FM 23-15 Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, M1918A2 1943-06-30 "The Browning automatic rifle, caliber .30, M1918A2, is an air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed shoulder weapon with bipod (flg. 1). It weighs approximately 20 pounds with sling. The ammunition is loaded in magazines of 20 rounds. The weight of the magazine when empty is 7 ounces; when filled, 1 pound 7 ounces
For nearly fifty years the hard-hitting, mobile Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR, served in US infantry units as a light squad automatic “base of fire” weapon, providing quick bursts of concentrated fire. Designed in World War One, it didn't reach the front until September 1918. In the interwar years US forces used the BAR across the world, from China to Nicaragua. It also became a favorite of notorious gangsters like Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, who prized its ability to punch through police armored cars. At the outset of World War II the US armed forces decided to adapt the BAR for a light machine gun role. The BAR was not without its flaws; it was heavy and difficult to dismantle and reassemble, and it didn't cope well with sustained fire. Nevertheless, the BAR saw action in every major theater of World War II and went on to be used in Korea and in the opening stages of the Vietnam War. Featuring arresting first-hand accounts, specially drawn full-color artwork and close-up photographs, many in color, this lively study offers a vivid portrait of this powerful, long-lived and innovative weapon that saw service with US and other forces across the world for much of the 20th century.
Over 1,100 total pages ... Publication Date: 1964 Creator / Author: Department of the Army Collection: Military Publications 1. TITLE: RIFLE, CALIBER .30, AUTOMATIC, BROWNING, M1918A2 This manual is published for the in formation and guidance of personnel responsible for direct and general support and depot maintenance of caliber .30 Browning automatic rifle Ml918A2. It contains information on maintenance which is beyond the scope of tools, equipment, or supplies normally available to using or ganizations. This manual does not contain information which is intended primarily for the using organization, since such in formation is available to maintenance personnel in the pertinent operator's technical manuals. This manual contains description of and procedures for removal, disassembly, inspection, repair, assembly and installation of groups and assemblies of the caliber .30 Browning automatic rifle M1918A2. The appendix contains a list of current references, including supply manuals, technical manuals, and other available publications applicable to the materiel. Publication Date: 1940 Creator / Author: Department of the Army Collection: Military Publications 2. TITLE: BASIC FIELD MANUAL - BROWNING AUTOMATIC RIFLE CALIBER.30, M1918A2 WITH BIPOD DESCRIPTION OF THE RIFLE.-The Browning automatic rifle, caliber .30, M1918A2, with bipod, is an air-cooled, gas operated, magazine-fed shoulder weapon. (See fig. 1.) It weighs approximately 21 pounds without sling. The ammunition is loaded in magazines of 20 rounds. The weight of the magazine when empty is 7 ounces; when filled, 1 pound 7 ounces. FIRE POWER.-The Browning automatic rifle, caliber .30, M1918A2, is not capable of semiautomatic fire. There are two cyclic rates of full automatic fire, normal and slow, which may be selected by the firer. The normal cyclic rate is approximately 550 rounds per minute; the slow cyclic rate is approximately 350 rounds per minute. The effective rate of fire for this weapon is from 120 to 150 rounds per minute. Publication Date: 1943 Creator / Author: Department of the Army Collection: Military Publications 3. TITLE: BASIC FIELD MANUAL - BROWNING AUTOMATIC RIFLE CALIBER.30, M1918A2, 30 June 1943 DESCRIPTION.—The Browning automatic rifle, caliber .30, M1918A2, is an air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed shoulder weapon with bipod (fig. 1). It weighs approximately 20 pounds with sling. The ammunition is loaded in magazines of 20 rounds. The weight of the magazine when empty is 7 ounces; when filled, 1 pound 7 ounces. FIRE POWER.—The Browning automatic rifle, caliber-.30, M1918A2, is not mechanically capable of semiautomatic fire, though it can be fired single shot by proper trigger manipulation There are two cyclic rates of full automatic fire, normal and slow, which may be selected by the firer. The normal cyclic rate is approximately 550 rounds per minute; the slow cyclic rate is approximately 350 rounds per minute. The most effective rate of fire for this weapon is from 120 to 150 rounds- per minute. The sustained rate, however, is from 40 to 60 rounds per minute. 4. TITLE: FIELD MAINTENANCE CAL .. 30 BROWNING AUTOMATIC RIFLE Ml918A2, February 1957 Scope These instructions are published for the use of personnel responsible for field maintenance of this materiel. They contain information on maintenance which is beyond the scope of the tools, equipment, or supplies normally available to using organization. This publication doe. not contain information which i intended primarily for the using organization since such information is available to ordnance maintenance personnel in FM 23-15. 5. TITLE: BROWNING AUTOMATIC RIFLE CALIBER .30 M1918A2, JULY 1951
George Washington insisted that his portrait be painted with one. Daniel Boone created a legend with one. Abraham Lincoln shot them on the White House lawn. And Teddy Roosevelt had his specially customized. In this first-of-its-kind book, historian Alexander Rose delivers a colorful, engrossing biography of an American icon: the rifle. Drawing on the words of foot soldiers, inventors, and presidents, based on extensive new research, and spanning from the Revolution to the present day, American Rifle is a balanced, wonderfully entertaining history of the rifle and its place in American culture.
Basic Field Manual, Browning Automatic Rifle, Caliber .30, M1918A2, with Bipod 1940-08-27 (Obsolete) "This field manual details mechanical training, marksmanship (known distance targets, moving ground targets, and air targets), technique of fire, and advice to instructors for the Browning automatic rifle." Digitized by the Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library, US Army
