Colt Automatic Machine Rifle Model 1919: the First Commercial BAR
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- čas přidán 25. 04. 2024
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Several patents were taken out on the BAR during World War One, but they were all kept unpublished and secret during the war. Just days after the Armistice, Colt patent attorney CJ Ehbets wrote to the US Patent Office requesting release of the secrecy restrictions. They responded just two days later sending formal publication of the patents, and Colt was able to move directly into commercial export sales of the BAR.
The model being sold by Colt was officially the Colt Automatic Machine Rifle, Model of 1919. It was nearly identical to the regular M1918 US military BAR, but without the cylindrical flash hider and with the recoil spring moved from the gas tube into the buttstock. The first sale was made on April 11, 1919 (serial number C-100251) and a total of 1,003 of these guns were purchased by the end of 1923. In 1924, Colt released a new model, with a pistol grip and some other improvements.
Of the 1,003 Model 1919s, 701 were chambered for 6.5mm and sold to FN - almost certainly for resale to a European client, as FN was not yet set up for BAR manufacture. The remaining 302 were made in a variety of calibers (.30-06, 7.92mm Mauser, 7.65mm Mauser, 7mm Mauser), and also included a small batch in .303 British purchased by the UK and used in the light machine gun trials that ultimately let to the Bren.
This particular example is fully transferrable, but was at some point rebuilt by a prior owner in World War Two, M1918A2 configuration. It retains the original style hand guard and trigger assembly and is a proper Model 1919 receiver, and would be an ideal project for someone to properly return to Model 1919 configuration (IMO).
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The BAR is a really aesthetically pleasing firearm. It just looks so right.
The WWII Era of firearms, vehicles, and aircraft look cool cool to me. Granted this was a WWI weapon, but this, the Thompson, Bren, Sherman, all of that stuff is astheticly pleasing to me.
Browning mindset: make cool guns that look good
The BAR and a few 1920- or so shotguns just hollar "Bonnie and Clyde ", to me. Of course, Thompson smg, as well.
Yes! It looks cool AF!
It looks heavy, real heavy :p
The most amazing thing about this entire video is that the patent office responded in two days.
They probably had a lot of people working still with not much to do.
My grandfather Robert Browning inherited a tool room example. Traded with his lawyer for legal services before I was born. It’s really cool to see these guns still trading owners and gives me hope I can own one in the future.
My great uncle is Samuel j Hawkins who invented the Hawkins percussion rifle trapper rifle ❤
John M Browning was from my hometown of Ogden, Utah. The guy invented many of the firearms used by US forces in WWII.
@@thomasvagenasjr5623no shit
Woodrow Wilson was my great great great uncle, and Jasper John's is some sort of cousin on my father's side (though I've only met him once at a wedding, very reclusive). I have a shotgun from Wilson in storage somewhere, but with it being in a pretty bad state of disrepair, and with no way of effectively proving its ownership, it's not a very worthwhile collection piece.
Ever been by the Browning sports club?
Cool how it stands out in the water.@@thomasvagenasjr5623
I remember seeing an old magazine ad where the BAR was being sold in Texas hardware stores for the bandit problem. If you could have a time machine, this could be a good trip to buy one of these from the hardware store.
If you had a time machine you could go back and prevent the 1934 NFA and own one or a reproduction right now...
@@razgriz1258I'd just straight up abolish the NFA
One could outfit a good little army from a Sears catalog.
@@razgriz1258 Or you could do something to repeal NFA or particularly FOPA.
1930s hardware stores were WILD
The Irony is that in 1920, anyone could Order and Own a BAR, but Don’t you DARE have a shot of Bourbon! Twenty years later, you could get Drunk all day long, but Don’t you DARE to shoot a Full Auto Weapon!
They did that deliberately to keep the Prohibition Bureau agents from losing their jobs after brutalizing the public over beer for so long.
Full auto firearms for EVERYONE!! What could possibly go wrong!!
@timbirch4999 tell me,
What could go wrong ?
Here is something you need to look at.
Crime actually goes up with more gun laws.
Funny how that happens.
Totally kills your gun control logic.
Reminder that the first gun laws were created to disarm minorities explicitly.
@@knutdergroe9757chicken and egg problem
Sweden bought 403 BAR, designated Kg m/21, later manufactured under license by Carl Gustav Stads Gevärsfaktori. Revised in 1937, m/37.
The look a difrent than a normale BAR, rly cool LMG.
Fun fact: They can be assembled from a flat-pack using only an allen-key wrench and cartoonish instructions.
If i remember correctly they converted them to 6.5x55 swede, the light recoil/flat trajectory would make a pretty sweet lmg.
"This is a recovered gun" - he says like a caretaker would speak of an injured animal they are fond of
My father used BAR in his service with 10th Mountain Division dealings with German military in mountainous northern Italy. He said to use it effectively required 3 shot bursts because recoil of longer bursts moved BAR off target. He said he and all other BAR riflemen removed bipods to reduce weight plus bipods did not help with accuracy in combat conditions.
I post to support the alligator rhythm
Crocodilians unite !
Rawr!🐊
Ah, finally another person who understands that CZcams is run by a cabal of breakdancing alligators
I dunno, I prefer the Al Gore rhythm... (that man can move)
🐊
Sweden bought 403 BARs in 1921 and later built a number on licence at Carl Gustafs gevärsfaktori. The ones bought had a detachable pistol grip. The Swedish name is Kulsprutegevär m/21 or kg m/21 for short.
I love Swedish nomenclature. It literally translates to "bullet spray rifle".
Back in the old days when you could buy a machine gun at your will…
Repeal the NFA!!
You still can but it takes forever and it’s ridiculously expensive.
I've read the title card for the video ("Colt Automatic Machine Rifle ...") and came up with a really stupid conversation in my head.
- _Hey, what do you do for living?_
- _I am a CAMR man._
- _Oh! You're shooting a lot of pictures! How cool is that?_
- _Not pictures, but... It pays the bills, yeah._
Ah yes, a gun that kicks like perkele, what does it NOT need? A pistol grip, of course.
Those were truly the times of all time.
Wild design decisions - some great, some inexplicably traditionalist - adds to the charm.
6.5mm seems more appropriate for the BAR. The reduction in recoil should make the gun more manageable on full auto. The thing was a beast and the biggest guy in the squad got to carry the gun.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as long as you stick to a 10 round magazine the sweepstakes rifle is actually perfectly legal in CA because it doesn't have a pistol grip. The latest model of BAR is legal in CA for the same reason.
But Ian I want the 1919
Hey, don't let me stop you! :)
8:40 Here I was for a split-second thinking Finland placed an order for 700 BARs in 6.5 Arisaka haha.
My dad carried a BAR in the Marines (1959-1962). First thing he did was remove the bipod.
I have to agree with Ian regarding rebuilding it as original. You can always keep the currently installed parts or do what you please, but at some point the ability to restore will go away and originality matters historically.
Given how pitted the receiver is, the rest of the gun may have been in pretty bad shape. And if you're spending the money to own a legal MG it needs to be configured to fire first and foremost.
Dremel go brrrrrr
@@HunterTN Yup. And it's always easy spending other people's money with high standards.
This is the 2nd Colt 1919 you've had on the channel. The first was a Faux Monitor built at the direction of Jim Ballou. He was rather proud of it; it had a Stellite barrel turned down from a 1919a4, the rest of the parts were from a R75 parts kit, and he engraved the 'COLT MONITOR' on the left side of the receiver to match period Colt Advertising. It sold at auction with no indication that it was a built up replica
That's fkd
@@ryanr.3925 Jim was pretty open about it being a clone; he even wrote an article about building it but it went unpublished. He said it was better than Colt built. Whoever got their hands on it after his death sent it to auction as a real Monitor. It was built on a Colt 1919 stripped receiver
The BAR is without a doubt one of the most unique firearms and something that WW1/WW2 gun collectors would love to add to their collection. Thank you for showing it to us Ian.
Bonnie and Clyde's favourite gun. Also a favourite of the agents that took them down.
Those things were usually assigned to the biggest strongest member of a squad. A bear to carry and a bear to fire full auto.
A CAR walked into a BAR...
Three Germans walked into a WAR. (Winchester Automatic Rifle)
I believe that I read that during a police ambush of Clyde and Bonnie that Bonnie used a BAR to shoot their way out. Supposedly one of the officers said that he thought she wad going to cut down the tree behind which he was hiding. As to the truth I can't say.
Yes, Bonnie had a cut-down M1918 (stolen from a National Guard armory) that she apparently liked.
She must've been pretty strong to fire from the hip a sawed off BAR in full auto. That sounds like a whole lotta recoil for a girl who's 5 foot nothing and weighs under 100 pounds.
The cut down BARs were a glimpse into the future.
Yeah, it's not clear to me if she was really effective with it, or if it was more of a PR thing...although PR has an effectiveness in it's own right.
Whether she can hit anything with it or not, I imagine having someone open up in your general direction with a full auto 30-06 is pretty disconcerting, especially if all you’ve got is like a .38 and a shotgun.
Imagine walking into a gun store and just buying a BAR no questions asked
Flash back to the firearm store in "Highwaymen"
Casually own a Maxim for home defence.
I'm reminded of the gun store scene in The Terminator. Which raises the question of what guns The Terminator would have bought if he had gone back to 1919 - he could have had a 12-guage autoloader and perhaps a longslide .45, but he'd have had trouble getting hold of an Uzi.
Saw one not long ago in my local shop. Ohio ordinance 8500 buckaroos. Background check 10 minutes
Well... I imagine they were pretty damn pricey!
I had a semi BAR made by OHIO ORDINANCE. The one drawback I noticed was the rifle was extremely heavy, but in a full auto version that would be a plus, because it controls the recoil. I sold my semi back to the original owner for $6500.00 a full auto version is ridiculously expensive.
So if you could dual wield BAR's, would that make you a BAR BAR-ian?!? ^-^
Imagine being able to just go into a gun store and come out with that the good ol days of America 🇺🇸
8:45 That was Sweden. They bought BARs from FN built specially for swedish specifications (cal. 6.5x55mm, pistol grip, dust cover for ejection port, spiked bipod) and adopted it as their LMG called Kg M/21. Don't You remember Ian? czcams.com/video/bwrpKFKcbrk/video.html
Bring back commercial full-autos
My absolute favorite platform to run!
Very cool rifle! The bar was a very foward thinking weapon for it's time.
The first gun I ever truly lusted after...and continue to given how expensive the Ohio Ordnance model is. The BAR has to be the classiest machine rifle/LMG/SAW ever.
Thing of beauty
I miss the old US when arms manufacturers couldn't contain themselves to sell their cutting edge weaponry to the general public through cutout ads in magazines. 🤣
How this guy don't have like 100 milion subscribers is beyond me.
My fave joke on this subject; June 6th 1944, Omaha beach head: 'Two Germans walk into a bar...''
All looks like shiny quality metals? Very clean and shiny and solid looking.
NB I was told by somebody from the US Patent and Trademark Office that there is no such thing as a classified patent. After all, a patent is a public notice that you will be breaking the law if you make something that infringes on the patent. Rather the patent application is classified, and the process of getting the actual patent is put on hold.
Must have been quite something to carry into battle back in WW1
Excellent vid. Thanks ian
I love these commercial BARs
a great very interesting video and firearm Mr.GJ.have a good one Mr.
Leave it to John Moses Browning to develop an Assault Weapon 20 years before everyone else - and have the American Army try to turn it into a Machine Gun. My Service - the Marines - knew better.
Rather than my usual BAR Rant - I'll tell an Anecdote about the Army Chief of Staff and the Commandant of the Marine Corps.
Army Chief of Staff: - _"The Marines Are Fanatics!"_
Marine Commandant: - _"Uh ... Yes?"_
That really happened.
.
BEAUTIFUL,,,simple beautiful 🎉
He really ran a $7k completely rebuilt rifle through a 2 gun match, that makes my soul so so happy
I believe that was a newly manufactured model, not rebuilt.
Just a beast of a gun
Love these videos
Sweden did use BAR. I 2 versions actually. Kulsprutegevär m/21 and m/37. About 400 m/21 wich would have been the 1919 model.
The m/37 had a pistol grip among other "upgrades" not sure if those where m/21s that where upgraded locally.
Algo says yes.
Thanks
So what's the difference between this and the Colt Monitor? or are they the same?
The Monitor was a quite different model, with a lighter and shorter barrel, and pistol grip. I have a full video on it here: czcams.com/video/Jb6C9ASylmQ/video.html
The colt monitor has a shorter barrel with a large Cutts compensator, a shortened handguard and a pistol grip. This looks more like an off the shelf version of the 1918 BAR marketed to civilian purchase
The Monitor is a variant of this. A pistol grip was added, and a huge climb compensator on the end. A few other minor changes but operation and action are the same. Think of an M-16 A1 compared to the modern M4. Same weapon with different configurations
The Monitor was shorter, lighter, with had a compensator.
Same basic design but the Monitor is shorter, has a pistol grip, and a big muzzle break. The Monitor was mainly made for law enforcement to keep up with criminals armed with their own BARs, Thompsons, etc.
Forgotten weapons. Do you think its possible that you could do a review on the rpk74m?
Great video as always.
That's the Bonnie and Clyde killer.
Real Purdy. ❤
One of the guns that killed Bonnie and Clyde
They used a Colt Monitor. They wouldn't have been able to use this.
@@LiteralCrimeRaveStephen Hunter's Bob Lee Swagger book G-Men features a Colt Monitor prominently. It's where I first learned of that BAR variation.
Pretty sure it was a US issue BAR on loan from a NG Armory
@paulstuhrenberg9165 Monitor that they purchased with govenment funds
That gun isn't one of the ones used to kill Bonnie and Clyde
I have the newest generation of this gun from Browning. The BAR mk3 DBM in 308.
Cool gun
Thanks!
Are the overlords gonna allow us to comment today?
FYI for anyone that sees this and doesnt know why. CZcams is f'd and has disabled them on its own almost a dozen times and he keeps manually reopening them.
@@shawn7889I wondered what the hell was going on. Thanks for letting us know.
👁️👁️ it's past curfew, do you know where your children are? Hahahaha. 👍
Yeah, I was wondering why the last video or so had comments disabled.
Very interesting!
I have heard that this phenomenon has affected alternative media channels here in Sweden and I noticed it on one such video yesterday.
Which of these is the superior light machine gun- the M1918A2 BAR or the DP-27/DP-28?
It was Sweden that bought them btw before they switched over to the later BAR patterns.
You just answered my question... thank you :)
I m not sure but ,i remember having seen a photograh,from sweden volunteers in the winter war .Using BAR with pistol grip,i do not remember where i saw it. But i think i have seen it some times. I am from finland and seen guide a lot photographs from finnish wars.But i could be wrong.
Just entered with 15 minutes to spare! Even if I don’t win I’m just happy to support you, and a small veteran owned business (and I get a cool freaking mug)
Awesome
mannn i have 0 use for a gun but BARs are so.. so cool despite not being entirely practical
Love your channel can't thank you enough,can't swing it,
What a tank of a weapon.
Cool rifle.
Browning knew how to make good guns and good looking guns.
A bit chunky but good
While it would be neat to own that beast, I know myself, and I know I would become bored with it pretty quickly. So I won't enter, so someone else can win it. You're welcome. Thank you for the video Ian.
Mmmm BAR my beloved
This would be my Grail rifle. The only way I could afford it would be to inherit it.
Hey. Ian I have a request could you possibly do a video on the German 77mm WW1 cannon/artillery???
Okay. Ive seen the photos from a biography book of JMB.
Ive been to the museum in cody. I read the biography book, and even remember some of what ive read . I know what JMB's ogden gunshop looked like, as much as the above description allows, at least.
Are you telling us that JMB did ALL of his R&D work,( i bet john didnt call it r&d, but whatever)
In that little old log cabin blacksmith shop?
Im sure he invented the high-wall there, but the 1911? The BAR? The A-5?
They weren't no 110 outlets to plug a computer into in that cabin.
When is enter to win. Do I get a mug and a gun mat. Or just one of the two. Or could I buy them separately and still get entered to win? I don't exactly know how this works .
Sweden designated the BAR as M21 in 6.5x55 Swedish . Some made their way to Finland during the Winter War and Continuation War.
Markin Rockwell the Third. Got it.
The M1918 is a battle rifle & the M1918A2 is a light machine gun.
Specification of M1918 battle rifle:
1. Selective-fire mode can be switch in between semi and full-auto
2. With normal rifle barrel
3. With a rifle sight
4. No bipod
Specification of M1918A2 light machine gun:
1. Fire mode only full-auto
2. With heavy barrel(also known as machine gun barrel) to prevent overheating
3. With a machine gun sight similar to the Browning M2HB
4. Have a bipod
Well there was no real difference in barrel with original and A2 version. Also the sight isn't any argument. It's the same in rifles and machine guns.
@@kot0472 I just read it on wiki its say the A2 is in different design.
@@johntaliaferrothompson6052 Yes, but I mean, the type of gun doesn't determine that it will have open notch sight or aperture sight.
@@kot0472 The M1918 sight is much more fitted(comfort) for shoulder firing rifle. The sight of the M1918A2 is terrible for shoulder firing. It much more fitted for prone firing like a machine gun.
@@johntaliaferrothompson6052 I dunno dude, heard this old sight was better in every way than new open sight, no matter how you were shooting.
I wish the U.S. Army had been as forward thinking as the Swedes regarding modifying the design. It could have been so much better. I still love the weapon, but a removeable barrel and a pistol grip would have been nice.
This video made me wonder: what was the first long gun to receive a pistol grip?
Waiting for "Charles Swagger" to enter the chat...iykyk😉
Crazy to think that machine guns used to be just for sale publicly.
You could do anything in the old days, huh?
First commercial Bar comes out just months before prohibition starts...coincidence?
Yes, in fact, it is a coincidence.
Very cool.
A quick look around seems to indicate that both Sweden and Norway used the BAR in WW2, although they were listed as 1918 models. The Norway guns were noted as having been used by the Norwegian resistance, which might imply that the bulk of any 1919 sales were probably to Sweden.
That's quite the oopsie...
Is there any chance that Ian will do a video on the Bergman MG-15? I would love to see that. Just sign below to vote.
Here's a thing that will help everyone. Fitted sheets?
Fitted blankets are a thing.
Your wife and girlfriend won't care if you get a 1900's era BB gun.
*Wink wink*
A big BB gun, but it's a happy big BB gun.
;P
Good video.
That is cool
Could one place a precision barrel on this?
Kool!! I want one. Doesn't our constitutional say we can!! 😮
Iam like 90% sure ive heard that we (sweden) baought a load of BAR around WW1 or soon after but i have no source to point at :/
4:25 too think Colt got a faster response back in 2 days by Telegram - which is funny since we got instant messaging today and we still some how dont response back for a whole month, if we even get one at all 🤣
Walking fire intensifies
Why were the principles of ergonomics so baffling to all generations that came before the Silent Generation? So baffling that it wasn't til after World War I that gunsmiths started figuring out how stocks and grips should be shaped. And even then, it took decades to catch on and become the standard!
Yeah