Now hear this! John Browning had been working on machine gun designs since offering an initial design to Colt Patented Firearms in 1892. With the entry of the U.S. into WWI, Browning offered up his water cooled .30-06 machine gun. The Army accepted it and designated it the Browning Machine Gun, US Caliber .30, Model of 1917 in May 1917. Based on lessons learned in WWI, the BAR was kept as a squad and platoon level automatic weapon, but the Army wanted another weapon that was less cumbersome than