From the Vault: M1918 BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle)

Brownells Gun Techs™ and resident firearm history geeks Keith Ford and Caleb Savant are back at Rock Island Auction Co., where they've found a pristine example of an early U.S. M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle. We usually associate the BAR with its extensive deployment during World War II, where it served as a precursor of the modern Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Developed during World War I, it was intended to be deployed differently with a "walking fire" tactic. Being an early gun actually built in 1918, the Rock Island example has a shorter buttstock than later BARs and does not have the built-in bipod. It is old enough that it COULD have been handled by John Moses Browning himself!

These early M1918 BARs came with a unique belt rig that enabled a soldier to fire it from the hip while carrying it. The idea was to dominate the battlefield by sending large groups of BAR-equipped soldiers toward the enemy trenches, firing semi-auto to suppress enemy fire, then flipping to full-auto as they got closer. Caleb explains the unique setup of the safety-selector, which is designed to accommodate this type of shooting.

A small number of BARs were actually sent to France during WWI. But the Army brass decided against using them in combat because they didn't want the Germans to develop countering tactics to the BAR before there were enough to have a "shock and awe" effect. After the war, some BARs got into civilian hands, most notably bank robber Clyde Barrow of "Bonnie-n-Clyde" fame. He chopped down the barrel and used his BAR to devastating effect against the police, until his and Bonnie's final, fatal encounter with a posse near Gibsland, Louisiana, in May 1934.