed, the request was turned down. The Winchester Repeating Arms Company (WRAC) would make the weapons instead. Winchester also helped out with the BAR's final design.

### Making of the M1918 
Since work on the gun did not begin until February 1918, Winchester was hurrying to make many BARs. They were in such a rush that the first 1,800 guns were delivered with things wrong. Colt had only made 9,000 BARs when the armistice was signed. This was because they were busy with other orders.  Winchester did make one BAR with a place to put a bayonet, but it was only for testing.  The Colt Monitor did not have a bipod. The Colt Monitor weighed around 16&nbsp;lb. 3&nbsp;oz. without any ammunition in it. It had a rate of fire of around 500&nbsp;rpm.  The barrel was made nine inches shorter (229&nbsp;mm), and there were some other changes as well.  The changed BAR weighed 13&nbsp;lb. 12&nbsp;oz. and was only  long.  Though the report written by Edson said that six of the 'jungle' BARs should be built for testing, no more work was done on the project. Not many M1918s were rebuilt to be M1918A1s.

In April 1938, work was started on an improved BAR for the U.S. Army. Early prototypes had bipods that were put onto the barrel. It also had a special mechanism to make the rate of fire less. However, in 1939 the Army

Final development of the **M1918A2** started on 30 June 1938.  The M1918A2's buttstock (the part of the gun which sticks out at the back) is about one inch longer than the M1918 BAR buttstock. Late in the war, a handle was put onto the barrel to carry the weapon around.

Because the companies did not have a lot of money, the first M1918A2s were just older M1918 BARs that were changed. A small amount M1922s and M1918A1s were also changed.  After WWII started, it was tried to make more M1918A2s. However, the World War I tools used to make the M1918 were either worn out or could not be used with modern machines.  In 1942, there was not enough wood to make the buttstocks, so a black plastic buttstock was made for the BAR.  Firestone Rubber and Latex Products Company made the plastic buttstock for the U.S. Army. This was brought into service on March 21, 1942.

## Civilian use
When the war ended, Colt Arms Co. were given the Browning patents to make the BAR that was not given out during the war.  This allowed Colt to make the BAR for sale to civilians. This BAR was called the Colt Automatic Machine Rifle Model 1919. It was first made up of M1918s from the contract with the military which were not delivered. It was one of several Colt BARs. However, the weapon had a high price. It was also not very useful to civilians. Because of this, it did not sell much. Ad Topperwien was a famous shooter of the early 1920s. He bought one of the first Colt BARs to shoot things out of the sky.  When the National Firearms Act of 1934  was passed, civilian BARs were restricted. Machine guns for U.S. civilians were banned in 1968. Also, making machine guns for U.S. civilians was banned in 1986.

## Criminal and police use
Clyde Barrow, a gangster, liked the army's M1918. He got his BARs by robbing the Army National Guard. Barrow taught his girlfriend Bonnie Parker to fire the M1918 as well.

Automatic weapons were becoming more popular with gangsters in the United States. Because of this, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover told the FBI to train agents with automatic weapons. Examples were the Thompson submachine gun and the BAR. The FBI bought its BARs from Colt. Colt sold 90 BARs to the agency. Some of the FBI's BARs were sent to FBI offices. They were to be used as support weapons if they were needed. The rest were kept at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. They were there for training.  Colt sold another 11 BARs to the U.S. Treasury Department in 1934. 24 guns were sold to prisons, banks, security companies and police departments.  The weapon could be found on board most U.S. ships. Each BAR had a spare barrel.  The BAR was given as the only automatic gun for a squad of eight soldiers. All men were trained how to use the BAR in case the gunner(s) were killed or injured.  At the start of the war, most BAR teams were two or three people. These were a gunner and one or two assistants who carried extra magazines for the gun.  By 1944, some units' BAR teams were just one person, with the other people in the squad carrying ammunition.

## Users
, 1944. The wz. 28 seen here is likely a survivor of the 1939 September Campaign.]]

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*: Adopted in 1930, built under licence by Fabrique Nationale
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*: A large number were seized from the Republic of China during the Chinese Civil War.
*: Used by nationalist forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War and subsequent Chinese Civil War, most of them armed with BARs or FN Mle 30s
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*: Colt commercial BAR. Anticastrists of the Brigade 2506 were also equipped with some M1918A2 BARs.
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*: FN type D in 7.92 Mauser
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*: FN Mle 30 and Swedish m/21
*: Supplied to Free French forces during World War II and later used during Indochina War and Algerian War. Known as the *Fusil-mitrailleur 7 mm 62 (C. 30) M. 18 (B. A. R.)*.
*: The Wehrmacht captured a number of Polish-made Browning wz. 1928 guns and used them until the end of World War II under the designation *IMG 28(p)*
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*: FN Model D in limited service.
*: Used FN Model Ds.
*: Used the M1918A2 as the *Fucile Mitragliatore Browning (B.A.R.) cal. 7,62*.
*: Used some FN Mle 30s. Most of them were taken from disarmed Chinese forces with original markings removed to use Japanese markings. Used M1918A2 post-war by National Police Reserve.
* : Received 1,198 M1918A2 prior to the Korean War, which reached 11,768 in service at the end of the war. Also used as squad automatic weapon in early years of the Vietnam War by the Republic of Korea Forces in Vietnam.
*: Received from US Government during Laotian Civil War and Vietnam War.
* 243 BARs were in use with the Mariniersbrigade. The Koninklijke Landmacht also used the M1918A2 whilst fighting in the Korean War under United Nations command.
*: The Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua used the BAR, first supplied by the US Marines and later by the US Military Assistance Program (MAP) continuously from 1932 to 1979.
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*: used during the anti-Japanese guerillas and by the Armed Forces of the Philippines during the Hukbalahap Rebellion
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*: Ex-French BARs used by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army.
*: Used by the ARVN, most provided as surplus
*: Bought some Colt commercial BARs. Some ex-Polish wz. 1928s also used during the war.
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*: 25,000 bought from 1940, issued to the Home Guard units
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## Notes 
## References 
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* Hogg, Ian V. and Weeks, John, *Military Small Arms of the 20th Century*, DBI Books Inc.
* FM 23–15: Basic Field Manual — Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, M1918A2 (27 Aug 1940).
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## Other websites 
* Modern Firearms