>>63353561
>Why was the BAR still in use with the M14?
They liked the BAR except for its weight and wanted the M14 to be a "do everything" gun like the BAR, but lighter. It didn't work because the things that made the BAR good also made it heavy, and being heavy was actually part of what made it good (controllable in full auto). The M14 could never fill in for the BAR in the lmg role (which it wasn't great for compared to belt-fed guns with quick change barrels, but did kind of work). It mostly got replaced by the M60, but still saw use when people wanted something lighter and were willing to compromise in other areas, or just because there were lots of BARs available at the time. The BAR makes a lot of sense if you look at it less as an excessively light and limited lmg and more as a heavy battle rifle that does everything reasonably well - what the M14 was supposed to be in all ways except weight. The "do everything gun" concept never really fits well in doctrine, which usually emphasizes specialization for good reasons, but people who use the thing usually ended up really liking it anyway. Browning's guns tend to have a weird quality that makes them seem bad on paper, but also makes everyone like shooting them more than other guns, hence their strange longevity.

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This weapon was ahead of its time. It predicted the need and use for a heavy rifle. John Moses Browning was a genius.