Browning Automatic Rifle

Unleash the power of the Browning Automatic Rifle in Call of Duty: World at War. Learn its strengths, weaknesses, and how to dominate the battlefield with this iconic weapon.

Alright, let's talk about the Browning Automatic Rifle, or the BAR as most folks call it. This thing is a beast, a real squad support weapon that can lay down some serious suppression fire. It's most effective when you're prone, so keep that in mind.

Stats:

• Range: Long
• Rate of Fire: Fast
• Damage: High
• Mobility: Slow

Brendon's Take:

Now, the BAR can feel a bit clunky in some of the newer modes, but in classic maps like Carentan? It's a rampaging monster. The iron sights get super small, letting you take these perfectly accurate, slow-fire shots. Just be warned, the recoil is pretty nasty. My biggest tip? Hit that crouch button before you start shooting at anyone, no matter the range. If someone's facing you with a weaker gun and you've got the BAR, they're pretty much doomed. The key is to take them out fast and sneaky.

This gun is also a lifesaver when you're stuck manning the passenger seat of a jeep. You've got a fully automatic, dead-accurate weapon. As the jeep driver, you can feel confident that the guy next to you with the BAR has your back, because the mounted machine gunner is usually too exposed to do much else. Seriously, there are so many uses for this gun, you'll find a new one every day.

For those of you just getting into CoD: United Offensive and finding yourselves relying on the BAR out of habit from the original Call of Duty, here's a pro tip: use your pistol wisely. Keep your pistol out when you're running between objectives, like flag to flag. Then, when you need it, quickly switch to your BAR by pressing '1' (or '2' if you picked it up off a corpse). This little trick can turn you into a killing machine on speed. And don't forget about the sprint key ('Alt' by default) – it's super useful for dashing across open fields or making a quick run across an alley with a sniper watching.

A Little History:

The BAR itself is a semi-automatic weapon that dates back to World War I. It had a limited 20-round magazine, was pretty heavy, and quite long. It came with a bipod, though soldiers in the Pacific often ditched it. It was used as a squad LMG and was incredibly effective in the jungles, striking fear into Japanese soldiers. They knew it packed the punch of a stationary machine gun but was still mobile. It could be fired in any direction, and nobody wanted to be on the receiving end of its sights. It wasn't quite as dominant in the European theater, likely due to the different combat styles in the two major theaters of WWII.