M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle
light machine gun / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) was a group of American automatic rifles and light machine guns. It was used by the United States and several other countries. The most-used type of BAR was the M1918. It was designed by John Browning in 1917. It was supposed to replace the French Chauchat and the M1909 Benet-Mercie machine guns.
Quick Facts Rifle, Caliber .30, Automatic, Browning, M1918, Type ...
Rifle, Caliber .30, Automatic, Browning, M1918 | |
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Type | Light machine gun |
Place of origin | United States |
Service history | |
In service | 1918–1960s (U.S.) |
Used by | See Users |
Wars | World War I World War II Chinese Civil War Korean War First Indochina War Bay of Pigs Invasion Vietnam War (limited) Cambodian Civil War (limited) Turkish invasion of Cyprus Thai–Laotian Border War Palestinian Civil War |
Production history | |
Designer | John Browning |
Designed | 1917 |
Manufacturer | Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company Winchester Repeating Arms Company Marlin-Rockwell Corporation Royal McBee Typewriter Company International Business Machines Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori Państwowa Fabryka Karabinów |
Produced | 1917–1950s |
No. built | 100,000+ (M1918) |
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The BAR was designed to be carried by soldiers that were moving forward. It was supposed to be put over the shoulder on a strap and fired from the hip. This was called "walking fire". It was thought that walking fire was needed for trench warfare.[1] However, it was usually used as a light machine gun and fired from a bipod.[2]