In an ideal platoon situation, the BAR man was actually BAR "men" - the weapon handler, and his ammo carrier, for exactly the reason Dana said (weight). But that "ideal" situation was rare, of course. BAR men (my uncle was one) were generally selected from the best shots in a rifle company - though as Kirby did when Grady died, sometimes the BAR man had it "willed" to him.

Other factoids: It was an indestructibly reliable weapon, but had an occasional problem with "cook-off" because of it's heavy enclosed receiver. Cook-off occured when the weapon had been fired in a sustained fashion and the receiver built up tremendous heat - the gun kept firing automatically when the trigger was released, and would "cook-off" the whole clip. Asssumedly, this was NOT a problem during the Battle of the Bulge(!)

Long, ripping bursts make great war theatre, and did happen sometimes out of neccesity or excitement. But the GI was trained to fire the weapon in very short bursts: two, three, two,
three (Thompson - same thing). At it's higher cyclic rate of fire (600rpm), the BAR could empty it's clip in exactly two seconds - and the GI would have spent most of his time reloading it, rather than firing it.

By Sharon Hazlett (Ivy) on Unrecorded Date:

Did Jack Hogan carry a real BAR in the series or is it a lighter weight prop?

By Dana Eugene Creasy (Deecee322) on Unrecorded Date:

It's been pretty common knowledge for years that Jack carried a genuine M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle, which weighed in empty at about 18.5 pounds. However, with a loaded clip and the typical bandolier of 25 clips of ammo, you were lugging about 40 pounds around. While Jack certainly carried multiple clips in his bandolier gear when a firefight was part of the script, I am not sure if he did routinely. Either way, it was a darned heavy weapon. Interestingly, the M60 Machine gun (of which I was a carrier)was a further evolution of the BAR, although it was much heavier (23 pounds empty) and had a higher rate of fire. The M1918A2 BAR of WWII and Korea fame was refined from the original which had both full auto and semi-auto fire modes. The A2 had full auto only, but at two rates of fire, slow and fast. Most guys who carried it as a personal weapon (versus a "crew served" weapon) like Kirby removed the bipod from the front. Me? I used the bipod on the M60 as a handle to hold onto it over my shoulder... it was THAT heavy.

By Sharon Hazlett (Ivy) on Unrecorded Date:

Thanks for responding to my question Dana. I discovered Combat and this site last year so consider myself a "newbie". Knowing that Vic had a lighter weight prop made I wondered if they had done the same for Jack, thanks for the enlightenment.

By gaylenjackie on Unrecorded Date:

How can i email these actors of combat,Why i am asking is my father was a wwII vet.He was wounded in Germany by 88 shell and pass on two years ago he was my hero.I wound like to thank them for this show about him and others that died and they did a fine job and made it look so real. Gaylen W,statham and Im a veit nam vet Thank you

 

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