Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) M1918A2

M1918A1 Browning Automatic Rifle history

The M1918A1 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) was designed in 1917 by engineer John Browning. This new weapon was to replace the French light machine-gun Chauchat then in service in the American army.

Used for the first time by American soldiers at the end of the First World War, the M1918A1 model also served during the Second World War.

In 1940, a new BAR model was created, called M1918A2, with a removable bipod and two different firing modes, a slow one (300-450 rounds per minute) and a fast one (500-650 rounds per minute). It is also equipped with a firewall device that suppresses the firing flames and allows the shooter during a night fight not to have his position detected.

Also used during the Korean War, the BAR allowed the American forces’ platoons to have a large firepower. But its main fault lies in the fact that its magazine contains only 20 cartridges. The BAR has been so equipped to avoid overheating. The shooter, while pulling the trigger, empties the magazine in less than four seconds.

M1918A1 Browning Automatic Rifle specification

Creator/User: United States of America
Denomination: M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle

Fire mode: automatic
Caliber: .30-06 Springfield (7.62×63mm)
Feed system: 20-round magazine
Effective firing range: 550 m
Rate of fire – slow: 300-450 rounds/min
Rate of fire – fast: 500-650 rounds/min

Weight: 8,33 kg
Length: 1194 mm