Browning Automatic Rifle

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 16:26 Written by Administrator Thursday, 02 July 2009 16:16

The BAR is an automatic rifle designed in the United States in 1917. It was designed by John Browning and manufactured by a number of companies such as the Colt’s Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company, Winchester Repeating Arms Company, Marlin-Rockwell Corporation, FN Herstal and many others.

The BAR M1918 was chambered for the Springfield .30-06 and was fed from a 20-round box magazine. The rifle was designed mainly for the advancing U.S. Expeditionary Corps in Europe. The Expeditionary forces were earlier using the French Chauchat rifle whose performance was not so satisfactory. Thus attempts were made to design an alternative which led to the development of the BAR M1918.

The BAR could fire 350 to 550 rounds per minute. At this rate, the magazine would empty very fast. However, the BAR offered a much high stopping power and so was very popular with the troops. The rifle came with a bipod but in the later versions it was dropped to save weight.

The BAR saw widespread deployment in both the World Wars. It remained in mainstream service until 1957 after which it was withdrawn. However, it continued to be used for several years and saw limited action in the initial years of the Vietnam War.

The BAR was significant because it proved the effectiveness of the squad support weapon. It was observed that it was the squad support weapon that was the first to return fire in case of an enemy attack on the unit. Eve today, many militaries use a squad support weapon along with rifles in the unit.

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