America is just plagues with too many guns that are the same thing again. Springfield A4 is just an +6 RoF but more expensive to upgrade, where german snipers get the G43 scoped (we have to wait til 21).
But it says faster reload… and literally it’s a shitty upgrade, why not give it the Anti-air clip of 40 rounds with the A2. But the A2 is worst for one sole fact, it requires more materials to upgrade than the A1
Just remember that the stat cards are not even remotely finished, in fact many are just placeholders.
The main difference for the BARs is that the A1 has semi auto.
So the A1 is even better
Select Fire
Less parts requires to upgrade.
No idea, the A2 model might have better aim/ recoil stats.
No clue,
All I know is that the stat cards aren’t finished.
I guess that might be true since the M2 is just ass and recoil, compared to the FG42. Normandy is just a meh battlefield I use and play Moscow with friends. Moscow is way better imo.
My personal research has only been on M1918 and M1918A2. I know nothing about the M1918A1, but it APPEARS to be an M1918 with a bipod stuck to it. If so, it would be lighter than the M1918A2. If it’s lighter, but other aspects are basically the same, then it also will experience more recoil. So here should be the trade-offs that I perceive…
M1918A2
-Heavier, so slower to bring to aim or to run with (a bit bad)
-Heavier, so lighter recoil whether standing, crouched, prone, or what have you (very good)
-Smaller u-notch sights instead of aperture, in theory better for target shooting but allegedly more difficult to use in stressful combat situations (you be the judge)
-Altered magwell and/or mag release allowing for faster reloads (good)
-Slow-auto instead of semi-auto (again, you be the judge, pretty easy to get off single shots on slow-auto so for some that would be a totally negligible difference)
The M1918A2, compared to the original WWI M1918, is made several pounds heavier due to the bipod (which as far as bipods go I hear it’s pretty bad), the thing on the buttplate that you can fold up to allow it to rest on top of your shoulder, (a literal “Shoulder thing that goes up” lol), a blockier magwell and/or mag release to aid reloading, and a carry handle that is necessitated by all the other stuff.
In my opinion, the M1918 got it right and the M1918A2 is ridiculous. Arguably the worst LMG of WWII, and abandoned any notion of ‘automatic rifle’ once it added all that weight. The original M1918 was at least only around 16lb unloaded as I recall! With the heavy M1918A2, you’re stuck with 20 round mags, you can’t swap the barrel in case it overheats, the sights are smaller and more difficult to use, and the bipod uses friggin’ WING NUTS. I’m sure it served the soldiers well for those who were issued it, but really, I mean the MG42 is only around 6lb heavier than the M1918A2, but closer to 10lb heavier than the M1918. The BREN has more usable sights, even though they do obscure vision on the right side, and the top-mounted magazine makes for easy and fast mag-swapping for the assistant gunner, plus 50% more magazine capacity in the jump from 20 rounds to 30 rounds.
The M1918A1 and M1918A2 are the same thing in game with two differences.
The M1918A1 seems to be a WWI era M1918 but with a bipod, which means it should be more in line with the M1918 than with the M1918A2 which saw so many differences after the M1918. If the M1918A1, if it truly existed, is indeed more like the M1918A2 than the original M1918 then let me know. Seems to me, though, the M1918A1 is just an M1918 with a bipod attached.
The M1918A1 was a real gun produced in large numbers for US service. It used a lightweight adjustable spiked bipod and a hinged steel buttplate. It was approved for military service in 1937.
The M1918A2 was also mass produced for military service. Its new features from the A1 were a flash suppressor, moving the bipod forward, and changing the firing modes from full/semi to full at 550 rpm to full at 350 rpm. Some other small changes were also made. This was approved for military service in 1940
Very useful information if correct, so ever BAR made during America’s inclusion in WWII was an M1918A2, makes sense that it’s the predominant design, but sounds like it’s very likely that M1918A1s would have also been present. So the hinged steel buttplate was on the A1 as well, okay, so the M1918A1 is NOT just an M1918 with a bipod. What of the carry handle and beefed-up magwell. If those have been around since the A1 then the A1 is more like the A2 than the original M1918. If those two elements were only added with the A2, then I think the A1 is more like an original than the M1918A2.
The carry handle was only added to M1918A2s late in the war in testing, it was recommended for service in December 1944 by the Marine Corps. It never saw combat service in WW2. The beefed up magwell was introduced with the A2 in 1940 I think, but am not 100% certain.
Cool, thanks for the info.
I just finished doing several minutes of research, and it is indeed cited information, even on Wikipedia (though not all statements are cited). Turns out that supply rarely met demand and even as late as 1945, some units went into combat with original M1918 BARs.
Here is the source:
Dunlap 1948, p. 223: The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division preparing to assault Lingayen Gulf at Luzon in the Philippines in January 1945 was just one example, an ordnance sergeant reporting that the division had “the most beat-down batch of BARs in the army. A few were the original [M1918] models.”
Anyhow, it seems the A2 was officially adopted June 1938 rather than 1940. The M1918A1 had been adopted in a manner that all existing M1918 BARs should be able to be retrofitted with A1 parts while maintaining total parts compatibility. So indeed, the M1918 and the M1918A1 are EXTREMELY similar. As you say, the magazine thing was only adopted for the A2, and also, apparently they also retrofitted some M1918s into A2 configuration. So yeah, from M1918 to M1918A2, they ALL share the bulk of the firearm being identical, but with different attachments and what not. I must say, I learned more in this conversation about the BAR and its service/use during WWII than I ever had before, I think. I wasn’t even sure that the M1918A1 was a thing, and regarded the inclusion of the M1918 and M1918A1 in the game as being unrealistic! NOT SO! Although, I do suspect that realistically speaking, by 1944 in Normandy, the US had managed to get the majority of BARs to A2 spec. I mean, they had since 1938 to get it done! That’s 6 years! Sure, there was active war for half of that so some M1918 and M1918A1 were left as-is until the end, but I suspect that it would be most realistic if MOST BARs available were M1918A2. But hey, I could be wrong about that too.
