If you have seen our 2 cents blog before then you know we are huge fans of John Browning. I personally believe he was the greatest firearm designer of all time, and for that reason we decided to put together a bit of History on the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle BAR since it is featured on Top Shot’s Season 4.
 
The M1918 BAR was not John Browning’s first automatic firearm, but it was his first lightweight portable automatic rifle. Previous automatic designs of his that hit production were the Colt-Browning M1895 “Potato Digger” and the M1917 Browning Machine Gun. The problem with the M1895 and M1917 was that they were extremely heavy. As the United States entered World War I, there was serious demand for a lightweight automatic firearm for trench warfare.
 
That demand would be supplied thanks to John Moses Browning. His answer was the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR. It was chambered in .30-06 Springfield and had a firing capability of 650 rounds per minute. All the while maintaining the famous reliability and durability John Browning was known for. Most importantly, it was portable enough to be transported by a single soldier.
 
One of the more interesting bits of history on the M1918 BAR is that Val Browning, John Browning’s Son, was one of the first soldiers to put it to use in WWI. Val Browning would later follow in his father’s footsteps and design firearms, just as John Browning had followed in his father’s footsteps.
 
Multiple US Patent Drawings for the M1918 BAR and variants:
 

The Model 1917 / M1917 Browning Machine Gun was a recoil powered automatic firearm. It was granted US Patent 678937 on July 23rd, 1901. This patent was applied for on June 19th, 1900. So why was this Machine Gun given the name Model 1917 when the model number usually mirrors the patent year plus or minus one year? The name is actually based on the fact that this firearm was not adopted for use until 1917. The design sat around for years until the US Military found itself in need of some high power high output firearms. Along came the Model 1917 after spending some years in hibernation.

A key feature of the M1917 is that it was a water cooled machine gun. This was a factor in the weight and thus restricted some applications. The 1917 eventually morphed into multiple other versions / variations including the M1919.

Another key feature that should be mentioned is that this patent has a right side ejection of spent rounds where the M1917 would adjust it to bottom ejection.

This is a Machine Gun Feed Belt loading machine, which as it implies loads the rounds into the cloth belt. During this period of John Browning’s machine gun designs he was using a fabric belt for feeding the rounds. Even later models like the M1919 benefited from this form of feed belt rather than metal links. The feed mechanism had a claw that would pull the rounds into the breech.

John Moses Browning applied for this patent on November 15th, 1899. He was granted US Patent 660,244 for this design on October 23rd, 1900.