The BAR Used By The FBI

 The BAR was originally used at the end of WW1. In spite of the brief amount of time it was in use with American forces, it was considered a big success. In the post war years a large number of these firearms were used by various Police Departments as well as by criminals (most famously by Bonnie and Clyde). 

However the FBI not only adopted them, but modified them by shortening the barrels, and adding a compensator to control muzzle rise. This version was Designated the R80 Monitor. 

The article below provides a history of the little known variation.

 

Colt Monitor: The FBI’s “Fighting Rifle”

by Bruce N. Canfield, Field Editor May 19, 2025

A class of new FBI agents is shown here assembled at Quantico, Va., for firearm training. There are several types of firearms pictured, including M1903 Springfield rifles, commercial bolt-action rifles, shotguns, Thompson submachine guns and at least five Colt Monitors (arrows). FBI photo

Although it only saw combat action in the closing weeks of the First World War, the Model 1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) proved to be the best automatic rifle developed and fielded during the war. Manufactured from 1918 to early 1919 by Colt, Winchester and Marlin-Rockwell, the number of BARs in the U.S. military’s inventory was deemed sufficient to meet the foreseeable demand for automatic rifles in the post-World War I era.

In the 1920s and early ’30s, BARs saw use by U.S. military personnel for a variety of tasks, from guarding the U.S. mail from a rash of armed robberies to protecting American interests in Central America and the Caribbean (the so-called “Banana Wars”)—as well as uprisings in China. The firepower of the BAR and its potent Model 03 Springfield in .30-06 cal. cartridge cemented its reputation as the best automatic rifle of the time.

To read the rest of this article, click on the link below;

 

https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/colt-monitor-the-fbi-s-fighting-rifle/