WAR ATLAS MILITARY HISTORY MAGAZINE · WWI — WWII
M1918 BAR
1. Lead
The M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, universally known as the BAR, was the automatic rifle of the United States Army through the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. Designed by the great American firearms designer John Moses Browning in 1917, it was a gas-operated, air-cooled weapon chambered for the powerful .30-06 Springfield cartridge, fed from a 20-round detachable box magazine, and capable of fully automatic fire at about 500 to 650 rounds per minute.
It was issued one per infantry squad, and it gave the American squad a base of fire that no other army’s infantry could match in 1918 — a portable automatic weapon that could be carried and fired by one man, advancing with the riflemen rather than being emplaced like a machine gun.
The BAR was not a light machine gun and it was not a rifle, but something in between: an automatic rifle, designed to be carried by a single soldier and to provide suppressive fire while the squad advanced. It was heavy — about 7.2 kg empty, and more than 8.8 kg in its Second World War form with a bipod — and its 20-round magazine limited its sustained fire, but it was accurate, reliable and powerfully effective, and American soldiers trusted it.
It served in France in 1918, in the Pacific and in Europe in the Second World War, and in Korea, where it was still the squad automatic weapon of the US Army. About 350,000 were built, and the BAR’s influence can be seen in every squad automatic weapon that followed it.
This article explains how the BAR was developed, how it worked, what its variants were, how it performed in combat, and why it remained in service for more than forty years.
2. Key Facts
| Type | Automatic rifle |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Designer | John Moses Browning / John Moses Browning |
| Manufacturer | Colt, Winchester, Marlin-Rockwell, Browning Arms, Royal Typewriter, IBM, New England Small Arms |
| Years in service | 1918–1960s (US service); in use elsewhere into the 1970s |
| Cartridge | .30-06 Springfield (7.62×63mm) / .30-06 Springfield |
| Action | Gas-operated, tilting breechblock, open bolt |
| Magazine | 20-round detachable box magazine |
| Weight | About 7.2 kg (15.9 lb) empty, M1918; about 8.8 kg (19.4 lb) with bipod, M1918A2 |
| Overall length | 1,194 mm (47 in) / 1.194 mm |
| Barrel length | 610 mm (24 in) / 610 mm |
| Muzzle velocity | About 853 m/s (2,800 ft/s) |
| Rate of fire | About 500–650 rounds per minute (M1918); M1918A2 selectable about 300–450 or 550–650 |
| Effective range | About 800 m; maximum range about 1,500 m |
| Production | About 350,000 (all versions) |
| Users | United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, China and others |
3. Background
3.1. The Problem of Walking Fire
The BAR was born from the stalemate of the Western Front. By 1917, the First World War had become a war of trenches, in which infantry attacks were stopped by machine guns and artillery, and the American Expeditionary Forces, preparing to enter the war, needed a weapon that could give advancing infantry its own firepower.
The French had the Chauchat, a light machine gun that was unreliable and unpopular, and the British had the Lewis gun, which was heavy and needed a team to operate. The Americans wanted something different: a weapon that one man could carry and fire while walking forward, suppressing enemy machine gunners as the squad advanced — a tactic the Americans called “walking fire”.
In February 1917, John Browning demonstrated two new weapons to a board of US Army officers: a water-cooled machine gun that became the M1917, and an automatic rifle that became the BAR. The officers were impressed, the weapon was tested, and in July 1917 the BAR was adopted as the M1918. It was one of the fastest adoptions of a new weapon in American history.
3.2. Browning and the Race to the Front
John Moses Browning was already the most famous firearms designer in the world in 1917, the inventor of the M1911 pistol and the M1895 machine gun, and he designed the BAR in a matter of weeks, working from his experience with gas-operated weapons.
The first BARs were built by Colt, Winchester and Marlin-Rockwell, and production began in early 1918, but the weapon reached the front only in September 1918, in time for the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the largest American operation of the war. The Americans were so concerned that the Germans might capture a BAR and copy it that they initially restricted its use, and the weapon was not issued widely until the last weeks of the war.
Even so, the BAR made an immediate impression: American soldiers found that it gave their squad a firepower that German infantry, armed with the bolt-action rifle and the heavy MG 08 machine gun, could not match in the attack.
4. Design and Development
4.1. Gas Operation and the Tilting Breechblock
The BAR was a gas-operated weapon, which meant that it used the pressure of the gas from a fired cartridge to cycle the action. A small port in the barrel, about two-thirds of the way along its length, tapped gas into a cylinder under the barrel, where it drove a piston backward.
The piston drove the bolt carrier to the rear, unlocking the tilting breechblock — a block that tilted down to lock into the receiver and tilted up to unlock — extracting the empty case, cocking the firing mechanism and loading the next round from the 20-round magazine. The system was simple, robust and reliable, and it was one of Browning’s most successful designs.
The BAR fired from an open bolt, which meant that the bolt was held to the rear between shots and slammed forward to fire, a feature that helped cool the barrel and prevented the cartridge from cooking off in a hot chamber. The weapon had a fire selector that allowed semi-automatic and fully automatic fire, and a simple rear sight adjustable for range.
4.1.1. The Open Bolt and Cooling
Firing from an open bolt was a deliberate choice, and it solved one of the great problems of automatic weapons: heat. A rifle that fires hundreds of rounds in a few minutes becomes very hot, and a cartridge left in a hot chamber can fire by itself, a dangerous malfunction known as a cook-off.
By holding the bolt open between shots, the BAR allowed air to circulate through the barrel and the chamber, and it kept the cartridge out of the hot chamber until the moment of firing. The BAR’s barrel was also fitted with a series of cooling fins in some versions, and the weapon’s gas system could be adjusted with a gas regulator, which allowed the soldier to increase the gas pressure if the weapon became fouled or if it was used in cold weather.
These details made the BAR a weapon that could be fired for long periods without overheating, and American soldiers found that it would keep working in conditions that stopped other automatic weapons.
4.2. Weight, Magazine and the Bipod
The BAR’s greatest weakness was its weight. At 7.2 kg empty, it was heavier than any rifle of its day, and a soldier carrying it, with its ammunition and spare magazines, bore a heavy load. The M1918A2 version, introduced in 1940, was heavier still — about 8.8 kg with its bipod — because the Army had decided to turn the BAR into a light machine gun, adding a bipod, a carrying handle, a flash hider and a shoulder rest.
The bipod allowed the BAR to be fired accurately from the prone position, and it made the weapon a more effective squad support gun, but it also made the weapon heavier and less handy, and many soldiers removed the bipod in the field.
The 20-round magazine was the BAR’s other limitation: it held only twenty rounds of .30-06, and a gunner firing on fully automatic could empty it in about two seconds. The gunner therefore carried many magazines — typically twelve, for a total of 240 rounds — and he needed an assistant gunner to carry extra ammunition and to help reload.
The magazine’s capacity was a compromise: a larger magazine would have been heavier and more awkward, and the BAR was designed to be a rifle, not a machine gun.
4.3. Production and the Second World War Model
The BAR was produced by Colt, Winchester and Marlin-Rockwell in the First World War, and by a larger group of manufacturers in the Second World War, including the Royal Typewriter Company, IBM and the New England Small Arms Corporation — companies that had never built firearms before, but that could make the BAR’s parts with the machine tools they already had.
Total production was about 350,000 weapons, of which about 100,000 were made in the First World War and about 250,000 in the Second. The Second World War model, the M1918A2, was the standard version, and it differed from the original in having a bipod, a flash hider, a carrying handle and a two-rate fire selector that allowed a slow rate of about 300 to 450 rounds per minute and a fast rate of about 550 to 650 rounds per minute.
The slow rate was intended for sustained fire, and the fast rate for emergencies. The M1918A2 was the BAR that American soldiers carried in the Second World War and in Korea, and it was the version that most people picture when they think of the BAR.
5. Technical Specifications
5.1. Ballistics and Effective Range
The BAR fired the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, one of the most powerful standard rifle cartridges of the war. The cartridge fired a 150-grain (9.7 g) bullet at about 853 m/s, giving a muzzle energy of about 3,500 joules — roughly the same as the German 7.92×57mm cartridge and considerably more than the British .303.
The BAR’s long barrel, 610 mm, gave the bullet a high velocity and a flat trajectory, and the weapon was accurate to about 800 metres, with a maximum range of about 1,500 metres. In practice, the BAR was most effective at ranges of 300 to 600 metres, where its volume of fire could suppress enemy infantry and machine gunners, and where its accuracy allowed the gunner to hit targets that riflemen could not.
The BAR’s power was also its drawback: the .30-06 cartridge produced heavy recoil, and the weapon climbed sharply on fully automatic fire, which meant that the gunner had to fire in short bursts to stay on target.
5.1.1. The Two-Rate Fire Selector
The M1918A2’s two-rate fire selector was an attempt to solve the BAR’s ammunition problem. A gunner firing at 650 rounds per minute would empty a 20-round magazine in two seconds and would quickly run out of ammunition, while a gunner firing at 300 rounds per minute could sustain fire for longer and conserve ammunition.
The slow rate was therefore used for most firing, and the fast rate was reserved for emergencies, when the squad needed maximum firepower for a few seconds. In practice, many gunners found the selector confusing, and they often left it on the fast rate, but the idea was sound: the BAR was a weapon that needed to balance firepower against ammunition supply, and the two-rate selector was one way of doing so.
The selector also reflected the Army’s uncertainty about the BAR’s role — was it a rifle, to be fired in short bursts, or a machine gun, to be fired in sustained bursts? The BAR was both, and the selector was an attempt to make it do both jobs.
5.2. Reliability and Handling
The BAR was a reliable weapon, provided it was kept clean and properly lubricated. Its gas system was robust, its parts were well made, and it would continue to work in mud, dust and cold, although it needed more care than a bolt-action rifle.
The weapon’s weight, which was a burden on the march, was an advantage in firing: the heavy barrel and receiver absorbed recoil and kept the weapon steady, and the BAR was one of the most accurate automatic weapons of its day. The BAR’s handling was straightforward: the gunner loaded a 20-round magazine, pulled the charging handle to the rear, set the fire selector, and fired.
The weapon’s safety was a small lever on the left side of the receiver, and the gunner could change magazines quickly, although he needed to be careful not to lose the empty magazine, which was valuable and hard to replace in the field. American soldiers trusted the BAR, and they regarded the BAR gunner as one of the most important men in the squad.
6. Variants
6.1. The M1918, M1918A1 and M1918A2
The BAR was produced in three main American versions. The original M1918, made in the First World War, was a relatively light weapon, without a bipod, and it was intended to be fired from the shoulder or the hip while advancing. The M1918A1, introduced in the 1930s, added a bipod and a spiked buttplate, and it was an attempt to turn the BAR into a light machine gun.
The M1918A2, introduced in 1940, was the definitive Second World War version, with a bipod, a flash hider, a carrying handle, a shoulder rest and a two-rate fire selector, and it was heavier and more complex than the original. The M1918A2 was the version that American soldiers carried in the Second World War and in Korea, and it was produced in the largest numbers.
There were also a number of experimental versions, including a version with a shorter barrel and a version with a different gas system, but none of them entered large-scale production.
6.1.1. Foreign Versions and the FN BAR
The BAR was also produced under licence in Belgium by Fabrique Nationale (FN), which made a version known as the FN Model 1930, and in Poland, Sweden and other countries. The Belgian FN BAR was used by the Belgian, Polish and other armies, and it differed from the American version in having a pistol grip and a different magazine.
The Swedish version, the Kg m/21, was used by the Swedish army, and the Polish version, the wz. 1928, was used by the Polish army in the defence of Poland in 1939. The BAR’s international career shows its influence: it was one of the few American weapons to be adopted by other armies in large numbers, and it remained in service in many countries long after the United States had replaced it.
The FN BAR, in particular, was a well-made weapon, and it was used by the Belgian army into the 1960s. FN later developed the Model D variant with a quick-change barrel and a pistol grip, which served with several armies into the 1950s and showed how adaptable John Browning’s 1917 design remained.
6.2. The BAR in Civilian and Police Service
After the Second World War, the BAR was used by police forces and by civilians in the United States, where semi-automatic versions were sold to hunters and collectors. The BAR’s most famous civilian use was by the Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, who used a Remington Model 8 semi-automatic rifle to ambush the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde in 1934 — a reminder that the weapon had been in service for more than a decade before the Second World War.
The BAR’s heavy .30-06 cartridge and its accuracy made it a popular hunting rifle, and the Browning company later produced a hunting rifle called the BAR, although it was a different design. The military BAR remained in service with the US National Guard into the 1960s, and it was used by the armies of many countries, including Israel, South Vietnam and the Philippines, into the 1970s.
The BAR’s civilian career also included use by state police forces and by security guards, and the weapon’s reputation for reliability made it a popular choice for organisations that needed a powerful automatic weapon.
7. Combat Service
7.1. The First World War: Meuse-Argonne
The BAR first saw combat in September 1918, during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the largest and bloodiest American operation of the First World War. The BAR gunners, advancing with the infantry, used their weapons to suppress German machine gunners as the squads moved forward, and the BAR’s firepower was a revelation to American soldiers who had previously relied on the bolt-action Springfield rifle.
The BAR’s service in the First World War was brief — the war ended in November 1918, only two months after the BAR reached the front — but it was enough to establish the weapon’s reputation. American officers reported that the BAR was the most effective infantry weapon they had, and they recommended that it be issued more widely.
The BAR’s First World War service also established the American squad organisation that would last for the next forty years: one BAR per squad, with the BAR gunner as the squad’s base of fire.
7.1.1. The BAR Gunner in the Squad
The BAR gunner was one of the most important men in the American infantry squad, and he was often the target of enemy fire, because the enemy knew that silencing the BAR would deprive the squad of its firepower. The BAR gunner was accompanied by an assistant gunner, who carried extra magazines and helped to reload, and by an ammunition bearer, who carried more ammunition.
The squad’s tactics were built around the BAR: the BAR gunner provided suppressive fire while the riflemen advanced, and the riflemen protected the BAR gunner while he fired. This organisation, in which one automatic weapon provided the base of fire for a squad of riflemen, was the American answer to the German squad, which was built around the MG 34 and MG 42 machine gun, and it remained the basis of American infantry tactics through the Second World War and Korea.
The assistant gunner also watched for enemy snipers and machine gunners who might target the BAR team, and the squad’s riflemen were trained to protect the gunner at all times, even at the cost of their own safety.
7.2. The Second World War and Korea
In the Second World War, the BAR served in every theatre where American troops fought. In the Pacific, BAR gunners fought in the jungles of Guadalcanal, New Guinea and the Philippines, where the weapon’s firepower was essential in close fighting against Japanese infantry.
In Europe, BAR gunners fought in Normandy, in the Battle of the Bulge and in the advance into Germany, where the BAR’s long range and accuracy were valued in the open country and in the towns of France and Germany. The BAR was also used by the US Marine Corps, which prized the weapon for its reliability and its firepower, and which issued it to every squad.
In Korea, the BAR remained the squad automatic weapon, and it was used in the hills and valleys of the Korean peninsula, where its long range was useful and its weight was a burden on the steep slopes. The BAR’s service in Korea was its last as the standard American squad weapon: after the war, the US Army replaced it with the M14 rifle and later with the M60 machine gun, but the BAR’s influence lived on in the squad automatic weapons that followed it.
8. Strengths and Weaknesses
8.1. Accuracy, Reliability and Power
The BAR’s greatest strength was its accuracy. It was one of the most accurate automatic weapons of its day, and a good gunner could hit targets at 600 metres and beyond, which made it effective at ranges where submachine guns were useless.
Its second strength was its reliability: the gas-operated action was robust, the weapon was well made, and it would continue to work in conditions that stopped other automatic weapons. Its third strength was its power: the .30-06 cartridge was one of the most powerful rifle cartridges of the war, and it could penetrate cover and body armour that would have stopped a pistol-calibre submachine gun.
Its fourth strength was its versatility: the BAR could be fired from the shoulder, from the hip, from a bipod or from the prone position, and it could be used for suppressive fire, for accurate fire and for close combat. These strengths made the BAR a weapon that American soldiers trusted, and it was the weapon they turned to when they needed firepower.
8.2. Weight, Magazine Capacity and Age
The BAR’s weaknesses were the price of its power. Its weight — 7.2 kg empty, and 8.8 kg with a bipod — made it tiring to carry on long marches, and it made the BAR gunner slower than the riflemen he fought beside. Its 20-round magazine limited its sustained fire, and the gunner needed an assistant to carry extra ammunition.
The BAR was also a weapon of an earlier era: by the Second World War, the German MG 42 could fire 1,200 rounds per minute from a belt, and the Soviet PPSh-41 could fire 900 rounds per minute from a 71-round drum, while the BAR could fire only 500 to 650 rounds per minute from a 20-round magazine.
The BAR was still an effective weapon, but it was no longer the most effective automatic weapon on the battlefield, and after the war the US Army replaced it with weapons that could provide more sustained fire. The BAR’s age was its final weakness: it was designed in 1917, and by 1950 it was a thirty-year-old design in a world that had moved on to the assault rifle and the general-purpose machine gun.
9. Comparison with Rivals
9.1. Against the German MG 34 and MG 42
The BAR’s most formidable rivals were the German MG 34 and MG 42, the general-purpose machine guns that were the centre of the German infantry squad. The MG 42 could fire 1,200 rounds per minute from a belt, and it could sustain fire for far longer than the BAR, because it was fed from a belt and it had a quick-change barrel.
The MG 34 and MG 42 were heavier than the BAR and they needed a team to operate, but they provided far more firepower, and German squads built around the machine gun could outgun American squads built around the BAR.
The BAR’s advantage was that it could be carried and fired by one man, and that it was more accurate at long range, but in a firefight at close range, the German machine gun was the more effective weapon. The American answer was to issue more BARs — later in the war, some American squads carried two BARs — and to support the infantry with more machine guns of their own, but the German machine gun remained the more powerful weapon.
9.2. Against the Bren Gun and the DP-28
The British Bren gun was the BAR’s closest rival in concept: a light machine gun, fed from a 30-round magazine, that provided the base of fire for the British infantry section. The Bren was more accurate than the BAR, it had a quick-change barrel, and it was fed from a top-mounted magazine that was easy to change, but it was heavier than the BAR and it fired the less powerful .303 cartridge.
The Soviet DP-28, the standard Soviet light machine gun, was fed from a 47-round pan magazine and was simple and reliable, but it was also heavy and its pan magazine was awkward to carry. The BAR compared well with both weapons: it was lighter than the Bren, more accurate than the DP-28, and it fired a more powerful cartridge than either.
But both the Bren and the DP-28 were true light machine guns, designed to provide sustained fire, while the BAR was an automatic rifle, designed to provide fire while advancing. The distinction mattered: the Bren and the DP-28 were better at sustained fire, and the BAR was better at fire on the move.
10. Legacy
10.1. The Squad Automatic Weapon
The BAR’s most lasting legacy is the concept of the squad automatic weapon — a portable automatic weapon, carried by one man, that provides the base of fire for an infantry squad. Before the BAR, automatic weapons were heavy machine guns that needed a team to operate and that were emplaced in fixed positions; after the BAR, every army in the world issued a squad automatic weapon, from the Soviet RPK to the American M249 SAW, and the concept remains the basis of infantry organisation today.
The BAR showed that a squad needed its own automatic firepower, and that the weapon that provided it had to be portable, reliable and accurate. The BAR’s influence can be seen in every squad automatic weapon that followed it, and the weapon’s design — gas-operated, magazine-fed, fired from the shoulder — remains the pattern for the squad automatic rifle.
10.2. The BAR in Memory and Collections
Today, the BAR is preserved in museums around the world, from the National WWII Museum in New Orleans to the Imperial War Museum in London, and it is a prized collector’s item. It appears in films and television dramas about the Second World War and Korea, from Saving Private Ryan to Band of Brothers, where the BAR gunner is often shown as one of the squad’s key men.
The weapon’s distinctive shape — the long barrel, the wooden stock, the 20-round magazine — is instantly recognisable, and it has become a symbol of the American infantryman of the Second World War. The BAR’s legacy is therefore double: it is a weapon that changed infantry tactics, and it is a symbol of the American soldier who carried it.
Both parts of that legacy deserve to be remembered, and both are part of the story of the BAR.
11. Frequently Asked Questions
Who designed the BAR?
John Moses Browning, the great American firearms designer. He demonstrated the weapon to the US Army in February 1917, and it was adopted in July 1917.
What does BAR stand for?
Browning Automatic Rifle. The full designation was the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle.
How many BARs were made?
About 350,000 were built in total, about 100,000 in the First World War and about 250,000 in the Second World War.
What cartridge did the BAR fire?
The .30-06 Springfield cartridge, the standard American rifle cartridge of both world wars, firing a 150-grain bullet at about 853 m/s.
Why was the BAR so heavy?
Because it was built to fire the powerful .30-06 cartridge on fully automatic fire, which required a heavy barrel and receiver to absorb recoil and heat. The M1918A2 was heavier still, at about 8.8 kg with its bipod.
Did the BAR serve in Korea?
Yes. The BAR remained the squad automatic weapon of the US Army in the Korean War, and it was not replaced until after the war, by the M14 rifle and later the M60 machine gun.
12. Sources
- Wikipedia, “M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle” — designer John Browning, adoption July 1917, production of about 350,000, specifications (7.2 kg, 1,194 mm, 853 m/s, 20-round magazine).
- Wikipedia, “John Browning” — Browning’s career, the M1911 pistol and the BAR demonstration of February 1917.
- National WWII Museum, New Orleans — the BAR in US Army and Marine Corps service in the Second World War.
- US Army Center of Military History — the BAR in the Meuse-Argonne offensive and the squad organisation of the American infantry.
- Ian V. Hogg, Allied Pistols and Submachine Guns and Military Small Arms of the 20th Century — the BAR, the M1918A2 and foreign versions.
- Imperial War Museum, London — the BAR, the Bren gun and the comparison of squad automatic weapons.