BAR oversized cutaway

Does anyone know anything about cutaway BARs for training purposes? About 8’ long with moving parts etc? How common were they and who made them? The reason I ask is I saw one in a local store today, and have never seen one before or heard of one. I have lots of different training cutaways, but all are just cutaways of an original item, so 1:1 scale. This must have been made for large classroom demonstration maybe? It appears complete, with a rearsight that filps up, all internal parts, and even oversize demo cartridges in the magazine, which does remove. The asking price is $3250--is that about right?

Thx

Ed

They used to be common in the surplus stores back in the '70's...first st Seattle for instance. Now they've been bought and aquesse in collections. They were part of a series of instructional oversize cutaways for classroom use. When the weapon falls out of service so do the training aids. You'd have to soul search about the price. Look on line to see if they go for more or less, I'm sure the vendor has.

What was the local store? In Vernon? They aren't too common here in Canada...

They are tougher to find. Even in the US. They are around though. Make sure it's complete, with mag and any other accessories. If it's complete, in good shape with the original base and data tag, and it's something you collect and can swing it....go for it. Post up some pictures. :thup:

I think there's actually cartridges for them too...so, complete... Yes, many suffered from lack of care in transport and storage. Most would be found in the window of the surplus stores. First st Seattle had them every so many doors apart back in the '70s... Lots...

I love the 1919A6 oversize cutaway. They always appear to be missing parts though.

Also just as rare to find as the cutaways themselves are the manuals that came with them

Photos show a manual for the oversized M1 rifle dated Oct 29, 1951 printed by the US Navy and sent to the National GuardAttachment 95616Attachment 95617Attachment 95618Attachment 95619

Fairly common in the military when the assorted weapons like 'em were in use. Saw a BAR one at a Gun show, I think it was, years ago. Seem to recall there being BREN's and every other issue weapon made as a cut away too. Made by the same places that made the regular weapons as I recall.
"...About 8’ long..." 6 anyway. Been a while. The $3250 in Cdn dollars?

It is an oversize, so is just shy of 8' in length. Yes, CAD.

Ed

I have the Garand and M2. I also have purchase orders for the Marines for them I believe around 1950, or 1949 maybe. They talk about buying them as training aides.

To me the price is a fuzz high. I was thinking $2500 was high retail.

The one's I've seen sell have been bwt $1500 and $2000. But I admit it's been at least 2 or 3 years since I've seen one.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cplstevennorton

To me the price is a fuzz high.

---

Problem is we never see them here in Canada...so if it's here, it's really rare.

The BAR training aid (M23) is 93" long.

I picked up the M23 (BAR) and the M1919 GPMG (M22) about 2 or 3 years ago. I was only interested in the M1919, but the BAR came with it. It came with some spare bullets, the stand (which is the top of the transit case) modified for both the M1919 and the BAR, and a manual for the BAR. I had just seen a couple of the M1919 training aids at the MVPA convention in the USA (they were $800 each, but both missing parts or damaged), and I wasn't sure if I would get them across the border. In hindsight I likely could have, since they really can't be mistaken for a real firearm. Anyway, when I got home, I offered a friend in the surplus business $2K for both of this training aid guns, and was happy when he accepted my offer. Best part was that got us into the old store that had been closed for some 30 years. We have since made a lot of good finds in there, but that is another story.

There are a pair of them at Crown Surplus in Calgary. No doubt a million guys have asked about them, so the answer will be they are not for sale.

Here is a good web page about them: Bill Ricca's Double Sized Trainers

They are made of a pot metal, so are somewhat fragile. My M1919 is missing the rear sight assemble and base, and the BAR is missing one or two internal parts. The BAR hangs out in the shop, and the 1919 graces the gunroom. And just like the real thing, they can bite. My 1919 is missing the cocking handle. I was pulling the bolt back using my finger, and got a finger caught into the accelerator when it tripped. It really opened up the fingertip, and I bled like a stuffed pig.

Here was a discussion a bunch of years back re the oversized trainers: https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=20002

I never saw an oversize trainer that I recall from my days as an apprentice. The only oversize thing that we had was a twice full size trigger mech for a No4 and No8 rifle - and I still never really understood the No8 is I'm really honest. We had lots of sectionalised M1919's done by us and generations of Armourers in the past years. Oversize Brownings would have made life much easier, especially the belt feed system and the action of the accelerators that I used to think were the work of white mans magic and voodoo. Great thread

Thread is somewhat dated, but only by a few months months. :-)

Stencollector, I recall seeing several of these in the 60s and 70s as a young kid who liked to visit "surplus" stores, when they seemed to have a lot more REAL surplus. I think one sold on Gun Broker maybe 8 years back but recall nothing about the price. Wasn't my thing. Like most of these things, it takes a dedicated search to find them when you want them, plus a few good friends to keep a "lookout" if they know you have an interest in such things.

I was once given a 7.5 Carcano from a work mate who knew I "liked guns". Said they found it inside the wall of an apartment building they were remodeling. Lord knows why someone hides a rifle inside a wall, behind the wall board?? Never shot it even though I had the ammo. Traded it away a good number of years back now. Not sad about it. Carcanos are not my thing either, even though it was in pretty good shape and had a very clean bore. It had around a $100 value at the time. Kinda a low end item in my mind. lol.

Hope I don't get banned for making that statement on a military surplus site!!