Six Gun Buddies Meet At A BAR
Legendary Rifle, Airplanes and
Tall Tales Make for a Good Day
The Colt M1918 from Ohio Ordnance Works is a perfect semiauto
rendition of the original Prohibition-era Browning Automatic Rifle.
Gun owners are almost always exceptionally good guys. They’re the kind of folks you’d get to keep an eye on your house while you’re away on vacation. You’d gladly loan them your pickup truck. There’s something about this quirky little world that selects for responsible personalities. Perhaps it’s all the rules.
You can find us most anywhere. The firing range is an obvious nexus, as is a gun show. Sometimes, however, you meet at a BAR.
The Gun
John Moses Browning debuted his eponymous man-portable machine rifle in 1918. The Browning Automatic Rifle was designed to get American Doughboys up and out of the fetid European trenches so they could take the fight to the enemy. Curiously, the first shots fired in anger from the BAR were triggered by LT Val Browning, the esteemed designer’s son.
The BAR came in several variants, but there were two that saw widespread use. The M1918 was employed in the latter stages of WWI. The upgraded M1918A2 was introduced in June of 1938 and carried American Dogfaces through both WWII and Korea.
During the interwar years, the bloody adventures of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker captivated an American public striving mightily not to starve during the Great Depression. Barrow’s weapon of choice was the M1918 BAR. He typically stole these guns from National Guard armories as the need arose.
BARs of any sort are both rare and expensive today. The original GI sort are full-auto with all of the associated regulatory baggage. The last original WWI-vintage M1918 BAR I saw for sale cost more than my first house. However, Ohio Ordnance Works (OOW) makes a splendid semiauto replica.
OOW’s semiauto WWII-style M1918A3 is in production today with an MSRP of $7,617. They also made an abbreviated run of 200 Colt-licensed M1918 clones. These guns sported all of the early features built around a gorgeous deep blue receiver and barrel assembly. They sold out in short order and very seldom come up for sale.
I spotted this example buried in a regional gun auction originating in Murfreesboro, Tenn. I landed the gun well below market price and needed a way to get it home. The thing is 47″ long and weighs 16 lbs. Shipping was going to be murder, so I figured I’d just go fetch it.
My buddy Luke and I had an absolutely splendid time flying up
to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to pick up a Browning Automatic Rifle.
Fly The Friendly Skies
I have a nifty little RV-6A fighter plane. The Army taught me to fly. You guys reading this stuff bought me the plane. A little flight planning showed that I could get from my home aerodrome to Murfreesboro in 78 minutes. I reached out to my 16-year-old buddy Luke to keep me company.
I met Luke at a local youth leadership conference where cool, young, smart kids hang out with washed-up old geezers like me for a little healthy cross-pollination. Luke wants to be an aerospace engineer. He obviously needed a little stick time.
The trip up was gorgeous. I rolled the plane five times while giving my buddy Luke a general orientation. He got some epic video. We borrowed the airport courtesy car, grabbed lunch, and tracked down NOMAD American Arms. NOMAD’s storefront was uninspiring.
The place seemed safe enough, but the neighboring businesses sold stuff like institutional hair care products and wholesale plumbing supplies. When Luke and I pushed through the door, however, we were greeted by the sweet smell of Break Free.
NOMAD American Arms is guy heaven. Guns and gun parts littered the place. A zillion different tools hung from pegs all around the periphery. An enlarged image of Riley Gaines in a swimsuit decorated one wall. The general ambience was pure unfiltered America. However, there were also four seedy-looking guys in attendance
When you walk into a place like NOMAD American Arms in Murfreesboro, Tenn.,
you’d best have a little time to kill. There’s no shortage of tall tales to be found here.
Strangers Become Friends
One man was a PhD organic chemist. Another was a professional home inspector. The third did heating and air. The gunsmith was a retired Air Force special operations guy who had spent much of his career with the Army at Fort Bragg. Three minutes later, we were all six brothers — all bound by a common love for America and firearms.
I did the Form 4473 and Luke and I reluctantly put NOMAD to our stern. We could have easily killed all afternoon having fun swapping lies. We had to take the flash suppressor off the rifle to fit it into the plane.
I took off and immediately passed the controls to Luke. I didn’t touch them again until we were on short final. He did literally everything in between.
Luke started the day a pedestrian and ended it a pilot. I made some new friends and got my new BAR home. A grand time was had by all, because that’s what happens when six American gun guys meet at a BAR.
