What is this WW2 magazine fed long arm?

bushmaster1313 · Dec 31, 2020

What is this long arm?

From an online article on Bill Jordan. I do not think it is him but was meant to illustrate that he survived cave clearing in the Pacific.

Link to article on Bill Jordan

BigBill · Dec 31, 2020

Browning BAR in 30-06 full auto rifle the Germans feared this rifle.

Bonnie and Clyde used the bar rifle too.

Shooter-2 · Dec 31, 2020

Looks like a M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle.

PALADIN85020 · Dec 31, 2020

BigBill said:
Browning BAR in 30-06 full auto rifle the Germans feared this rifle.

They weren't the only ones. The Japanese didn't like it very much either. That photo is of a Marine fighting them in the Pacific theater.

John

bushmaster1313 · Dec 31, 2020

BigBill said:
Browning BAR in 30-06 full auto rifle the Germans feared this rifle.

Bonnie and Clyde used the bar rifle too.

Thanks
So the tube under the barrel is to bleed gas to activate the action.

ldausmc1369 · Dec 31, 2020

BAR...heavy but effective...phased out of the USMC in favor of the M-60...

jmace57 · Dec 31, 2020

My Dad carried one for the last 6 months of the European war. They usually gave them to "big" guys. My Dad was 5'11" and 180 pounds and was big for the time. (145 lbs on VE day) He carried two bandoliers Pancho Villa style. Note that in the picture above the bipod and carry handle were removed. Dad said that's the first thing they did to save weight.

He said they seldom shot them other than 3 round bursts. Both because they didn't have a replaceable barrel, and because he said when the Germans heard a machine gun, they came after you first.

mikerjf · Dec 31, 2020

Guy I worked with carried one, he said the Army always picked the husky farm boys for the BAR.

Hard to say for sure, but the blasted look to the vegetation says "Peleliu" to me.

THE PILGRIM · Dec 31, 2020

Know a Dude from the Bronx.
Before he became a Marine, Not sure he ever shot a gun.
BAR was a Squad Weapon, every Squad had one.
Another Big Guy who could keep up carrying a Heavy Weapon and a Big Ammo belt.

BigBill · Dec 31, 2020

I think it was on the tales of the gun or the story of browning. There was two bar rifles in each squad, one fired while the other reloaded.

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WfHfKDRjE2E[/ame]

cherrypointmarine · Dec 31, 2020

They were carried in the early days of Vietnam also . They were given to the ARVN , hard to figure that logic . If you can find one these days , better have a fat wallet .

Ivan the Butcher · Dec 31, 2020

I worked with a Korean War vet that had been a combat BAR Gunner. He said the M-1918 A2, 350 rpm cycle rate was too slow, and the 550 rate was too fast. So the GI field adaptation was to put a 50 cent piece behind the bolt. This shortened the bolt stroke by enough to increase the cycle rate by 50!

There were a few M-1918 A models floating around, they were semi-auto and 550 cycle rated, Most ended up in training camps and were not popular with the field troops.

In the movies and training films, you see BAR's shot standing and kneeling. But the truth was, you shot them laying down or from inside a stone building, because of concentrated return fire! and no firing from the hip (your limited supply of ammo was too valuable to waste on spray and pray!)

IN the fall, there were a couple full auto Thompsons that would sound off on Saturday afternoons, I had a 9mm MAC-10 and someone else had a 9mm, so we would join in on the party. One Thanksgiving weekend a BAR opened up and got everyone ALL EXCITED! For 32 years that was such a nice neighborhood to live in! (then I moved into a town, darn it!)

Ivan

CZU · Dec 31, 2020

A good movie featuring the BAR is the "Sand Pebbles" w/Steve McQueen.

DeplorabusUnum · Dec 31, 2020

Good article.

Thanks for posting. I was a lucky one. The Vietnam draft ended when I was 17.

Exmilcop · Dec 31, 2020

Even as a canuck and a student of history, I've heard a lot about the BAR. I believe Clyde Barrow (of Bonnie & Clyde fame) used to use one. Here's an interesting story. Years back, a buddy picked up a dewat BAR. They had all been flame cut across the top of barrel ahead of the receiver and cut through the ejection port and bolt. He found one where the receiver had been cut while the bolt was in retraction so all the internals were intact. Mind you, a dewat like that would no longer pass Canadian law, but I'm talking back in the early 80's. Later, he showed me the BAR dressed up. The receiver had been repaired and reblued so nicely you could barely see where the cut had been. I remarked on what a good job had been done on the receiver and barrel. He smiled in a sly way, and mentioned that a US buddy had given him a NOS BAR barrel! Need I say more?

.357magger · Dec 31, 2020

Exmilcop said:
Even as a canuck and a student of history, I've heard a lot about the BAR. I believe Clyde Barrow (of Bonnie & Clyde fame) used to use one. Here's an interesting story. Years back, a buddy picked up a dewat BAR. They had all been flame cut across the top of barrel ahead of the receiver and cut through the ejection port and bolt. He found one where the receiver had been cut while the bolt was in retraction so all the internals were intact. Mind you, a dewat like that would no longer pass Canadian law, but I'm talking back in the early 80's. Later, he showed me the BAR dressed up. The receiver had been repaired and reblued so nicely you could barely see where the cut had been. I remarked on what a good job had been done on the receiver and barrel. He smiled in a sly way, and mentioned that a US buddy had given him a NOS BAR barrel! Need I say more?

Barrow was known to have modified his BARs (I use the term "his" loosely as they were all stolen from National Guard armories) by cutting down both barrel and stock. Easier to manipulate from a vehicle and I don't think you can conclude that Clyde or Bonnie, or any other member of his gangs, were concerned much about collateral damage. Against local officers usually armed with 38 Special revolvers, the firepower was devastating and allowed multiple escapes by the gang while under fire.

Several of the 9 known Leo's killed by the gang were murdered by BAR from either Clyde, his brother Buck, or gang member Henry Methvin.

They routinely did the same with early auto shotguns, notably the Remington Model 11, which Clyde called his "Whippet", for "whip it out ". Bonnie was known to have used a 16 gauge Whippet to murder at least one LEO.

At the time of their death in an ambush by Frank Hamer, Many Gault, and others (a BAR was used by posse member Ted Hinton, the only fully automatic weapon used by officers that day), the "Death Car" held multiple stolen BARs, 40 loaded magazines for same, and another 2000 rounds of ammunition. One of the BARs was in Clyde's lap at the time of his death.

STCM(SW) · Dec 31, 2020

We had one on a DD I was on.
The GM 1st class put a 50 gallon empty barrel over the side to shoot at.
Being a new Chief at the time(5'8", 160 lbs), he said go ahead, shoot at the barrel.
I was standing on the fantail and pulled the trigger....
Next thing the big GM is holding me up behind me laughing and said you can stop touching the trigger now.......

ejr10mm · Dec 31, 2020

My grandpa lugged one across Europe fightin' nazis. He loved it. "If I got one of them in my sights they were deader than a door nail." One of his sayings.

kreuzlover · Dec 31, 2020

Back in 1958, I had just turned 13 years old, and a neighbor across the street was in the Marine Corps reserve. He went to Camp Pendleton every summer for training. He said that in most of the outfits out here, the BAR'S were issued to some of the smallest guys, to toughen them up, I guess. Carrying that 18 or 19 lb weapon would tend to do that, I would think. LOL

glenncal1 · Dec 31, 2020

I think Dilinger used them too. Might have used one at that hotel shootout.

What is this WW2 magazine fed long arm?

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