Talk:BAR M1918/@comment-39661921-20190708160906/@comment-39164063-20190725233624

The BAR is an automatic rifle. Not an assault rifle. Two different things. BAR's were deployed in WWI by American forces to solve the problem of heavy machine gun immobility. The BAR was meant to be a support weapon, and was deployed in WWII just like the M249 SAW is deployed today. It wasn't very effective at it's role, but it was a very good weapon in general though. Automatic rifles, like the French Chauchat, are a type of machine gun and are the predeccesor to the light machine gun. The BAR is still not an LMG however technically. The BAR was created before the first assault rifle was created (Sturmgewehr 44 or StG 44), and very few light machine guns had been invented at the time of the BAR's genisis, let alone notable ones.