New Made Item: The primary variant Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) was the M1918 that chambered a .30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge and wasdesigned by John Browning in 1917 for the U.S. Expeditionary Corps in Europe as a replacement for the French-made Chauchat and M1909 Benet-Mercie machine guns.
The BAR was designed to be carried by advancing infantrymen, slung over the shoulder and fired from the hip, a concept called “walking fire”thought to be necessary for the individual soldier during trench warfare. However in practice, it was most often used as a light machine gun and fired from a bipod (introduced in a later Model known as the M1918A2).
Final development of the M1918A2 was authorized on 30 June 1938. The Springfield Armory rate reducer also provided two selectable rates of fully automatic fire only, activated by engaging the selector toggle. Additionally, a skid-footed bipod was fitted to the muzzle end of the barrel, magazine guides were added to the front of the trigger guard, the handguard was shortened, a heat shield was added to help the cooling process, a small separate stock rest (monopod) was included for attachment to the butt, and the weapon’s role was changed to that of a squad light machine gun. The BAR’s rear sight scales were also modified to accommodate the newly standardized M2 Ball ammunition with its lighter, flat-base…
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