Berthier with a Chauchat Magazine at the Range 

"we need to give pilots a survival gun, something light and easy to store-" "HUGE BOLT ACTION RIFLE WITH MAGAZINE FROM AN LMG, COMING RIGHT UP"

-So what is the worst thing on the chauchat? -The magazine -perfect, let’s put it on a bolt action rifle because why not

I spent a full year trying to keep a loaded magazine that weights more than the gun does in the gun. Lots of mass, lots of machining, lots of welding later, I had to eventually mail it back to him. I'm willing to call this a learning experience, at best, and the customer did not get what he wanted, at worst. This mag is held in the 1915 Chauchat with a large spring, and the rounds are stripped with the bar that unlocks the breech sleeve. Mag locks into the 1915 with a completely different geometry, also. The Berthier feed geometry is totally different, and I would give a lot to see how the original modification was done. This one was done blind, and the outcome was less than adequate. As I have said before, pick up a tool and start screwing up................................

Ian: "We decided to give this kludge a try...." Physics: "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Ian."

It looks like a mud test, but with no mud.

I'll be expecting a Famas with a Chauchat magazine next.

"little bit of a mag issue here" Imagine my shock

Ian looking at a new gun design: "Yeah, but does it take Chauchat mags?"

Now it's a bolt and magazine action rifle, every shot you operate the bolt and fiddle a little with the mag, wonderful.

I think your gunsmith did an admirable job with bad materials. We should all keep in mind that this was done for science, not for serious.

This made me sad, it was like watching a 10 year old get really excited for his new birthday present only to find it’s broken right out of the box

Sometimes replicating failure is a great way to understand exactly why an engineering path was abandoned in the first place; this might be one of those times, and I salute your willingness to take that risk. Kudos.

This is historically accurate as far as Dice is concerned.

So the French found a way to make bolt actions even slower. You attach a chauchat mag to it.

I can't believe those cursed gun images are on forgotten weapons now

"So, we have this LMG that has amazingly huge magazine issues... I know, let's bolt THAT mag onto an infantry rifle! That'll be brilliant!"

Rimlock, the rifle.

This is the most Ian thing I've ever seen.

Ian went full "surprised Pikachu" when that mag dropped 😂

I'm looking forward to see a working version of this gun in Hunt: Showdown!

To get this to work, Ian will invent the "Chauchat Smack". Similar to the "HK Slap", except it involves smacking the bottom of the magazine after every round in order to re-seat it.

I wonder if 100 years from now someone will be trying to redeem the USFA ZIP .22's reputation as much as Ian is trying to redeem the Chauchat's

This is yet another proof of gunsmithing theory that a designing a good gun starts with designing a good magazine.

"The French copy noone, and noone copies the French."

5:49 "Survivalist rifle" at finest

So sorry this is heartbreaking. Hope you can get it running.

French : *try chauchat mag on a bolt action rifle* German : No, that's not how you're supposed to play the game.

"This wasn't intended to be fired from the cockpit." Hmm... Where have I heard that before...?

Bubba: Imma cut down that funny lookin' Remchester! Francois: Hold my wine... Maurice, le Dremel!

I'm always amazed on the way Ian gets excited with French guns simply not running smoothly hahaha

French: Abandoning rimmed cartridge after WWI. Russians in 2020: You guys don't have rimmed cartridges for you rifles?

This magazine is so bad, it would literally be quicker to reload 6 times than to cycle through all the 18 rounds.

"Converted". Thats a nice coverup to hide the fact that you left your chauchat and berthier alone without contraceptives and at the mercy of their French passions ;-)

"I guess not." Understatement of the day.

Your dedication to historic authenticity is definitely appreciated. I’d love to see you get your hands on a 15th century German/French breech loading cannon like the Burgundian Falcon. If that’s even logistically feasible. Keep up the great content!

Sometimes you just do something for the lolz, I respect it. He looks like he had fun even though it didn't work

The Devil tempts Gun Jesus in the desert (2020, colorized).

5:48 I anticipate that becoming a meme.

Thanks Ian, I haven't laughed and cried so hard in a long time. The French interpretation of "mag dump", saves ammo too. Guess that 3 round clip isn't looking so bad afterall.

What an excellent invention that turns your 3-round gun into as many as one round gun!

To quote Garand Thumb: "Do you really need 20 rounds in a bolt action rifle? Yes."

I feel that the guy, who was making conversion work can fix the issues, but then it wouldn't be _authentic experience_ anymore;) Just hope that people won't blame him for this match made in hell working historically accurate.

5:48 I couldn’t help but laugh. The comedy of the mag just dropping like that was too funny

You could attach the magazine permanently to the rifle. That may fix the recoil dynamics issue. For loading, especially in a match, stripper clips would be prefferable. As there seem to be none for this cartridge, maybe a cut down Enbloc clip with the cartridge only held at the rim could fill that role.

I'm starting to think Chauchat is the French word for magazine issues.

Lovely shooty bit, Ian. Absolutely lovely.

You know it's bad when even the magazine is trying to escape that disaster.

Nice Video. What would be interesting:Give this back to the Gunsmith with the order for him to modify it in a way that makes it work reliably. I imagine a simply additional catch can stop the magazine from falling out and maybe changing the magazine can make the cartridges feed more reliably.

Interesting safety mechanism the French designed there. A magazine that has to be reinserted every time you fire it before you are able to chamber another round.

It's Funky, it's Cool, it doesn't work really well. It's French

But would Mae take it to battle? I think we know the answer.

All these years we've been mis-hearing Hendrix on Purple Haze. The actual lyric is: "Excuse me, while I fix this mag," 🤣

Since it was meant for airplanes, I’m sure the pilots would have loved knowing their entire mag could fall off after one shot somewhere over the skies of France, lol.

Yea, and Gun Jesus lead his flock to the desert and said “this is the Berthier, and with it the magazine of the Chauchat”. Amen.

I swear I'm cracking up from laughter to see the magazine falling after every shot

It probably ran for Mark. He's a big boy and the rifle probably didn't recoil as much with him holding it! It will be a cool looking wall-hanger/conversation piece. Like you said, there's a reason a lot of these conversions never took off. Great video. Take Care and be safe, John

French Frankestein Rifle for Gun Jesus ... aand it's not alive - yet.

next video: M-16 with chauchat magazine..

Something about all of the crazy ideas from when smokeless firearms were in their infancy just fascinates me.

As always, Ian provides a fantastic reality check for movies and games. In film and games, they always portray "modified", "experimental", and "prototype" weapons as some amazing thing that is light years ahead of everything else that always works, never jams or malfunctions in any way, and never, ever breaks for any reason. As Ian shows, reality is mostly that they are quirky, kludgy, temperamental proof-of-concept things that only a madman would take into the field.

Seattle lookin pretty dry this time of year.

I can imagine Mark saying with that big grin he has... "Look, I told you so!" I know how he feels, people often ask me to kludge stuff together. Interesting concept.

video gets funnier with every malfunction. gold content bro

Ian struggling to get an old French gun to run for the majority of a video takes me back the first time I watched him in a video

You really don’t understand how garbage those mags are until you see them in action

If I had a sporterized Lebel, this would be a great project.

Didn't work the first time, and Mark created an absolutely perfect replica :)

I wonder how Ian made Mark actually do that conversion. Like: Ian: Hey, please fit this Chauchat mag to my Berthier... Mark: But it didn't really work in original, you know that? Ian: Sure. I mean, do your best, but... Mark: OK

Always nice seeing a new upload before work.

It’s like a ye olde mossberg mvp!

As someone who started writing software in 1963, the original pronunciation is "klooj", possibly derived from a maker of ancient mechanical marvel printing presses, Brandtjen & Kluge (company is still around).

It's been years and I'm still in love with this failed project. I really wish it had worked out.

I'm sickened by this but also strangely aroused.

I don't kow why but this is just plain awesome

Thank you for be willing to try it out.

"I am going to give a couple more shots, holding it back here, to see if supporting the magazine can fix that" :Shoots: :Moves hand to the bolt: :Mag drops: And Ian's face after that... I have not laughed harder in weeks! You are an idol :D

Ian straight up memeing for 7 minutes and 20 seconds

I have been looking forward to this

Honestly, the failures are often just as interesting, or even more so, than the working ones. =)

"How firm is that requirement for the rifle to be functional?"

Everyone: ah that's a really cool historical rifle you have there Ian Anti gunners: That's a large capacity, center fire, fully bolt action, assault "style" rifle.

Seems the Chautier can't shootier yet.

Now this is the crossover I’ve really been waiting for

I had a Bertier in the early 90's, long before the internet was a thing. I was told it was an 8mm, but not knowing anything about the gun I tried 8mm Mauser. Of course this fell about halfway through the barrel because the Mauser didn't have that huge taper on the shell. After reading a lot of magazine articles and a lot of phone calls I finally found the 8mm Lebel. No one made new ammo for it at the time so it was a chore finding surplus ammo for it, but finally I found some. Every time you fired it there would be a flame shoot out the barrel half as long as the gun. It was so much fun to shoot. Unfortunately I no longer have it. I sure do miss that gun.

It deosn't work, which means it comes very close to the original one.

The gunsmith clearly did a great job because the gun runs flawlessly on the first round. All of your failures were magazine related

I can't believe I'm saying it, but I think we actually found a practical use for magazine catch "safeties" like what was found on the SVT, PPSh, and Hakim. Something to more firmly lock the magazine in place by fixing the existing catch in securely while the gun is fired would solve the mag dropping.

Aww. That’s gotta be a little frustrating. Thanks for sharing your pain Ian!

I think we like seeing the failures/malfunctions just as much as everything else.

3:31 Holy cow, how did Ian know my name was Mark? He really IS talking to me!

Normally when a weapon system doesn`t work properly you feel sorry or anger. But not this time, this is for enjoyment and a good laugh only. Thank you Ian.

It's the French version of the 1903 Springfield Air Survival Rifle. i love it!

This is a real cursed gun Put a scope on it

As in so many situations in life, the answer is zip tie.

You warned us the physics was against this working, then you showed us. Thank you Ian, always enjoy your videos.

Should be forgotten weapons. Very cool attempt. Nothing like a field trial to shake out the pros and cons.

When you buy a full rifle just for the magazine for your other gun.

*In-game voice* “Do you wish to maximize your french pew-pews?”

That worked exactly as well as I would have expected.

18 brass casings in the magazine of the Chauchat, waiting to be shot. Chauchat really rocks.