French 1878 Marine Kropatschek 

For sure without Gun Jesus I wouldn't know 95% of your rifles, I always thought after Napoleon you only produced subpar rifles for some reason. I guess its Anglo propaganda + WWII disaster + ignorance. Also Chauchat xD (yes I know the 8mm is not that bad)

@@Faetter-Blobs-Filmbiks Isn't that a Danish name, the guys that surrendered to Germany in TWO HOURS

@@riseupagainstthenwo9995 yep.. haha... our best weapon where a nimbus mc with a 20mm machine Canon mounted in the sidecar... the French had a equal number of men and machine, but old school top leadership the Germans where just faster and more fearless on pevitin in the French campaign

@@Faetter-Blobs-Filmbiks you guys gave the surrender act in exchange for the declaration of war and are saying that AHAH

but can we just move on now? :)

I SEA what you did there

Ayyyyy 👉😎👉

-these jokes are fishy-

@@AkiSan0 ive LURED you right into my trap.

Litteral bottom has been meet on these jokes folks. Either you start ascending or this is gonna become a saubnautic issue.

Agreed, the polished steel with that dark stock really gives it a neat clean look.

Si...

i agree

Late af sorry but “blue” steel typically has some extra elements added and is more durable

I read this in Jason Steele's voice

Keenan McBreen I have the Portuguese Army version. They are not expensive. The ammo OTOH, is obsolete and has to be converted from an obsolete Winchester case! The face has to be beveled, it’s not flat!

Hi, this is a complicated story. In 1627, Cardinal Richelieu, in charge of the Navy, created an Navy infantry under the name of "Régiment de la Marine". They would fight aboard or ashore. These Régiments would serve until 1825, when they were handed over to the French Army. They decided that the ship's crew would have to fight by themselves. The "Régiment de la marine" in the Army became "Troupe de Marine" (confusing, isn't it ?) or "Troupe Coloniale". Today they still exist in the Army (Armée de Terre) and are composed of: - Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine (RIMA) - Régiment Parachutiste d'Infanterie de Marine (RPIMA) - Régiment d'Artillerie de Marine (RAMA). These are all Armée de Terre (Army). But in 1856, they realized that these dedicated troops were missing. So they re-created a Navy Infantry under the name of "Fusilier Marin". Again, they would serve aboard or ashore, especially in the colonies. So this rifle is a "Fusilier Marin" rifle, and could be used from the ship or on the land. The "2d Classe" may be an short version of "Seconde Classe" which is often a rank in the Navy. fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grades_de_la_Marine_fran%C3%A7aise During First World War, a small troop of 6500 Fusiliers Marins stopped the offensive of 50 000 German from October 1914 in the Flandres. They were asked to hold 3 days for re-enforcement but they hold 3 weeks at Dixmude battle. They lost 3700 men, often very young, some barely 16 yo. During WW2, Fusiliers Marins fought at Bir-Hakeim in 1942, in Italy at Naple in 1944 and many other battles with Free French troops until the end of the war. Some Fusiliers Marins followed a Commando training with the British and ultimately participated in Sword Beach assault on June 6th 1944. These were the ancestor of today Commando Marine Special Forces (like British SBS or US Navy Seal).

Exactly, Jo Jo. That's something I have to explain to the Americans almost daily. Marine means both "navy" and "of the sea" (marine wildlife, merchant marine, marine rifleman etc). The French first had "marins fusiliers" (sailors trained in rifle and infantry combat). Given the importance of infantry combat and of their especialization in the confines of ships, their name changed places from "marin fusilier" to "fusilier marin", denoting the greater emphasis on their infantry especialization; which is where the English "marine" as a naval soldier comes from. Their numbers being few, the marines need to be élite units, thus the need for the greater firepower in the Kropatschek of the video. That's why the American marines say "every marine is a rifleman" without knowing the reason. The British formed their Royal Marines and the Americans had their Continental Marines. The US Marines always feared to be ruled out of existence by the army and navy (even after WWII) and assured their existence through a legal loophole where the Corps is a "Deparment of the Navy", with the marine commander being equally represented in front of the minister of the navy and the joint chiefs. Sailors tend to be jealous of marines, as they are too different and remind them of those deaded foot sloggers of the army; so marines tend to be ruled out of existence until the navy feels the need for land projection from the sea (the ship-to-shore movement is the 'raison d'être' of marines). This happened with the French many times, and would take its modern form in 1900, when the administration of the colonies passed from the Ministry of the Navy to the Ministry of War (Army) and the marines garrisoning land forts would pass to the army and be renamed "colonial troops" and the marines garrisoning ships would be kept by the navy with their old title "fusiliers marins", formed in the FORFUSCO force today (Force maritime des fusiliers marins et commandos - FORFUSCO). In the case of the Troupes Coloniales, they were renamed in 1957 when the French dropped the "colony" designation for its overseas possessions and became the Infanterie de Marine of the Troupes the Marine (Infantry of the Navy/ Troops of the Navy).

I've learned something from this thread in both military designation and linguistics. Thanks! And thank you for your service, naval personnel don't get the respect they deserve!

Good luck my dudes.

Trust me when you’re working you’d wish you can go home before 5

Oh hey, same here! Good luck man

Been there myself, working two jobs and trying to do college in between, but its worth it. Good luck. btw sometimes it feels like the more you study, the more you forget, come test time it all clicks into place, I think our brains mess with us LOL.

He actually nailed it :D

Perhaps they thought corrosion was inevitable, and that if they were in the white they would not have to be refinished after polishing rust off? I'm curious myself.

Maybe they covered the rifles in oil to avoid rust (just like you would with a sword) and the finish could react with the oil or something? Or maybe the white would make it easier to see spots not covered in oil.

Having them in the white makes it easier to inspect for rust, as it can't hide in the blueing. Also, the Naval Infantry force aboard has plenty of time to keep them polished. It keeps troops occupied and out of the way of the actual operation of the vessel.

It was pretty. Maybe by requiring religious cleaning to prevent rust, you therefore *require* religious maintenance? Enforcing standards through rust?

Maybe because they were mostly used for ceremony ?

Thanks!

That's an epic family story! :) As for what to do, I think the thing to do when pissed would be to mount the battleaxe on the gun as a bayonet, and go Viking! :) Just listen to this old song for what I mean: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uPqG6IA4Zrk.html

Thanks!

Or it might refer to the rifle being some sort of second grade in quality/accuracy.

I doubt they would label a military rank on an issued rifle

@@vrisbrianm4720 I don't know if they did for rifle, but they sure did for sword. My great grandfather sword as "officier d'infanterie" on it. Exemple: medias.expertissim.com/media/cache/media_zoom/uploads/object/2013/12/23/12151353/2013121202_sabre_3.jpg But yeah, as Saibot Saibot said, it could also be a label for grade too.

On est d'accord que ça ressemble plus a un 2 qu'a un Q en cursives. Mais du coup, ça sous entendrai qu'un autre grade aurait un autre fusil ? ou avec un autre marquage, mais pourquoi du coup ? Bonnes questions.... (EN) We agree that it looks more like a 2 than a Q in cursives. But would that imply that another rank would have another rifle? or with another mark, but why? Good questions ....

@@ProjectoD77 I think "officier d'infanterie" was just part of the designation of the sword model rather than a rank (It just meant infantry officer). Can't read French, so not sure.. But anyway, thanks for sharing. 👍 fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_mod%C3%A8le_1882_d%27officier_d%27infanterie

The first thing I thought of was a pump action shotgun. That style of lifter is basically what is used today by Mossberg and Remington.

Bonjour! Honhonhon

Good thing they don't really laugh like that, it's kind of scary.

Well mostly since the navy in france case barely saw any proper action. And generally these where only used in Tonkin area.

Idle hands aboard a ship are prone to causing mischief. Give the marines a rifle that needs constant cleaning and you've solved that problem ! 😉

Sorry but the replies are not that convincing. There must be a technical or at least quasi technical explanation.

Perhaps their duties were largely ceremonial.

you were in 1878man The french navy just doen't trust blueing , it's easier to clean a polished steel

Yes. French naval and colonial forces had the instructions, tools and training to make their own Chasepot cartridges. And the components could usually be sourced overseas; so they weren't dependant on shipping metallic cartridges from France. And it kept the Fusilieurs marin and colonial troops busy, so they wouldn't get up to mischief when bored.

Complete novice here, so don't believe anything I say; but I'd guess it's merely a catch to hold the lifter up- I'd say that the lifter would be spring-operated, and the only reason to keep the lifter down would be to shake the magazine empty, which would be kind of pointless.

@@lewisirwin5363 Funky operation of the magazine cut-off was a known issue with the Mauser version of the Kropatschek. On THAT version, the lever had to be moved only when the bolt was open and all the way back. The lifter gets raised by the bolt going all the way back on both systems. The Portuguese version the cutoff can be worked with the bolt closed or open. I know that the Mle 1878's lifter is raised by the bolt being all the way back at the very end of its travel. It may be that moving the cut-off lever forward moves the lifter up, or it may be you can't move it until the bucket is up. I am just wondering which it is. Note that the lever is covered and inaccessible on that model when the bolt is forward and the handle lowered to the locked position. That may be a crude attempt to prevent someone from trying to move the lever when the bolt isn't open, even though you could still try if the handle is up but the bolt closed.

When I find one, I will...

@@ForgottenWeapons I believe the navy-museum in Horten Norway has one. Take a trip to Norway, and you can do videos on all sorts of Krags, Jarmans and Kammerladers. If you want to do some shooting wile here, you can borrow my 1894 :)

That is something i would love to see

I believe there’s one on display at a gun store in Førde (Våpenloftet). The shop owner is a collector and displays some of his stuff there. Also, there is or was another one displayed as part of a large collection in the officer’s mess at Terningmoen army camp. That’s where a number of Norwegian weapons trials have been held, so they have several trials rifles on display including a Norwegian trials AR-10 and some of its competitors. Couple of BM-59 variants and an early G3 among other stuff. Norwegian-issue and captured enemy guns from the flintlock era up to late cold war era. I recall a ridiculous Polish (?) anti tank rifle that was basically a Mauser T-gewehr necked down to shoot an 8mm bullet at astronomical velocity; that one must have been a real barrel burner. Might be worth calling up Terningmoen and asking for whoever is in charge of the gun collection these days.

What's the conversation ratio to sh*tload (both metric and imperial)?