Forgotten Weapons Discussion: French Arms Being Backwards And Forwards-Looking At The Same Time 

“The neighbor is being awkward again...”. Well understated.

"War were declared". All of our favorite historical firearms people are friends.

An American, a Englishman and a Frenchmen walk into a bar...

"The Bloke, the Chap, and Ian? How have I not seen this?! ... Oh, it's brand new."

One of the few countries that bought the L85 was Jamaica, bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase “we be jammin’”

I can appreciate the decision to avoid metal casings for the Chassepot, because the world really was not quite ready for it even if it was the last major rifle to depend on them. G. Wawro's book on the Franco-Prussian War notes that even with the Chassepot using paper ammunition, supplying ammo for breechloading rifles truly strained even the enormous industry of France. A single division of the French army, a force of maybe 5,000 rifles, fired off over 300,000 rounds in a single action lasting only a couple hours. That 300,000+ rounds was pretty much the entire production of ammunition France could make in a day, and several other divisions had expended similar amounts. In practical terms, a single medium battle required stockpiling pretty much every bullet made for a number of weeks, and of course the shooting didn't stop completely between battles. With experience like that, one can see the general reluctance to adopt magazine weapons, machineguns, and every other innovation designed to send more, and more expensive, bullets away in a shorter space of time.

Bloke's stastical treatment of why group size is a myth and engineering explanations of systems is what brought me to Ian actually. Ian then sent me to Mark Novak back when Anvil was part of C&Rsenal proper with the French Rolling Block which got me to Beardy which sent me to the Mustached One.

Finland certainly seems to like being the host of international meetings

The M-60 GPMG wasn't a bad design. However, the receiver was an expendable item, but the US Army, accustomed to Browning Machinegun designs, which have an estimated life measured in millennia didn't replace them. Geoff Who was a Small Arms Specialist 45B20 in the 1970s.

three of my favourite youtubers in one place? talking about my insane country's firearms history? I'll get a beverage and clear my appointments :-)

Two Q&As with Ian, Bloke and Chap in one day?! How you spoil us 😊❤️

When I saw them all with beers, I knew this was going to be a fantastic video

"War were declared..." What a great Otahis hommage.

Great chemistry. Great topic

Really great. Finally all three of you guys together. I sat through the whole one and a half hours. Why not a super real marathon Q & A session with you 3 with Othias and Rob

HK's handgun is called an offensive handgun for more than one reason.

I was so thrilled. I missed out on the Kickstarter but Ian‘a shipper found a box or two of blue Chassepot to Famas so I snagged a copy. Looking at it now.

I'm still here with my beer in front of the screen and I'm pretending I'm sitting in that room while this cool conversation is going on.............................

So in essence whatever went on in the French small arms design committees and whatnot during every period is accurately depicted in the Top Gear History of Peugeot board room re-enactment skits.

I could happily listen to these three guys for hours. So entertaining and informative. Thanks folks.

Is it strange to have to pause your conversations, set up a camera and then start them from the beginning?

I was going to say one of your best videos ever but that doesn't do it justice at all. Probably the best video on this subject in existence anywhere in the world. Fascinating and very well done.

Thank you so much for the time stamps and the excellent moderation, Bloke.

Funnily enough, the only SIG 550 type rifle that's legal in Canada is the FAMAE, through a loophole in legislation! Therefore there have been many semi-auto FAMAE imported.

I went through usmc boot camp back in 2019 And when I went through the corps was still teaching us to not use our acog during enemy engagements, only during long distance and range shooting were we supposed to use it. They taught us to just hold the gun centered and point n shoot

This is essentially the question I was going to ask on Ian's Q & A but missed the post calling for Q's. Extremely pleased that you three had this convo and shared it as this is such a more thorough answer than I could have wished for.

3 of my favorite YTbers in one place. Talking about French firearms history from Lebel onward. Way too early for Christmas.

Thanks I enjoyed the video in which Chap explains the FAMAS fire control group and learned a lot as well as this one. Great models, thanks for taking the time.

Wow we were spoiled today on both channels. Love this conversation and q&a style vids. Mike and chap you two should absolutely do more "conversation/q&a" style videos.

Brilliant video love seeing the three of you together

"Wow, an hour and a half, I'll just watch a bit of it first..." Ended up watching it all in one binge 😁

aha! scopes on a bren were a thing, but only twice! /smartarse humor very enjoyable!! good to have three favorites sit down for a good chat!

One of my first « hands on » experience with the MAT was with an Ancien of the 11eme Choc. He NEVER shouldered it.

Always enjoy this type of content

whatched to the end love the banter !!

this video was great to listen to ! Cheers from Switzerland

We need more of this. Even if it’s just a zoom call, we need more of you guys talking about the history of firearms design for one nation over drinks.

Had the "pleasure" AA52 in Afghanistan from an VBL (scout car) felt very sorry the French boys. MG42/MG3 still rules 😆😆😆

This is a great video. Informative and deeply interesting.

Very informative and a nice collab. :-)

1:22:20 Thank you for pointing out the false "crap where it eats" is only in the AR-15. I have frequently pointed out any blowback or roller delayed does basically the same thing.

Never tell a - man his salary - woman her age - Ian to talk about French weapons

Discussion très instructive entre trois passionnés bien sympathiques. Merci à vous les gars !

One of your best Bloke

Amen, Amen. I was overjoyed to hear that someone else/everyone else has trouble loading a MAS 49/56 magazine from stripper clips. I can't tell you how much time I have spent fiddling around with that system, trying to get it to load properly. I've tried new mags, new mag springs, new stripper clips, etc. Just when I am ready to give up, one stripper will load as cleanly and as smoothly as silk. Then I spend the rest of the range period cursing trying to get another to feed at all. I feel better.....It's not just me. By the way...."War were Declared?" Othias would be so proud.

This is the kind of weaponized nerdery that appeals to me.

Well that went quickly, very enjoyable lots of info and myths busted.

5:18 one thing i found absolutely FASCINATING..... back when they were reenacting the "Lewis and Clark" journey (like, period correct everything.... from the cloths to the camp fires to the boats.... and did the WHOLE trip EXACTLY the way Lewis and Clark did.... this was in like 2008 IIRC) . anyway.... L and C were given hallow lead "cylinders"..... the idea was... it held enough powder to shoot all the lead . so you would remove the cork and wax seal...... fill up everyone's powder flask.... and then sit around the camp fire and cast your bullets when you were done.... the only thing you had left was the cork.... (which was used as fire starter) . even as a child.... ~13 years old (i had been shooting for ~4 years..... and hunting deer for 1 year at this point.... so i knew a BIT about shooting history) i knew that that was a REALLY good idea . its sealed from water and weather their is no waste and its perfectly weighed and measured so you can shoot all the lead with the powder stored inside the lead "cylinder". . like.... that is REALLY smart . muzzle loaders (and paper cartridge guns) were case-less ammo..... LONG!! before that idea was even a thing but now your "ammo crates" are also "crate-less" . again.... ZERO waste . once everyone shot up their powder and lead.... you would simply pop the cork on another "cylinder" again... fill up everyones powder horn/flask and...again...sit around the camp fire, before bed, and cast your bullets . . it seems like a simple idea.... but being able to sit down and figure out that you need 100 grains of black to fire each 68 cal round ball and then making a "cylinder" that has enough lead and powder for ~100 shots.... THATS REALLY SMART!!! . IIRC.... they were 9 or 10 inches tall, and about 5 inches in diameter.... and the lead was 1 to 1.5 inch thick.... all around, top and bottom . . i know i wrote a book on this.... but..... again.... this is a REALLY DAMN smart idea!

Another thing to bear in mind about pistol bullet diameter is that, prior to the widespread use of penicillin, the risk of serious infection leading to death, from any bullet wound , especially if the bullet carried fabric into the wound, was relatively high unless the victim received prompt medical treatment. A single wound caused by a bullet from a .22 long rifle pistol or a .32 ACP police pistol could be lethal. Context is important. The next time you see some nonsense about truck and bus makers being too slow to adopt pneumatic tyres, keep in mind that, in a time of widespread horse-drawn transport, there were plenty of horse shoe nails being left on roads.

Chap is French? I knew he speaks French, but I always assumed he was British like Bloke. You learn something new every day I suppose. Excellent video as always gents. Keep up the good work.

I’m just waiting for the What Would Chauchat Do project

Great discussion!

Ian is cool, support them all if you can.

I was late to the French game. My MAS 36 and MAS 49/56 are now much loved members of the collection. Wish I had realized their worth sooner. I credit Ian for head slapping my mental block away. Thanks gents

For any Maxim gun owners out there... old Ford flat-head engines used to use asbestos rope seals. Now they use graphite impregnated braided teflon. It also seems that you could see what the model steam engine guys use to replace their seals.

Great chat!

Actually, the urgent operational requirement for a 5.56 assault rifle happened in Lebanon with the participation of one battalion in the UNIFIL (march 1978). In confrontations with fedayeen, Colonel Savan was seriously wounded. All other battalions in the UNIFIL, including ones from third countries had more modern light weapons than the French paratroopers of the 3ème RPIMa (one of the very few all volunteers units).

Love this ... ate it all up - gimme more lol

How excellent this was to listen too.

I feel like Im hanging around with the cool guys. Thank you. Please do a podcast.

We accurately get FAMAE 540/542 in Canada, in either 5.56 & 7.62. Great shooting and reliable rifles, but kinda ridiculously expensive for what it is.

Bonjour 🙂 Merci beaucoup à vous 3 pour cette vidéo. Cordialement.

I am a proud supporter of both channels.

I hope someday we get Chap and Karl talking about blackpower things.

Legends :)

I know what I'm watching with my morning coffee today.

I find the whole HK416 situation in France utterly ridiculous. The French army alone 120000 personal plus another 30000 reservists, with about another 100000 personal in other branches. To step nearly a quarter million personal the French army bought a grand total of 117000 rifles. That barely enough to equip the army as is let alone deal with any future scenarios such as expansion of the military or just the usual attrition of lost and broken rifles from training and combat deployments. Even Canada didn’t make that stupid of an error. And let’s not even get started on the fact the French are relying on the Germans to make their service rifle for them.

That was great. Chap has such a nice calming voice.

I'd said this on the Ian's channel, but i'll like to see a croatian VHS next to an aussie F88, a french FAMAS F1 and F2 and a british L85A3.

Way better than Ian's Q and A, Chap seemed way more comfortable, maybe because the questions were in his wheelhouse. Ian seems comfortable here, C&Arsenal, In Range or Chieftain's Hatch. Great talk. And Bloke is a good questioner, although venturing afield with these two is ok too.

Hearing the positive words said about then Hotchkiss 1914, I decided to bid on the 1914 at the local auction rather than the mg08/15 and manger to win! I can’t wait to get my stamp back.

The father, the son and the holy Brit.

Actually, regarding AR15s with rifle grenades, I saw footage of a Philippino guerilla with an M16A1 fitted with a rifle grenade and he does end up firing it.

Being a BOTR i auto like before even clicking play. Its 1am, i have my cpap mask on. But like a small child im saying just five more minutes. And fighting my eyes closing damn those traitorous eyelids

There is a high pitched sound that is killing me in this video

Back in the day I had a hand me down car , a Renault 5 , from my brother which had a fault I could not resolve . My mate came round to help who was pretty knowledgeable about cars , English makes at least . So I open the engine bay and he looks around the motor. Suddenly he says 'where is the gearbox on this thing ?' , I say 'that's the gearbox in front of the motor ' . ' Kin perverts ' he replies . Lol

I was right, the AA 52 is a french gun not even Ian can like!

I feel like Ian needs to visit The Chap for a Forgotten Weapons special...

Anyone else getting a high pitch audio whine ?

Loving the video, hating the high pitched noise.

We don't see a while lot of replacement barrels for the AA-52...because it jams so much that it never gets hot enough to have to swap it out.

That was great

@Chap About the full auto switch of the FAMAS, the gun was to be used in 3 shots burst, and burst and rafale are in the same position.-you change the burst under the stock So i think it's normal to have the burst/rafale setting put for right handed guys.(since they don't use the switch for rafale but 3 shot burst) tyhat what they told be when i did my service, the Rafale is meant to be used with 3 shot burst. (i only did shot it in semi-auto)

Honestly what i found out with an HK USP is that it makes one hell of a target pistol (especially if you prefer a bigger grip and a crisp trigger).

Just realized the only good thing about those magazine cut offs was for keeping a reserve of regular ammo, while you single loading the blanks for grenade launching. The Lebel was ironically the perfect system for that.

Hell the FAMAS safety sounds like the copied the safety selector from the SVT/AVT-40

Capital video Bloke! Good show, what!

Keep it up

This should be a podcast

theres some crazy high frequency ringing going on in this vid

Project Dun-Lightening sounds great.

I've been trying to place Chaps accent for a while now, thank you! :-)

Never fired and dropped once. Not a fair joke considering Napoleons victories. I have a lovely MAB .22 semi pistol that rivals most modern.22’s, has good weight and all steel

As i've learned recently, the whole "The AR is a helicopter, its great when it runs but when something fiddly is broke its a nightmare of trouble- the AK has a wider range of enviroments where it just runs" is a bit of a misnomer... This legendary reliability only seems to apply to Izmash or really, really high quality AK clones, whereas the vast majority of ARs are "helicopters".

was hoping the AC-556 would have got mentioned

27:15 ...And Madsen and MG-08/15. 27:18 Given its performance in the Project Lightening, I would very much doubt that. 32:56 All the while in 1938-39 there was a version fitted for FM 24/29 mags or some modification thereof. 35:40 Can't blame them, given what happened in 1934 in Paris and in 1936 in Spain. And in retrospect, the conduct of the French military leadeship wasn't stellar at all, and I'm not even talking about Pétain here.

Everybody forgets the madsen lmg

Whoooooh!

Definitely thought that Ian was drinking a Smirnoff Ice at first lol

New name for "Bloke on the Range" : "Le Mec and the Sassenach"