It's such a shame that this almost was a belt-fed gun. Ordnance Corp thought soldiers would waste ammo, forgetting that this was meant to be an LMG, and told Browning to design a gun that met their stupid demands over what he knew was more effective. The M1 Garand, meanwhile, was similarly screwed over. It was originally designed around BAR magazines so riflemen could support machinegunners. Ordnance Corp told Garand the same crap they told Browning, forcing the rifle to be redesigned around clips. Later, Ordnance Corp would spend millions of (pre 2000's) dollars to butcher the M1, creating the abominable M14. We are exceptionally lucky that after Vietnam, the military has effectively been banned from designing their own equipment. They can put out contracts, but they can not enter a race they have control over anymore.
The M240 is basically a BAR, just modified to fire from a belt instead of a magazine, barrels that can be changed out quickly and chambered in 7.62/.308. In other words, the M240 is what the BAR was always supposed to be.
