Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) - (.308 Win)
Kim du Toit
October 6, 2004
12:00 AM CDT
In this post a while back, it emerged that police and FBI snipers typically engage their Goblins targets at something less than their military counterparts do—to whit, at less than 100 yards.
In the Comments, an interesting discussion rose up between two camps: those who thought that the typical boltie is the optimal weapon for the job (call them the “traditionalists") and those who thought that at such close range, a semi-auto rifle might be a better idea (the “heretics").
Well, we all know what a typical bolt-action sniper rifle looks like, but here’s a pic for the heretics, the BAR in .308 Win, suitably scoped with a Leupold 2-7x33 variable.
If you had to whack a bad guy inside 100 yards, I refuse to believe that this would not fit the bill. At 100 yards, and using decent ammo, the BAR will dump bullets into 1” holes all day. I know, because I’ve done just that with one.
If you had to whack two bad guys inside 100 yards, this would be an exponentially better choice than a regular bolt-action rifle.
And if you really wanted to turn the BAR into a “human varmint” gun, the addition of a custom bull barrel would complete the job. Caliber wouldn’t really matter much: the BAR can be had in .270 Win, .308 Win, .30-06, all the way up to .300 Win Mag and 7mm Rem Mag. Plenty of power there, for just about any anti-goblin duty.
I’d use only the Belgian-made models with their all-steel receivers, by the way.
Secondhand BARs cost between $550 and $700, depending on the grade and condition.
And remember: National Ammo Day/Week is coming...
Pic courtesy of Collector’s Fireams in Houston
Gratuitous Gun Pics
