Bonnie and Clyde's BAR

[gmh1013]

My father carried a BAR as a ARMY Ranger in WW2 against the Japanese
with a 20 round clip but said he never used auto fire because he would be
dead in a few mins if he did. He said the Japs were scared Sh*tless of them and would panic when they heard the sound
they make
Clyde used BAR I have read with clips welded together to give him 57 rounds?
My father said a BAR on auto would get so damn hot if you shot it on auto the barrel would glow and night. I dont know if this is true or not so.....
I wonder how Clyde fired of 100'srounds from his BAR and and did not have over heating problem.
He also carried a level action 10 gauge too that I sure wish I could get my hand on one.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I have seen the BAR that belonged to Bonnie Parker on display at The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco,Tx. Butt stock was cut down to nearly nothing. I don't remember seeing any magazines welded together on display though.

 

[Beagle-zebub]

Clyde and gang tended to get heavy weapons from National Guard armories, so they likely had more than one BAR. The program I saw said that he had a tendency to cut them down, for the sake of making them easier to operate inside of a car.

 

[heviarti]

yeah, it was a crude job with silver solder. see a pic in Machine Gun News back in the '90s some time. same issue had an article on Eugene Stoner and the development of the AR. I also know of a man who held a hill in Korea one night with a BAR and a .45. He had someone unlinking belts and loading mags as their 1919 had failed. never heard of a heating problem with them... their rate of fire is one of the slowest. most didn't even have a semi position.. just high and low auto rates of fire. one at a time was all a function of trigger control.

 

[Gordon]

My father's platoon (he was an LT) used them on the slow rate of 350 RPM to shoot japs out of trees in the Pillopines and other Islands. He too said they were fierce for jungle work. Fast forward 25 years and I found the M-60 quite useful for such endevors, but found myself looking longingly at the ARVN BARs which were much too large for them!

 

[Reid73]

Apparently Clyde used standard 20-round magazines.

See further Clyde and His Guns, which includes a computer image of a cut-down BAR with (theoretical) 57-round welded magazine.

IIRC, Bonnie & Clyde had three stolen BARs in their car when they were ambushed. Public Enemy Number One: The Alvin Karpis Story (1971) records the author's meeting with them, at which time he turned down the opportunity to purchase their BARs (which he considered too unwieldy).

He also carried a level action 10 gauge too that I sure wish I could get my hand on one.

Norinco manufactures a (12 ga.) replica 1887, under the designation YL-1887L. Cost is about $400.

 

[xx7grant7x]

This thread needs pics!

Apicture of the BAR recovered in missouri

Clydes "Scattergun"

The man himself


pics are all from http://texashideout.tripod.com/guns.html

they've got some other cool pictures of other barrow weapons

 

[gmh1013]

I wonder if that one of the Old 10 Gauge shotguns he used next to the BAR

 

[Larry Burchfield]

A Place you might check

You might contact the Chamber of Commerce of Arcadia, Louisana and they may can help you find out. This is the palce that Bonnie and Clyde meet their maker. I also believe that they are have their annual "Bonnie and Clyde days" event.
Larry Burchfield
SEABEES/RVN/67/68/69
DAV

 

[Art Eatman]

Training on any machine gun is of the "fire a burst of six" type: You don't just hold down the trigger until the mag or belt is empty. That can lead to serious embarrassment. The BAR was a squad support weapon, or used as more-portable area fire at distance.

Anyhow, two to four or so shots at a time at a specific target, or more shots at a group target.

 

[61chalk]

My Dads friend Norm had the BAR over in France an Germany in WWII, he loaded his clips with a few tracers an a few armour piercing. I'll have to ask him sometime how fast a cycle he used, he said it was a good gun, he shot a lot of those little deer over there, had to use his BAR cause no one would loan him their Garand.

 

[dagger dog]

Some of the BARs used by the Barrow gang were actually COLT MONITORS, a variant of the Browning design.

My father carried a BAR in WWII he was in a feild artillery unit , in the Aluetian Islands at Attu and Kiska Islands,as mentioned it was as a support for the 105's.

If you get a chance watch the Steve McQueen movie the Sand Pebbles and you'll get to see the BAR in action, very good action, (for a movie).

 

[VirgilCaine]

Clyde and gang tended to get heavy weapons from National Guard armories, so they likely had more than one BAR. The program I saw said that he had a tendency to cut them down, for the sake of making them easier to operate inside of a car.

I've heard they stole a dozen of them.

 

[Reid73]

Some of the BARs used by the Barrow gang were actually COLT MONITORS, a variant of the Browning design

I am no expert but I believe (?) you are wrong there.

The "Colt Monitor" was a law enforcement model of the BAR. One example was used by the ambush team but not (as I understand it) by Clyde Barrow or Bonnie Parker. Their BARs were stolen from the National Guard armory in Beaumont, Texas and were the standard US Army model.

If you get a chance watch the Steve McQueen movie the Sand Pebbles and you'll get to see the BAR in action

See also the movie Dillinger (1973).

 

[dagger dog]

As I can remember the Monitors were in use by the early FBI and some of the other law enforcement of that era and were in some of the smaller arsenals that were raided by the "Gangsters" of that era.

Also the laws that covered the sale of full auto weapons were enacted to keep these type weapons out of the hands of the '30's era crimanal gangs and some of their weapons were actually purchased and sold through normal channels in those days.

I did read of the Monitors being in the hands of the Rangers that ambushed Barrow.

 

[lipadj46]

delete

 

[O-neg]

http://texashideout.tripod.com/bc.htm

 

[Joe Demko]

In "Commando" Kelly's autobiography, the author speaks of overheating a BAR until the barrel glows.

 

[CWL]

As posted, Bonnie and Clyde stole BARs as needed and had no problems finding replacements. I doubt if they ever welded-up any magazines though. Back then, people didn't have problems with replacing empty magazines with fresh ones like we seem to nowadays.

Another reason why I doubt that they'd ever do that is because they'd need to find springs dependable enough to use in the weld-ups.

 

[Howaido]

That BAR is the ORIGINAL bad, bad mutha.

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Bring enough gun."

 

[Dr.Rob]

I've fired a few, with practice it's not hard to pop single shots. On full auto, handled like a rifle, the muzzle climb is tremendous, though the weigh keeps the recoil negligible.

Definitely my favorite full-auto.

 

[JWF III]

I wonder if that one of the Old 10 Gauge shotguns he used next to the BAR

That looks like a Browning Auto-5 to me. But with the lack of clarity from the old pic, it's hard to tell if there is a lever there or not (same with looking for a pump forearm). If it is an A-5, I don't think they were made in 10 ga. But someone may come along and correct me on that. I know that I've never seen (or heard of) a 10 ga. Auto 5.

Wyman

 

[TexasRifleman]

Keep in mind that the 1918 and 1918A1 BAR were Full/Semi not Fast/Slow.

It wasn't until 1940 and the introduction of the A2 model that the Fast/Slow feature was added and semi-only removed.

 

[Limeyfellow]

The heat problem is one of the major problems with the BAR. You can get about a couple of hundred rounds out before they turn red hot and dangerous to fire, as the heat weakens the barrel. The slower rate of fire was specifically because of the overheating problems.

This was a good weapon in WW1 where they wouldn't let them be used on the front for fear the Germans would capture the design, but by WW2, we had support weapons where you could quickly change the barrel for sustained fire and other technological advantages kind of make the BAR a bit outdated.

 

[Bill B.]

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