Ohio Ordnance Works M1918A3

[Mike Venturino]

I got my OOW Model 1918A3 semi-auto BAR in yesterday. They do a dandy job recreating the old WWII BARs. At 22 pounds I'm just barely man enough to shoulder it!

Tomorrow I intend to put it on paper and get it sighted in.

MLV

[Bret4207]

Okay Mike, enough rubbing it in!!! I'm only insanely jealous at this point. If you provide pics I'll move into acute insane jealously!!!

[KCSO]

Mike, I got in an afternoon shooting Doc's BAR one summer and we were shooting 1943 surplus ammo. When we got it sighted in it was fairly easy to squeeze off double and triple taps on auto and we were able to cut a fence post in half at 200 yards. Even in F/A the BAR is easy to shoot and there is enough weight that the 30-06 is an all day shooter. I sometimes wish that I didn't love the old one's so much as a BAR would be the ultimate WSHTF gun.

Luckier than most when Doc Carlson was a Class III dealer we had yearly training sessions sponsored through the NRA and we ended up shooting every full auto Doc had. IN addition we supplied our own M16's and Thompsons and grease guns from another source. I really hate to say it but my Dad's PPSH was the nicest F/A I ever shot. Just right cyclic and almost no recoil, very easy to put 4 or 5 on a target real quick. It will be interesting to see just how accurate the BAR will be with a single shot capability. I would guess that 1 1/2" at 100 yards will be do-able.

[Mike Venturino]

Ksco: I have to agree that of my subguns the most effective one, in regards to actually putting several shots on target, is the PPSH41. It really is awesome.

After buying those subguns I had to "settle" for this semi-auto BAR. Got nothing else left to sell that I can't live without!

I'll post some photos when I get some made.

Mike

[bruce drake]

Mike,

If OOW followed the plans that Browning gave the world in 1918, you should have no problem with accuracy using the same loads you use in your M1s.

That should give you a starting point.

Bruce

[26Charlie]

...on the range back in the day (USMC, 1959) and loved it. The momentum of the bolt going forward seemed to be more than the momentum of the recoil. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but it seemed to crawl forward away from you - that was the sensation, anyway.
Accuracy was excellent, no trouble to put two, three, and four-shot bursts on the head & shoulders silhouette at 300 yards, prone with bipod. The M14, which we first got in 1961, on full auto was basically uncontrollable for any shots after the first. I understand they contemplated a heavy-barrel version of the M14 called the M15, but never issued it. Hard to beat the BAR.

[PatMarlin]

Was born that year Charlie..

What an awesome firearm. I'd give anything to fire one, even the semi auto.

[Boz330]

The Brits had a bunch of Semi BARS built for training. When I was working in South Africa back in the early 80s a bunch came up for sale at a local gunshop. The price was R550 (about $500 then) still in the original wood shipping box in cosmoline with 11 magazines. I wanted one so bad I could taste it, but then there was no way to get it back into the US. One of the guys at the club I shot at got one and it was an absolute dream to shoot.

Bob

[Mike Venturino]

Mine was a dream to shoot today too. Recoil? What's that? I sighted it in although it was pretty windy, but enough staples got the targets to stay put. The front sight will need to be filed down a bit. I had the peep sight set at 500 to be on at 100. Groups with LC69 ammo were about four inches, and some handloads with Varget and a couple of different 150 grain bullets were about three inches. Wind was 25 to 35 mph!

I can't wait till its nice enough to get down on a mat with the bipod down and see what I can do on steel targets say at 300.

MLV

PS: Also got the new Shooter's Kit and new springs in my German K43 and got it sighted in too. It shot about like the BAR but at about 9 pounds with 195 grain bullets at 2500 fps you noticed it much more.

All in all a prettty good day.

[9.3X62AL]

I'll say!

[rockrat]

They are great rifles, the 1918A3's. You will go thru ALOT of ammo, if you aren't careful. I know this by experience.
My sights are different from yours, as with the rear sight all the way down, it is about right on when I shoot our 300 meter gongs.
Took mine to the MG Shoot at Cheyenne Wells, in May of '06, and they had some model airplanes flying and you had to try and shoot them down!!! Nothing like laying down a magful of tracers at those dratted planes. They let 2 of them get too close!!!! . The rest were alot farther out when they came down the line.
Did you get the wood buttstock also? Really looks nice. Too bad there isn't a scope mount for the thing. Eyes aren't as good as they used to be. Enjoy

[MtGun44]

Are the semi-auto BARs firing from an open bolt? I would think that the huge
locktime from an open bolt, plus just the movement of that huge chunk of
steel would limit accuracy. I think ATF frowns on open bolt semis- so maybe
it fires from a closed bolt, which would seem to be much more conducive
to accuracy, at least theoretically.

I find that heavy bullet 8x57 loads kick a lot more than normal 30-06 ammo!

Sounds like a fun day, but that wind must have been pretty cold up there!

Bill

[Mike Venturino]

Cold yes, but I have a heated shooting house and the wind was blowing from behind me so having the window open was no problem.

These semi-auto BARs fire from closed bolt.

Mike V.

[PatMarlin]

If I was allowed only 2 more things before the end...

It would be the BAR in the heated shooting room ...

Did you get to try your CFF Mike?

[elk hunter]

Mike V.;

You sure know how to make a guy hurt. I was just gloating over getting a 03-A4.

Congratulations, that is going to be a seriously fun gun to shoot.

Regards

[MtGun44]

Heated shooting house. . . . . . . I just bought 10 acres in the country,
maybe when I get the house remodeled and moved in, I would sure like
to have a heated shooting house myself.

What a luxury!

Bill

[Three44s]

A heated shooting house and his very own BAR .........

......... some guys have ALL THE LUCK!!!

If I had known that the BAR's were as much fun to shoot ...... I would have sidled up to a former neighbor before he moved to a better state ........ he has the real deal ....... and he was also my gunsmith and prime enabler!

......... I don't think his shooting digs involve a heater though .............

Good to hear you're having SO MUCH FUN ........ Mike

Regards

Three 44s

[wonderwolf]

BAR was one of the first FA's I shot when I was a kid (not that long ago). Great gun accurate.. I wouldn't mind a colt Monitor...a little easier to handle and a lot more mobile than the SA 1919a4/a6 I lug to the range every once in a while. Watching some of the training videos from WWII they make it sound like the BAR with AP ammo was the king of the battlefield. And I wouldn't doubt it. Browning's designs sure carry on don't they.

[KCSO]

"The Worlds Great Machine Guns" speaks highly of the BAR and comments that the weight of the gun negated the problems with accuracy firing from the open bolt. A closed bolt model should be even more accurate. Like the M2 and the 1919 you have to have a really great gun to last thought 50 years or more of service.

[454PB]

Mike, I believe you live near Livingston?

When was the last time the wind wasn't blowing?