Scott at Kentucky Ballistics is one of my favorite channels because he just seems to be having so much genuine fun. His new video is awesome, shooting a (semi-auto) BAR, a new production replica of the Browning BAR, from Ohio Ordnance Works. It is their model 1918A3-SLR and will set you back around $5,500. It is chambered in 30-06 and that makes it a man’s gun.
According to the website this little gem tips the scales at only 29 pounds.
Only 29 pounds.
Imagine carrying that brute very far. The old ones were fully automatic and if you have shot a 30-06 you know that is a beast round and I can’t imagine letting them off the chain fully auto, but maybe being that heavy the recoil is manageable. On the other hand, remember that men back in WW I and WW II were much smaller than today and they were lugging these things around.
I am sure that our new, more diverse and gender equitable military would handle these no problem.
When I was lugging the M-60 around, I was a skinny beanpole over six foot and weighed 159 pounds, no matter how much beer I drank or chow hall food I slurped down. The "gun" ( it didn't work but every few rounds, but we were too far from the ocean to call it a "boat anchor" ) and its accessories didn't bother me at all. Just the unappreciated benefit of youth. I don't think it is a generational difference, just one of age. And yeah, weight really makes a difference in recoil.
I was just a wee bit smaller, and they made me a flame thrower man, one of the last ever trained on one in early'73. We were never issued them in 3rdMarDiv, but that thing weighed 82 lbs filled with napalm, and lasted all of 10 seconds. Carried either an M-60 or M-79 in scouts and Recon.
I always read the BAR was 18 lbs, it was lighter than the M-60.
Yeah, 82 pounds of a flammable liquid on my back? No thanks.
well, back in the day. when I showed up at my new platoon at 6 foot 2 inches and 190 pounds. you either got the radio or the m60. I had a bit of a stammer back them. I got the m60. I was told to move after every 5-6 second burst or he be writing a letter home to my parents. something he hated doing.
he was right about that part, went thru 2 different ammo bearers inside of 3 months. guys who did not listen to the older guys . kind of a very steep learning curve back in the 101st back then,
I never gad any problems with the gun myself, but I kept cleaned and oiled all the time. not everyone did though and they paid for that mistake the hard way.
Looks like fun! Pa Wilder laughed the first time I asked what a BAR was while watching a movie. I don't think "Browning Automatic" was what they called 'em when he was in the service.