There were some delays as the network jockeyed the season premiere time slot, but American Rifleman Field Editor Bruce N. Canfield will make his debut as the firearms expert tonight at 10:30 p.m. Eastern on History’s “Cajun Pawn Stars,” which is filmed at Jimmy “Big Daddy” DeRamus’ Silver Dollar Pawn & Jewelry in Alexandra, La. The show airing tonight has Bruce sizing up a Model 1918 Browning Automatic Rifle brought into Silver Dollar. DeRamus not only has an FFL, but a machine gun dealer’s license, too.
With 13 books to his credit and hundreds of magazine articles, Bruce definitely qualifies as an expert and proudly touts his role as a Rifleman field editor on the show.
If you are looking for more on the BAR, you can check out an article Bruce wrote for us, “John Browning’s Automatic Rifle” and our “American Rifleman Television” look at the gun.
I haven’t seen the gun on tonight’s show, but if it is a properly papered M1918—it is a machine gun after all—it should be valued no lower than $30,000. If not properly registered, the gun is worth a $10,000 fine and 10 years in jail.
If you want a BAR, and that sticker price is too steep, semi-automatic-only M1918 SLRs (for Self-Loading Rifles) are made by Ohio Ordnance Works, although I believe OOW is presently only offering the M1918A3, which has the features and components of the World War II and Korean War vintage M1918A2 SLR. Ohio Ordnance is not in production of the M1918, although there are some out there. And no, I’m not selling mine, regardless of how much “Big Daddy” would offer.
