Weapons of War: The Browning Automatic Rifle

BAR — Original Version

By Bruce N. Canfield

Soon after the United States became embroiled in the war, the legendary American arms designer, John Moses Browning, was in the process of developing several weapons for our military. One was an automatic rifle that was destined to become one of the most respected U.S. military weapons of all time.

An Ordnance Board was appointed on 1 May 1917, to consider various light machine gun and automatic rifle designs for potential adoption by the United States. One of the submissions to the board was an automatic rifle designed by John Browning. Browning's design was the unanimous selection of the board, and the War Department ordered that plans be made to get the weapon into production as soon as possible. Mr. Browning had done the preliminary work on his weapon in conjunction with the Colt Firearms Manufacturing Company, and the firm owned production rights to the weapon. 

John Browning (L) with His Invention

The new weapon was soon known as the Browning Automatic Rifle, or simply the "BAR," and the government wasted no time in securing the manufacturing rights from Colt. Colt wished to manufacture the weapon for the government and sought to build a new plant in Meriden, Connecticut, since its main factory in Hartford was currently operating at near-peak capacity. Colt's request was not approved by the Ordnance Department, as the lag time necessitated by building a new facility, acquiring the necessary manufacturing equipment, and training a work force was too great. 

The government wanted the BAR in production as rapidly as possible. In September 1917, the Ordnance Department negotiated with Colt to transfer the BAR project to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. This transfer was soon consummated, and Winchester assumed the lead role in the BAR production program. John Browning was well acquainted with Winchester since he had designed many of the arms made by that firm. Contracts for production of the BAR were granted to Winchester, Colt, and the Marlin-Rockwell Corporation.

Soon after Winchester assumed responsibility for the BAR program, the company completed a production prototype of the weapon with assistance from John Browning. It is reported that Winchester borrowed the single handmade prototype from Colt and completed the necessary drawings and prints over a weekend. By working literally around the clock, the Winchester engineering team completed the drawings and returned the prototype to the Colt factory the following Monday morning. 

The new weapon was adopted as the "U.S. Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1918." The arm weighed 16 pounds which, considering its contemporary automatic weapons, was quite light. The weapon had a 24" tapered barrel and was 47" in overall length (including a removable cylindrical flash hider). 

The BAR was chambered for the standard U.S. .30 caliber (.30-06) cartridge and could be fired semi-automatically or fully automatically at a rate of approximately 550 rounds per minute and a muzzle velocity of about 2,800 feet-per-second. The weapon was equipped with a 20-round detachable box magazine. Magazines of larger capacities were tested but not put into production. The rear sight of the BAR was almost identical to the M1917 Enfield rifle sight.

 

Lt. Val Browning Demonstrating the BAR

The BAR was an immediate success, especially compared to the problem-plagued Chauchat. Unfortunately, the weapon was not in use for a long period of time before the war ended. By the time of the Armistice, some 16-18 thousands BARs had arrived in France, although its impossible to determine how many made it to the frontline troops.  A typical reaction among the Doughboys is related in Make the Kaiser Dance: "The day after the Armistice we got word to turn in our Chauchats and draw Browning Automatic Rifles. That BAR was so much better than that damn Chauchat. If we'd only had the BAR six months before, it would have saved so many lives."

This informal assessment is echoed by the official report on ordnance production authored after the war by the Assistant Secretary of War, Benedict Crowell:

The Browning Automatic Rifles were highly praised by the officers and men who had to use them. Although these guns received hard usage, being on the front for days at a time in the rain and when the gunners had little opportunity to clean them, they invariably functioned well. Not only were our own forces enthusiastic, but the allied armies as well, about the Browning guns. . .as soon as they had seen them in action. The best proof of this is that in the summer of 1918 the British, Belgian and French governments all made advances to us as to the possibility of the United States producing Browning Automatic Rifles for their respective forces.

The M1918 BAR remained the standard U.S. automatic rifle after the war. Slightly modified versions saw production and wide use during World War II and Korea and some were used as late as the Vietnam war. Few weapons have as good of a reputation as the BAR. While somewhat of an anachronistic weapon by the time of the Second World War, the BAR was very much "state of the art" in World War I. As aptly stated by one writer: The ultimate proof of the BAR's success is the answer of any Doughboy or G.I. who used one would give when asked what he thought of it; practically to a man they would answer, "It is the best damn gun there ever was. "

Our contributor, Bruce N. Canfield, is one of America's leading experts on small arms. He is the author of: U.S. Infantry Weapons of the First World War, Alan Mowbray, Inc., 2000.