The BAR (short for Browning Automatic Rifle) is a family of American 7.62 mm automatic rifles (or machine rifles) and light machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series is the M1918, chambered for the .30-06 Springfield (7.62x63mm) rifle cartridge and designed by John Browning in 1917 for the U.S. Expeditionary Corps in Europe as a replacement for (and improvement on) the French-made Chauchat and Hotchkiss M1909 machine guns.

Development prototypes of the BAR were presented to a United States Army Ordnance Board in February 1917, testing was then conducted at Springfield Armory in May 1917 and on 16 July 1917 12,000 weapons were duly ordered from Colt’s Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company known at that time as the BMR (Browning Machine Rifle).