what I find quite striking is how with old plastic objects, once you get past some threshold age, the plastic on the older ones tends to be in far better condition because some of the formerly common old plastic types (mostly first half of the 20th century I think) were much more durable and don't seem to decompose at all, whereas now almost all of the plastic used even for things not technically meant to be disposable only lasts 5-20 years before it crumbles.
@@TheRealZJE313 4,800 I mean it aint that bad all things considered id have to blow my checking account but i suppose i could buy it and go get my money back.
Vitruvius Yeah I don't know about that, the army could have just done nothing to the M1918 BAR instead of "upgrading" it to the M1918A2 and it would have been better for no cost...
And Bonnie's. Little lady firing that big gun at cops. One said he ran behind a tree and had splinters hitting him when Bonnie was peppering the tree with rounds.
I would expect that before the invention and popularisation of assault rifle the police would gain quite a lot of interest in your person if they got to know that you happen to use light machinegun or automatic rifle for your personal defence.
How many of those ultra pricey semi-auto Thompsons do they even sell? I've never personally seen one. I always assumed that wealthy collectors who couldn't buy a vintage auto Thompson for legal reasons bought the new ones to hang on the wall for the coolness factor.
Is there some reason the BAR didn't get a larger magazine? Surely at this point, someone had to think "might as well!" since the thing is already a boat anchor.
Longer mags potentially interfered with prone shooting. There were 40-rounders made experimentally for antiaircraft use, but nothing like that was put into production.
Forgotten Weapons i am surprised that someone didnt come up with a double stacked tapered feed system....i know the issues involved, but worth a try as its such a great gun. Nice video Ian, as ever!
Having seen, handled, and fired the A2 BAR several times, I can say that because of the construction of the weapon, there really was no good way to increase magazine capacity. Even with the bipod mounted, the weapon is just too low to the ground to have any bigger magazine. Yes, someone could have theoretically done it, but this was the 1930s, the Great Depression. The A2 modifications were adopted in 1938.
Forgotten Weapons, I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. I was making a simple funny about an article recently on the news which quickly became a meme. You have really cool content here
The video shows it all. It might be heavier but the barrel harmonics are steady. That compensator on the Monitor caused all kinds of crazy vibrations and harmonics! Good Video!
The Bar was excellent. Only limited to the short mags.. but, you did have an assistant gunner. As for the weight, that is why Bubba was issued it. Yes in combat we all like lighter and think it's better. But sometimes.. a little extra weight, even if 5 lbs, is worth it.
You are By FAR the BEST gun channel EVER!!! Always enjoy watching your detailed and meticulous explanations of these magnificent machines. Getting to watch you SHOOT them is whipped cream and cherries on an already wonderful experience☺️👌
Nothing like Ian and and a super cool BAR variant! Seriously, great video man. It's always interesting seeing the progression of and old style automatic rifle like this.
I just watched another Forgotten Weapons BAR video, the one about the franken-BAR that shoots 7mm mauser. Very cool how this video shows why that BAR had that wear pattern right behind the ejection port. Every case does that quick flip and smacks right into that spot.
Nice. Hadn't heard of these. Looks like a solid design, but solidly heavy too. The bipod looks excellent, but adds a lot of weight. Sounds like FN came up with an easier barrel detach system. Ah, what might have been (the saddest words of mice and men). Great video as always. Thank you
You certainly know your weapons! I'm greatly impressed with your knowledge of the history of these many different guns as well as the specifics of each gun you test. Great job!
The Army made 40-rnd AA mags as well. They were taken out of service in 1928. Should have thrown them in storage and brought them back for WW2. Since the BAR ended being used for its original purpose of "Walking Fire" about half the time anyway.
The 248 SAW and 240B of today isn't much better on barrel changing. It's a cumbersome act when under fire. Just requires lots of drills, then it becomes second nature and only takes a few seconds.
I am starting to use your work as reference now usually in conjunction with other historical and period films, I think films should have links at the end for these superb nuggets, now smart streaming TVs are becoming increasingly popular 😀
It's interesting to see the slow motion of the case ejections. In particular, that they vary significantly. It seems like it would be really hard to solve those edge cases where everything goes wrong and you get a failure to eject.
Colt purchased rights to the patent on the BAR owned by Browning Arms. The Browning Automatic Rifle was a favorite of Clyde (Bonnie and Clyde) and saw a lot of use in WWII. My Browning BAR hunting rifle in the early 2000s was still using some of the design, but was no longer capable of automatic fire and was on a much lighter frame.
It was never a true light machine gun like the bren or cz30 person and the chatellerau. It was intended for walk in fire. It was harder to reload than any of these guns. Even the gunny admitted wqthat.
Understanding the platforms shortcoming - this version of the BAR is the one I would want for my collection. Perhaps some day. That is very steady for 30-06 auto. And I really enjoy seeing a southpaw shoot firearms - nothing like powder burns up and down the right arm....
There is something impressive about the BAR. Not the best solution, but a marvellous piece all the same. It looks as though it means business. Wow what a great sound...shame about the 20 round mag, its just not enough. Surely JMB could have designed a sort of double stacked single feed that would have worked. Great video Ian!
What was interesting in the slowmo on this video was how much the gun didn't move, not in the bounce around sense but there was just nothing going on with gun whereas when you see other guns in full auto you can see a surprising amount of flex in the stock, barrel jacket, etc.
In the sixties the Marines trained us in ITR using the old M-1 and BAR from Korea War. These were heavy weapons and almost worn out. Looking back I learned respect for previous Marines that fought with these weapons. Semper Fi Vietnam 3/9 1968-69.
Do museums buy their guns from here? I binge watched a ton of these and ever since I started checking prices I’ve been pretty astounded usually. As a result I’ve also been wondering whether it’s just individuals with plenty of disposable income or museums more often than not or equally or what. Love the videos. Gun Jesus has a wonderful way with firearms, as one would expect.
I wish companies would bring back some of their retro guns like the BAR and tommy gun and things, I know some manufacturers reproduce them but those are pretty expensive.
FN is always confusing to me, as FN is the Scandinavian abbreviation for the United Nations, hehe.😅 So whenever you comment that FN was a major customer, I think the UN bought these guns, but they didn't exist until after WWII...😅
Thank god for The genius John M Browning. Just think of all the guns we wouldn’t have if he didn’t make all the superb weapons that he invented. Best weapons maker in the world hands down. Nobody comes close to him not Luger, Mauser, Thompson, Garand. They all had great one off weapons but Browning has multiple great weapons in every type of configuration. Nobody comes close.
Ah man you gota love how my empire of Belgium perfectionised every weapon we ever got our hands on I didnt know about thisone, theres also the german Mauser and probably many more I'm inherriting that Mauser, shot many germans lol
I see some of these weapons from, 1945-1980 ish and think about if my grandpa owned them. I obsess over it sometimes. To the point of asking my mom to call the guy my grandma sold them to in 94
Retrofit the FN's barrel change system onto it, cook up some 75 round drums, and bolt about 4 inches of picatinny rail on it in front of the rear sight and put her back into action.
As early as 1917 there were 40 round magazines designed for the BAR, they were deemed too "heavy and cumbersome" for use in the prone position. In 1920, the Infantry and Cavalry board called for a shortened version of the BAR (M1922) for cavalry use, and ordered 40 - thirty round magazines as - well as canvas bandoleers to be made. 20 of which were sent to Ft. Benning, 20 sent to Ft. Riley. So, a reliable large(er) capacity magazine was indeed created for the BAR, however, the defense department obviously never saw fit to issue them, for what reason would be interesting to know.
Unfortunately, you then have the "battle rifle problem" that bedeviled the M14, FAL, and CETME/G3. Firing a *full-caliber rifle* on automatic causes muzzle rise and vibration almost to the point of uncontrollability. That's why assault rifles are *sub-caliber* (7.9kurtz, 7.62x39, 5.56, 5.45, 6.8, 6.5, etc). They might have solved that problem by chambering the BAR for something like .300 Savage (which produces low-end .30-06 performance in a short-case design; decades before the short-case magnums were invented). Another good caliber might have been *.276 Petersen;* if he'd managed to win the Army Rifle Contest.
The 30 cal. Or civilian 30.06 projectiles are no joke i tested a m1 garand against 1/4 in. Steel plat.it shoots 30 cal ammo also....went thru that like butter...
