Ammo for bar

[huggytree]

Thinking about buying a bar sample. I have no knowledge on them. Will they run any 30-06 ammo?  Or are they specific like a m1 garand?   is the gas system adjustable ?

Will it run modern 30/06 hunting ammo and m1 garand 30-06 loads?

 

 

[inertord]

My Winchester 1918 runs on surplus Greek HXP like crazy. Never tried commercial. 

[nate129]

There is a gas regulator - 3 positions. The early regulator requires pushing a gas key out of a slot before the regulator can be spun. The keys are a pain to move, the manual suggests a bullet tip but the ones I have used require a tool. Maybe brittle from age. The later Korean War vintage regulator can be turned by fingertip and is much easier to manipulate. See here for a good review on the regulator option and use: http://www.90thidpg.us/Equipment/Articles/BARGas/

I have fired some heavier 220 grain rounds in my Winchester without issue (they were practically free so the price was right). I would never try that in a Garand. I think any typical full metal jacket bullet would feed fine. The receiver is very strong and John Browning's buffer design is very effective. That was especially apparent to me when firing a 220 grain 30-06 in a m1903 Springfield followed immediately after by the same ammo in the m1918 BAR. One item to note - if your gun is mid WW2 or later production (IBM, New England Small Arms Company / NESA) and Korean era (Royal Typewriter) the receiver is made from "ArmaSteel" which is a malleable iron derived from automobile part casting. This type of receiver presumably has less strength than the WW1 production guns (Colt, Winchester, and Marlin Rockwell) so with those you may want to stick with M2 ball spec ammo. If the post sample you are thinking about was made with one the modern reproduction receivers marketed to Type II manufacturers I would guess that would be steel typical of the WW1 guns. 

If you want to be easy on the gun the best value around seems to be the Prvi Partizan (PPU) .30-06 for M1 Garand, which can be found in 500 round cans.

[First Sergeant]

I bought a few cans of Greel surplus many years ago from CMP for my Winchester BAR. Runs great !   Other ammo has been so-so. Agree with above post , stay with M2 ball and you and your BAR will be happy. 

[huggytree]

It’s a presample royal typewriter 1918a2

I own a few cases of m1 garand ammo I’d like to use up ppu

another case of Normal ppu 180 grain

and a few boxes of hunting ammo.  Seeing it’s a cast gun should I stay away from using the modern hunting ammo?