It looks very heavy, cumbersome even

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
It looks very heavy, cumbersome even

Yep, BARs are heavy beasts. The WW2-era US military BARs were 20ish pounds unloaded, with each loaded 20 round magazine weighing another 1.5 pounds.

The HCAR cuts it down to a "mere" 13ish pounds (plus optics and accessories). But that's still almost double the weight of a basic .308 AR at 7ish pounds.

Was it the Squad automatic weapon of that era?
Did they get their own Sherpa's to hump it's ammo all over the world?

Yes, it was the squad automatic weapon of the era.

No Sherpas involved, but the BAR gunner in a rifle squad did have an assistant gunner and an ammunition bearer who both helped hump ammo, with those three each carrying 10-12 BAR magazines apiece.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Yes, it was the squad automatic weapon of the era.

No Sherpas involved, but the BAR gunner in a rifle squad did have an assistant gunner and an ammunition bearer who both helped hump ammo, with those three each carrying 10-12 BAR magazines apiece.

A common practice in a WWII army rifle squad is that all members
Of the squad not assigned as the BAR man or an assistant gunner to carry one BAR mag.

Dad carried a BAR into and out of the Chosin Reservoir. He always said it was devastatingly “effective”.