Could you imagine if...
Browning down sized the BAR & ammo by 20% in size, he would have created the first assault rifle.
shareIt was very nicely downsized - to the M-14. Automatic fire, like the BAR (as well as semi-auto), about the same number of rounds per magazine, nearly as good a caliber (.308, vs. .30-06 for the BAR), and much lighter and easier to maintain.
sharePrior to World War II the assault rifle did not exist; it was the Germans who discovered that in most combat scenarios the existing service rifles were severely overpowered. The result was the StG 44. The Americans had no equivalent firearm, but thanks largely to the Navy their landing forces had plenty of BARs.
Clyde Barrow's weapon of choice was the BAR, and he seems to have used it like an assault rifle. He preferred it for its accuracy, its ability to lay down effective suppressing fire, and for its stopping power, as well as its ease of operation, all while the operator was mobile. Bonnie Parker, having been taught by Clyde, was by all accounts an excellent BAR operator herself. Neither required a bipod.
Clyde Barrow's weapon of choice was the BAR, and he seems to have used it like an assault rifle. He preferred it for its accuracy, its ability to lay down effective suppressing fire, and for its stopping power, as well as its ease of operation, all while the operator was mobile. Bonnie Parker, having been taught by Clyde, was by all accounts an excellent BAR operator herself. Neither required a bipod.
You're right - but old Clyde also modified his BARs. He would saw and sand the BAR's stock down and did other things to make the weapon lighter and easy to manage. Otherwise the 98 pound Bonnie couldn't have fired her BAR.