Hello there, welcome back to Backyard Ballistics! 
This is a special episode, as this is probably  

the most valuable gun I’ve ever featured on the 
channel. A 1918A2 Browing Automatic Rifle, or BAR. 

They’re very hard to come by, 
and this one came together with  

the two Thompsons you saw in my last video.
I’m not going to lie, it’s in very bad shape,  

but at least it looks complete. For some reason, 
the stock was found together with the gun,  

but detached from it, maybe to reduce bulk.
It looks like this gun was stored in some sort of  

greasy canvas, that protected some areas better 
than others. It also looks like the receiver  

corroded somewhat differently than the rest, and 
as you’ll see there’s a very good reason for that. 

I used a cleaning rod to make sure the gun was 
unloaded, but it felt really rough going down,  

so I’m afraid quite a bit of 
rusting happened in there. 

There is no way I’m getting this apart 
without the help of a chemical bath,  

so my focus is on taking the forearm off, 
therefore not having to soak it in liquid. 

In theory you’re supposed to take the whole gas 
tube out with it, sliding the whole thing forward,  

but that’s not gonna happen today. The heatshield 
is fully rotten anyway, so once unscrewed I  

can simply pull it down.
Oops, that’s charcoal. 

Same thing that happened on the Thompsons, 
remember the charred woodwork? It looks like these  

guns have been involved in a fire. In my previous 
video I suspected somebody deliberately burned  

them, but as suggested by a commenter, a vehicle 
fire sounds like a more realistic scenario.  

Guns were often transported by vehicles, and 
upon taking a direct hit from an enemy one, the  

chances of them catching fire were considerable.
Actually, if military vehicles are your thing,  

you’ll certainly like War Thunder, 
the sponsor of today’s video! 

Available for free on PC, consoles and 
mobile, it is the most comprehensive,  

PvP vehicle combat game ever made, allowing you to 
take control of every possible military vehicle,  

including over 2,500 tanks, planes, helicopters 
and ships from 10 major nations, retracing the  

history of motorized warfare from the rudimentary 
vehicles of the 1920s to modern day war machines. 

All vehicles are realistically modeled and 
incredibly detailed. With realistic graphics,  

authentic sound effects and with a worldwide 
community of over 70 million players, there’s no  

game better suited for fans of military history.
Each vehicle is modeled down to its individual  

components, and a sophisticated damage model is 
implemented when a vehicle is hit by enemy fire:  

each type of armor, shell and missile 
behaves like their real-world counterparts.  

Hitting an ammo rack can easily make a vehicle 
explode or catch fire, just like what might have  

happened to whatever was transporting our guns.
Play War Thunder for free on PC, PlayStation,  

Xbox or mobile by clicking the links in 
the pinned comment or video description;  

new and returning players that haven’t played 
for at least six months on PC or consoles  

will get a massive bonus pack comprising premium 
vehicles, the “Eagle of Valor” decorator, 100.000  

silver lions and 7 days of premium account.
Offer available for a limited time only, hurry up!

Anyway, at this point I could simply 
put everything in the derusting bath,  

except I don’t have a tank long enough, so 
I’ll have to remove this thin rear tube,  

that as you’ll see has a very 
special function. Let me take it off. 

The spring you see is not the recoil spring, but 
is part of the firing rate reducer mechanism,  

a peculiar system that was introduced in the WW2 
design to render the weapon more controllable. 

This is basically a harmonic oscillator, 
where the little steel cylinder I’m  

holding in my right hand moves up and 
down the stock, pushed by the spring. 

The frequency of this oscillation 
defines the firing rate of the  

weapon. Or at least that was the idea.
This beefy spring, instead, is part of  

the recoil buffer system, that has been part 
of the BAR design since its inception in WW1. 

Because yes, the Browning Automatic Rifle is a 
WW1 design by John Browning, adopted in the last  

year of the war as the model 1918 BAR, to be 
used in the role of a “walking fire” weapon.  

It was later revisited with the onset of WW2 
by the ordnance department, which arguably only  

made it worse. You can check Forgotten Weapons’ 
video if you want to know more about the history. 

This spring has been messed 
up, probably during reassembly. 

The firing rate reducer was somewhat 
susceptible to jamming if it got dirty,  

and some poor soul must have entangled 
the spring while trying to put it back. 

Let’s see if we can remove the magazine, with 
what’s known as hammer-assisted magazine release. 

That’s in very bad shape. Normally I would 
just replace a magazine in this state,  

but unfortunately a BAR magazine is not 
something you easily find in stores nowadays.

While that soaks let’s have a look at the 
buttstock. The buttplate needs to come off  

before the stock can be removed from the gun, so 
it must have been deliberately taken off of it,  

and then the buttplate was put back 
on the stock so it didn’t get lost. 

This is what we’re left with after the first  

chemical bath. Let’s see if 
that’s enough to strip it. 

With that pesky pin out, I can gently 
slide the gas cylinder tube forward. 

What we’ve uncovered is the gas piston, which 
is what makes the BAR able to be self-loading.  

Also notice how the front of the gas rod is 
shiny, that’s because it’s chrome plated.

The whole handguard and trigger group neatly 
comes off, and it’s in surprisingly good  

condition. This also finally lets 
us see what the insides look like,  

and I’m quite happy with what I’m seeing. It 
looks like the internals are all in good shape. 

And this is the actual recoil spring, that 
in this design sits inside the gas rod,  

pulling the slide and bolt assembly with it.
I’m relieved by the fact it kept its springiness,  

which suggests it didn’t lose its temper. 
That means the metal didn’t get too hot if  

the gun was actually involved in a fire, since 
springs are the first thing to lose temper.

Time to gently tap the slide to the rear.

To go ahead in the disassembly, I need to  get the charging handle and slide pin aligned 
with this hole, so I can drive the pin out. 

What I’m removing here now is instead the 
hammer. It has a very unusual shape for a hammer,  

and you’ll see how it works in a bit.
Next comes the slide with gas piston,  

and now we should finally be able 
to extract the bolt assembly. 

With everything apart, let’s 
have a look at the barrel. 

In the past I’ve had guns in conditions 
just as bad as this one on the outside,  

but with bores still in almost pristine 
condition. Unfortunately, this is not the case. 

Which is a shame, because this is probably the 
most valuable gun I ever worked on, at least in  

theory, and it has one of the worst bores so far. 
I mean, most of the stretch is just mildly bad,  

but in some areas, it gets really bad. These are 
large, deep craters, and in case you’re guessing,  

you definitely don’t want them in a rifle bore.
I realized that there was still leftover rust  

in some of the roughest areas, and 
went with this setup to dissolve it  

with the help of a rotating bore brush.
If on one hand there’s nothing I can do  

with the inside of the barrel, there 
is something I can do for the outside. 

There are some larger craters that are still 
filled with hard lumps of corrosion products,  

and I’ve found a rotary tool with a fine 
diamond bit is the ideal tool to get them clean. 

While doing this on the receiver, I made the 
unpleasant surprise of uncovering some through  

holes next to the rear sight. Luckily though, 
that’s far from where the breech locking action  

occurs, and it should only be a cosmetic issue.
After cleaning the pits, I put the whole thing  

back in the bath, so it can act on the bottom 
of the pits, in case I left some rust behind. 

Then, I’m finally ready for welding. I’m 
using my Lampert micro arc welder to put  

some metal back where it belongs. There are 
some especially large craters I want to fill. 

Don’t mind the ski mask, that’s just 
to protect my face from the ultraviolet  

radiation while welding through the microscope.
I did the same thing on one badly damaged portion  

of the gas tube. Here it is before and after.
The idea was doing the same on the receiver.  

Unfortunately though, that’s not possible, 
because this receiver is not made of steel. 

I had already been warned by a commenter under 
my latest video, and it turns out he was right. 

Hello there, welcome back to Backyard Ballistics! 
This is a special episode, as this is probably   the most valuable gun I’ve ever featured on the 
channel. A 1918A2 Browing Automatic Rifle, or BAR.  They’re very hard to come by, 
and this one came together with   the two Thompsons you saw in my last video.
I’m not going to lie, it’s in very bad shape,   but at least it looks complete. For some reason, 
the stock was found together with the gun,   but detached from it, maybe to reduce bulk.
It looks like this gun was stored in some sort of   greasy canvas, that protected some areas better 
than others. It also looks like the receiver   corroded somewhat differently than the rest, and 
as you’ll see there’s a very good reason for that.  I used a cleaning rod to make sure the gun was 
unloaded, but it felt really rough going down,   so I’m afraid quite a bit of 
rusting happened in there.  There is no way I’m getting this apart 
without the help of a chemical bath,   so my focus is on taking the forearm off, 
therefore not having to soak it in liquid.  In theory you’re supposed to take the whole gas 
tube out with it, sliding the whole thing forward,   but that’s not gonna happen today. The heatshield 
is fully rotten anyway, so once unscrewed I   can simply pull it down.
Oops, that’s charcoal.  Same thing that happened on the Thompsons, 
remember the charred woodwork? It looks like these   guns have been involved in a fire. In my previous 
video I suspected somebody deliberately burned   them, but as suggested by a commenter, a vehicle 
fire sounds like a more realistic scenario.   Guns were often transported by vehicles, and 
upon taking a direct hit from an enemy one, the   chances of them catching fire were considerable.
Actually, if military vehicles are your thing,   you’ll certainly like War Thunder, 
the sponsor of today’s video!  Available for free on PC, consoles and 
mobile, it is the most comprehensive,   PvP vehicle combat game ever made, allowing you to 
take control of every possible military vehicle,   including over 2,500 tanks, planes, helicopters 
and ships from 10 major nations, retracing the   history of motorized warfare from the rudimentary 
vehicles of the 1920s to modern day war machines.  All vehicles are realistically modeled and 
incredibly detailed. With realistic graphics,   authentic sound effects and with a worldwide 
community of over 70 million players, there’s no   game better suited for fans of military history.
Each vehicle is modeled down to its individual   components, and a sophisticated damage model is 
implemented when a vehicle is hit by enemy fire:   each type of armor, shell and missile 
behaves like their real-world counterparts.   Hitting an ammo rack can easily make a vehicle 
explode or catch fire, just like what might have   happened to whatever was transporting our guns.
Play War Thunder for free on PC, PlayStation,   Xbox or mobile by clicking the links in 
the pinned comment or video description;   new and returning players that haven’t played 
for at least six months on PC or consoles   will get a massive bonus pack comprising premium 
vehicles, the “Eagle of Valor” decorator, 100.000   silver lions and 7 days of premium account.
Offer available for a limited time only, hurry up! Anyway, at this point I could simply 
put everything in the derusting bath,   except I don’t have a tank long enough, so 
I’ll have to remove this thin rear tube,   that as you’ll see has a very 
special function. Let me take it off.  The spring you see is not the recoil spring, but 
is part of the firing rate reducer mechanism,   a peculiar system that was introduced in the WW2 
design to render the weapon more controllable.  This is basically a harmonic oscillator, 
where the little steel cylinder I’m   holding in my right hand moves up and 
down the stock, pushed by the spring.  The frequency of this oscillation 
defines the firing rate of the   weapon. Or at least that was the idea.
This beefy spring, instead, is part of   the recoil buffer system, that has been part 
of the BAR design since its inception in WW1.  Because yes, the Browning Automatic Rifle is a 
WW1 design by John Browning, adopted in the last   year of the war as the model 1918 BAR, to be 
used in the role of a “walking fire” weapon.   It was later revisited with the onset of WW2 
by the ordnance department, which arguably only   made it worse. You can check Forgotten Weapons’ 
video if you want to know more about the history.  This spring has been messed 
up, probably during reassembly.  The firing rate reducer was somewhat 
susceptible to jamming if it got dirty,   and some poor soul must have entangled 
the spring while trying to put it back.  Let’s see if we can remove the magazine, with 
what’s known as hammer-assisted magazine release.  That’s in very bad shape. Normally I would 
just replace a magazine in this state,   but unfortunately a BAR magazine is not 
something you easily find in stores nowadays. While that soaks let’s have a look at the 
buttstock. The buttplate needs to come off   before the stock can be removed from the gun, so 
it must have been deliberately taken off of it,   and then the buttplate was put back 
on the stock so it didn’t get lost.  This is what we’re left with after the first   chemical bath. Let’s see if 
that’s enough to strip it.  With that pesky pin out, I can gently 
slide the gas cylinder tube forward.  What we’ve uncovered is the gas piston, which 
is what makes the BAR able to be self-loading.   Also notice how the front of the gas rod is 
shiny, that’s because it’s chrome plated. The whole handguard and trigger group neatly 
comes off, and it’s in surprisingly good   condition. This also finally lets 
us see what the insides look like,   and I’m quite happy with what I’m seeing. It 
looks like the internals are all in good shape.  And this is the actual recoil spring, that 
in this design sits inside the gas rod,   pulling the slide and bolt assembly with it.
I’m relieved by the fact it kept its springiness,   which suggests it didn’t lose its temper. 
That means the metal didn’t get too hot if   the gun was actually involved in a fire, since 
springs are the first thing to lose temper. Time to gently tap the slide to the rear. To go ahead in the disassembly, I need to  get the charging handle and slide pin aligned 
with this hole, so I can drive the pin out.  And there goes the charging handle. What I’m removing here now is instead the 
hammer. It has a very unusual shape for a hammer,   and you’ll see how it works in a bit.
Next comes the slide with gas piston,   and now we should finally be able 
to extract the bolt assembly.  With everything apart, let’s 
have a look at the barrel.  In the past I’ve had guns in conditions 
just as bad as this one on the outside,   but with bores still in almost pristine 
condition. Unfortunately, this is not the case.  Which is a shame, because this is probably the 
most valuable gun I ever worked on, at least in   theory, and it has one of the worst bores so far. 
I mean, most of the stretch is just mildly bad,   but in some areas, it gets really bad. These are 
large, deep craters, and in case you’re guessing,   you definitely don’t want them in a rifle bore.
I realized that there was still leftover rust   in some of the roughest areas, and 
went with this setup to dissolve it   with the help of a rotating bore brush.
If on one hand there’s nothing I can do   with the inside of the barrel, there 
is something I can do for the outside.  There are some larger craters that are still 
filled with hard lumps of corrosion products,   and I’ve found a rotary tool with a fine 
diamond bit is the ideal tool to get them clean.  While doing this on the receiver, I made the 
unpleasant surprise of uncovering some through   holes next to the rear sight. Luckily though, 
that’s far from where the breech locking action   occurs, and it should only be a cosmetic issue.
After cleaning the pits, I put the whole thing   back in the bath, so it can act on the bottom 
of the pits, in case I left some rust behind.  Then, I’m finally ready for welding. I’m 
using my Lampert micro arc welder to put   some metal back where it belongs. There are 
some especially large craters I want to fill.  Don’t mind the ski mask, that’s just 
to protect my face from the ultraviolet   radiation while welding through the microscope.
I did the same thing on one badly damaged portion   of the gas tube. Here it is before and after.
The idea was doing the same on the receiver.   Unfortunately though, that’s not possible, 
because this receiver is not made of steel.  I had already been warned by a commenter under 
my latest video, and it turns out he was right.  This receiver is not made of steel, but of 
cast iron. Starting at some point in 1943,   all new BARs used ArmaSteel receivers, a grade 
of malleable cast iron, that was specifically   developed to combine the ease of casting 
typical of cast iron, with the toughness of   steel. Mechanically, it performed similarly enough 
to steel, while melting at lower temperature and   flowing easily into molds like cast iron does.
Unfortunately though, the weldability is   miserable. I won’t delve into the metallurgy, 
but there’s no practical way that I know of   welding this without serious risk of ruining it 
permanently. The damage here is mostly cosmetic,   and I think the cure would be worse than the 
disease, so I’m just leaving it as it is.  Moving onto the magazine, I instead have to 
do something about it, because I don’t have   a spare one, and they’re not easy to come by. 
So I’ll have to make do with what I’ve got. That should do. There are a 
few extra vent holes though…  On the bright side the bolt group, 
is instead very well preserved. Let’s look at the forearm now. Although 
not structural, it kind of worries me,   because it took considerable damage. 
I could find a spare one of these,   but differently than the magazine, the damage here 
is part of the operational history of the item,   since we have all reasons to believe the guns 
were involved in a fire during the conflict.  So I want to try and preserve it. The most 
obvious thing is repairing these cracks.   Here I’m using some thin cyanoacrylate 
glue to soak into the fibers of the   wood. This is a useful trick to consolidate 
surfaces before gluing them back together.  Once that’s fully dry, I’m using a 
two-part cyanoacrylate to fill and   seal the crack. Before it has a chance to set, 
I’m scraping off the excess from the surface.  I then added a thin layer of the darkest 
wood filler I have, to uniform the   color as best as I can.
And here’s the result. The buttstock is instead made of a bakelite-fabric 
composite, and luckily it’s not cracked, so all I   have to do is give it a good clean and scrub.
 
By the time I was done with it, the rifle had   gotten all rusty again!
Just kidding,   this is part of the finishing process.
About that we need to have a serious talk.   WW2 BARs could be either blued or parkerized, 
depending if they were converted from WW1 and   interwar models, or if they were made during WW2.
This being made by IBM in 1943, it probably   had receiver, handguard and maybe the 
barrel parkerized. I could parkerize it,   but I’m not sure that’s a good idea in this case.
As said, this receiver is made of cast iron   instead of steel. I have no way of knowing if 
my Parkerizing process will work properly on it,   or if a special one is required. Also, 
Parkerizing can lead to hydrogen embrittlement,   and I don’t know how this cast 
iron will behave in that regard.  So instead, I’m doing the least invasive 
finish of all types, a rust blue. It’s   completely reversible and risk free, and 
the prolonged boils in water will actually   wash up any residual derusting chemicals 
that might have been left in the crevices.  My rust bluing recipe, that 
you can find at this link,   is actually so effective that with only 3 
passes I got a darker shade than I wanted,   but considering how rough the 
item is, I’ll stick with it.  Now, we can start putting 
everything back together.  I’m giving a good brush to the gas tube, to make 
sure the piston will slide in it effortlessly.  Then, I can start putting back the bolt 
group, slide, hammer, charging handle,   and join them all with the link pin. I just 
need to finger it until I find the spot.  There goes also the recoil 
spring… with a bit more fingering.  At this point we can finally get a 
clear picture of how this thing works.  It fires from an open bolt, with the recoil spring 
pushing the slide forward. Being attached to the   bolt group through the link pin, the bolt also 
moves together with it. As it does so, it picks   the first cartridge from the magazine, chambers 
it, and upon reaching its forwardmost position,   with the round fully chambered, it tilts upwards 
into a recess, securely locking the breech.  Only at this point the firing pin tail is exposed, 
before being hit by the central rib of the hammer,   therefore setting off the cartridge.
Once the bullet passes in front of the   gas port, the shot gases push on the piston, 
giving a rearward impulse to the slide,   causing it to unlock the bolt and move everything 
to the rear, and we’re back to the starting point.  The only thing left is the buffer.
Similarly to a shock absorber,   the recoil buffer is based on the combination of 
a spring, and a series of friction cups and cones,   that act as a brake, dissipating excess kinetic 
energy of the reciprocating mass during firing,   in case it comes to the 
rear at an excessive speed.  This is similar to the system used on the 
Browning auto 5 semiautomatic shotgun that,   as the name suggests, shared the same 
designer, John Browning, with the BAR.  Before I can go any further, I need to sort this 
spring. Not susprisingly, my attempt at untangling   it to get back to the original spring size, ended 
up with two smaller springs… to put it nicely.  So I had to wind a new one, making sure the 
outer diameter, wire diameter, number of turns,   and rest length were the same as the original.
  It’s probably at this point that the original  spring was messed up. It’s easy enough on a 
nice workbench, not so much out in the field.  I’m also installing the flash hider, that 
also came with the gun, but separate from it.  And this is it. I wish I could have done more 
about it, but it really was in a desperate state.  But does it work? Well it looks like it might. There are a  couple things that worry me about using full power loads in it though. The condition of the bore,   sporting a nice collection of relatively deep 
rust craters, and the cast iron receiver,   about which I have little first hand experience.
However, the chamber is good enough to fire,   so I decided to go with it. I started 
with a severely underpowered load…  and it seemed to work fine. Of 
course the gun wasn’t able to cycle,   but that’s to be expected with these loads. What 
wasn’t expected is the fact the bolt got stuck.  I had to resort to a mallet for opening 
it, and this issue kept happening.  By looking at a spent case, we see why. There is 
a deep rust pit right on the neck of the case,   and the shot pressure is making the brass 
expand into it, locking the case in place.  On the bright side, the gun 
seemed to be structurally sound,   and I even fired a full power cartridge remotely.  The good news is it didn’t blow up 
the gun. The bad news is even that   wasn’t enough to cycle the action. The rough 
chamber neck is probably braking the action   too much for the gas system to push back.
I ended up shooting a good 20 rounds of   80% pressure rounds, which would probably 
cycle the action on a good condition gun,   but here the gas system simply can’t push 
the bolt group past the cycling point.  It’s definitely working though, as the 
bolt performs the primary extraction   and overcomes the neck bulging, so I can 
easily extract the spent case manually.  Actually, looking at the slowed down footage, we 
can tell the bolt is in fact moving backwards,   only not enough to eject the 
spent case and cycle the action.  So basically now we have a 19 pound 
straight pull rifle… but it is what it is.  Before leaving you, I want to give a final 
thanks to War Thunder for sponsoring this   video. Don’t forget to play it for free on PC, 
PlayStation, Xbox or mobile by following the   links in the pinned comment or video description. 
New and returning players that haven’t played in   6 months will also receive a massive bonus pack 
across PC and consoles, including premium vehicles   and an exclusive vehicle decorator. Offer 
available for a limited time only, hurry up!

The Most Expensive Gun I Ever Restored: 1918A2 BAR

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