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       #Post#: 119--------------------------------------------------
       John Browning Automatic Rifle
   DIR By: allmanav
       Date: March 10, 2020, 9:09 pm
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       In early 1917, the United States began its inevitable path to
       being pulled into the Great European War that began in 1914.
       John M. Browning of Ogden, Utah, foresaw the need for lighter
       machine guns and took a working example of his new automatic
       rifle to Hartford, Conn., to demonstrate to the directors of
       Colt’s on Feb. 27, 1917.
       Exactly a year later, in Washington D.C., 300 American military
       officers and assorted Congressional leaders were able to
       personally try out Browning’s new automatic rifle chambered in
       .30-’06 Sprg. Dubbed the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR),
       Winchester was given the initial order for 25,000 BARs, and Gen.
       John J. Pershing’s troops began to take delivery of them in
       France in June 1918. The U.S. Model of 1918 Browning Automatic
       Rifle’s first combat use was recorded on Sept. 22, 1918, by the
       men of the 79th Infantry Division.
       serial number and knife
       The rest, as they say, is history. The BAR and its successor
       variants saw service from the Meuse-Argonne to Vietnam. More
       than 500,000 were produced, and it remains one of Browning’s
       most amazing contributions to the U.S. military’s inventory of
       small arms that helped win two World Wars. For a more in-depth
       look at the original Model of 1918, check out Bruce Canfield's
       extensive look covering this first model in "The U.S. Model of
       1918 Browning Automatic Rifle."
       Of course, that wasn't the end for the Browning Automatic Rifle.
       Following WWI, the BAR served well in the U.S. Military, seeing
       action around the globe over the next two decades in places like
       China, Haiti and Nicaragua. A commercial model of the BAR
       entered the market under the name "Colt Monitor," which saw
       action not in a strange land overseas but in America's backyard
       as gangsters and FBI agents battled it out during the
       Prohibition Era. You can read about one such encounter in
       Barrington, Ill. here in "A Battle At Barrington: The Men & The
       Guns."
       This wasn't the end for the Browning Automatic Rifle, though.
       Not by a long shot. Just prior to U.S. entry into WWII, the U.S.
       Military adopted the final and most widely produced version of
       the BAR: the M1918A2. Much had changed from the original BAR.
       The gun featured a hinged bipod, a modified buttstock and was
       capable of firing in full-automatic only, with a slow and fast
       rate of fire of 300-450 r.p.m and 500-650 r.p.m., respectively.
       It wasn't only M1918A2 BARs that saw service during WWII. Many
       original Model of 1918 Browning Automatic Rifles went overseas
       to arm the British under Lend-Lease, escaping conversion into
       the M1918A2. After WWII, the BAR continued to see service in the
       U.S. Military in Korea, and many remained in inventory well into
       the 1960s, long past the adoption of the M60. For more details
       on the Browning Automatic Rifle's service, check out "John
       Browning's Automatic Rifle."
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