[Hatchett]

Okay help me out here. I've never gotten to use a BAR and can't find a decent online manual, but I'm interested in just how you'd operate one of these things.

This is an open-bolt gun, right? This means you have to cock it before you fire it? So is this done like you would on a cheap open bolt gun like a Grease gun, where you draw back the bolt, and chambering it done when the bolt moves forward, or is the bolt drawn back AND a round is chambered?

Basically, do you cock it first, then load it, and are ready to fire, or do you load the magazine and cock and release the bolt to chamber a round, like on an Uzi? Do you just draw the bolt handle back until it clicks and stays like on a Thompson, or do you draw it back and release it, like on an Uzi?

[Victor Romen]

Pull back on the charging handle until it locks the bolt back. Push the charging handle forward (like FAL). Insert magazine. Pulling the trigger strips a round from the magazine, loads the round into the chamber and fires it. When you let off the trigger the bolt will recoil into the open position and stay locked back (except when you are out of ammo and then you will need to pull the bolt back again).

[Hatchett]

And it's important that the magazine be loaded after cocking?

[Victor Romen]

You can cock it with the magazine inserted, but if your hand were to slip off the charging handle before fully cocking the gun it could strip, load and fire a round unintentionally (not totally familiar with the BAR so it might have a mechanism to prevent this). Same with the Uzi and other open bolt machine guns. Some Uzis have a ratchet on the charging handle to prevent this.