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Browning automatic rifle wwii8/10/2023 ![]() On 16 July 1917, 12,000 BARs were ordered from Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company. So that the BAR was not confused with the M1917 machine gun, it was officially named the M1918 or Rifle, Caliber. Both weapons were recommended to be brought into service immediately. Army weapon officers at Springfield Armory in May 1917. The water-cooled machine gun was tested further. The crowd was so impressed that he was immediately given a contract for the weapon. On 27 February 1917, Browning tested the automatic rifle in front of 300 people. ![]() Congress Heights is just outside of Washington D.C. John Browning had set up a demonstration of the weapons at Congress Heights. Both of these weapons fired the standard U.S. Back then, this automatic rifle was called the Browning Machine Rifle or BMR. These were: a water-cooled machine gun (later named the M1917 Browning machine gun) and an automatic rifle. In 1917, before the United States joined the First World War, John Browning brought two weapons to Washington, D.C. However, it was usually used as a light machine gun and fired from a bipod. It was thought that walking fire was needed for trench warfare. It was supposed to be put over the shoulder on a strap and fired from the hip. The BAR was designed to be carried by soldiers that were moving forward. It was supposed to replace the French Chauchat and the M1909 Benet-Mercie machine guns. It was designed by John Browning in 1917. It was used by the United States and several other countries. The Browning Automatic Rifle ( BAR) was a group of American automatic rifles and light machine guns. 30, Automatic, Browning, M1918Īrmy Heritage Museum B.A.R.jpg The M1918A2 BARĬolt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company I wish Ballou had covered law enforcement use more extensively in his otherwise excellent book on the weapon.Rifle, Caliber. Nearly all of these police BARs seem to have been ordinary M1918s and M1918A2s. (Gun Jesus, AKA Ian McCullough, has test-fired a number of BAR types, including the Monitor, the M1918, the M1918A2, and the rare Colt R75A the videos are instructive for comparison.) I should add that the BAR remained a common weapon in US law enforcement arsenals for decades, some still hanging around into the 1980s. Also, the Monitor had pretty powerful recoil and wasn't the easiest automatic weapon to handle and shoot accurately. The Monitor, however, lacked a bipod and was thus a throwback to the original M1918. This endeavor resulted in the M1918A2, the WWII version. Also, the military was in the process of modifying the BAR to make it more like an LMG by adding a bipod and other features. As for the US armed forces, they already had the M1918 BAR and adding another model would just have complicated logistics aside from the cost. This was the Depression, and American law enforcement agencies had very little money to spend on new equipment. Actually it was made only in tiny numbers and except for the FBI order it was not a success with the intended law-enforcement market. Is there an indepth report on that somewhere? I would think so.Ĭlick to expand.The Monitor gets a lot of attention these days, probably because a) it's a rare collector's piece, b) it looks boss, and c) some may regard it as a proto-assault rifle. Perhaps not since those changes were made prior to WWII. I'm hoping the "History of the Browning Automatic Rifle" report cited above lists what changes where made to the 1918a2 and why. II (1 Sept 1944), Contract # 19-02Īnyway.I could go on and on but the two top files would be very interesting as would be the engineering studies. I (1 Sept 1944), Contract # 19-02ġ046: Modifications On The Browning Automatic Rifles M1918A2Īutomatic Rifle, Browning (M1918A2)-Engineering Study Vol. Butler under date April 21, 1919.įrom the national archives there are several files from Record Groups 156 and 177 including but not limited to:Īutomatic Rifle, Browning (M1918A2)-Engineering Study Vol. war department file OMS 313/90 January 13, 1920, Browning automatic rifle, model of 1918 by Captain J.S. War Department, Office of the Chief of Ordnance, Engineering Division, February 14, 1919. The "Butler Report" (typescript): Outline of Development and Manufacture of Machine Guns and Automatic Rifles During the Period of the War with Germany by Captain John S. Mojonnier, Ordnance Department, for the Boston Ordnance District, January 1, 1946. History of the Browning Automatic Rifle Cal.30 M1918A2 as produced by New England Small Arms Corporation, Providence, Rhode Island. Here is my wish list in hopes somebody will be kind enough to send me a copy. Opana: Yes, I have ALL the field manuals from 1918 to sometime in the 60's.
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