When I was a strong young guy, I liked BARs and had them in several calibers. Then I hit middle age and they were a little heavy, so I traded into mostly bolt guns. Now that I'm old, I'm back to the BAR in .30-06 as one of my go to guns. Mine is an Belgium made Grade III with super wood and a little rose and scroll hand engraving. Weight doesn't bother me since walks are very short. I drive out, sit and watch or take a stand either manufactured or hastily put together from natural elements. The gas action recoils much like a ..243, the rifle shoots really close to one inch groups with factory ammo.
If you see me with a bolt gun, it will likely be a .308, .243,,or .223. I don't like recoil any more and sold my last belted magnum several years ago. At eighty, I no longer need to be macho. BTW, I am no longer mad enough at deer to hunt in the rain.
Good to you,
Jack
Jack, if you hand load, try some Barnes 130 grain TTSX bullets in your BAR. I loaded some of those with a half grain under the book max load of H4895 and they were very soft shooting, I could detect a difference from the normal 150 grain hand loads and factory loads I'm used to in that rifle.
