Browning Automatic Rifle M1918 / M1918A2
Official wording
Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), Models 1918 and 1918A2, as originally manufactured by Colt’s Patent Firearms Company, Winchester Repeating Arms Company, Marlin-Rockwell Corporation, New England Arms Corporation, International Business Machines (IBM), Royal McBee Type-writer Company, Fabrique Nationale, and Carl Gustaf.
What this entry requires
- ATF REQUIRESMade or imported as stated: “as originally manufactured by Colt’s Patent Firearms Company”
- INFOATF states no date; production was about 1917–1960.
- INFOStill an NFA firearm; only registered examples transfer, with ATF approval (26 U.S.C. 5812, 5861).
Editorial facts · Our research
- Country
United StatesBasis: outside reference ¹- Manufacturer
- Colt, Winchester, Marlin-Rockwell, IBM, Royal McBee, FN, Carl GustafBasis: the ATF wording
- Type
- MachinegunBasis: the ATF wording
- Action
- Select-fire / autoBasis: the ATF wording
- Caliber
- .30-06Basis: outside reference ²
- Made
- Original manufacture · c. 1917–1960production; ATF states no dateBasis: outside reference ³
- Service
- Military
Source
- Official wording
- ATF P 5300.11, April 2025 edition · Section IV · PDF p. 82 ↗ · ATF original ↗
- Entries
- 1 line
- Verbatim check
- Checked against the PDF text before every release
- Editorial facts
- Confidence: High · Last revised 18 October 2026 (Evidence pass) · How we rate confidence
- References
- 1. Wikipedia, “M1918 Browning automatic rifle” ↗, country: Wikipedia: origin United States
- 2. Wikipedia, “M1918 Browning automatic rifle” ↗, calibers: U.S. BARs chambered .30-06 Springfield
- 3. Wikipedia, “M1918 Browning automatic rifle” ↗, years: infobox production date 1917–1960 (original BAR only); Royal McBee made 61,000 M1918A2s during the Korean War
- Fact tags
- ATF the ATF wording states it.
- REF ¹ an outside reference supports it; the number points to the list of references.
- ESTIMATE an approximate or indirect reading, for example the production range of the base model.
- NO CITATION we haven’t attached a reference for this fact; it’s our editorial reading, not ATF’s.
- Source checked
- 20 October 2026: ATF’s page still lists the April 2025 edition
- Corrections
- 1 change · see below
Correction history
- Evidence passYears: 1917–1950 → 1917–1960. Wikipedia M1918 BAR gives original-BAR production 1917–1960, incl. Royal McBee Korean War M1918A2s (1950s) and the FN / Carl Gustaf makers ATF lists
Historical context
Image: Wikimedia Commons, “Army Heritage Museum B.A.R..jpg” by United States Army, Public domain. Retrieved October 2026.
Summary: Wikipedia, “M1918 Browning automatic rifle”. Text CC BY-SA 4.0.
FROM WIKIPEDIA
The Browning automatic rifle (BAR) is a family of American automatic rifle used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the .30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge and designed by John Browning in 1917 for the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe as a replacement for the French-made Chauchat and M1909 Benét–Mercié machine guns that U.S. forces had previously been issued.