History of WWI Primer 099: French CSRG 1915 "Chauchat" Documentary 

Doesn't seem as terrible once you know it was something of a Sten-style emergency mass-arming programme. For a very new idea crash-built by a bicycle company in a war economy, its actually pretty amazing.

On a quick side note, when I moved to France I learned there was truth in the expression "The French will never use one word when four or five will do." I quickly determined that a Frenchman with his arms behind his back is rendered speechless. They wave their arms around quite a lot when speaking. I say this with love and affection for France and the French because they became my second homeland and national family for four years in my youth, never to be forgotten.

I kind of love this gun's insane feeding system. Just the fact that they had to basically build a robot whose job was to put the cartridges into the chamber one at a time, because the cartridge they had to use is so wildly unsuitable for automatic fire, and they went ahead and _did_ it, makes this thing worthy of a lot more respect than it gets. :)

Rewatching this again I’ve realized the Chauchat is just cool looking. It’s got sheet metal, a crazy banana mag and a vertical fore grip. Looks like something made for a steampunk terminator.

Ian is going, “Oh man, that is were It is...... .”

Mae: "this gun sucks ergonomicly" Ian: *TRIGGERS IN FRENCH*

War Were Declared at only 13 minutes in. Tactical surprise achieved!

Nobody: Othias: *grunts* Great video

"Fun fact: machineguns were important" Best quote yet!

I love the big smile always present on Mae's (sorry if misspelled) face everytime she shoots.

Thanks Othias, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

"Lemming like doctrine" at first I laughed. Then I thought a little more about it then was saddened by the horror of that.

My favorite part is how they have holes everywhere in the gun and the magazine just because, but then the ejection port, which is the only of those hole that is actually important for function, has the shape of the casing. Just because you can not afford that extra 2 mm² for dirt to enter the gun.

Othias, we get it. We understand, and we forgive you, because we know that the M1911 episode is being delayed specifically so you can do a cover of Crazy Rap (Colt 45) by Afroman to play on a loop in the background and want to get your legal and royalty bases covered.

There’s no way this isn’t Ian’s Chauchat and it makes me happy lol

Not to take anything away from the huge amount of research and awesome presentation of information you do othais, but your french is absolutely hilarious

I wonder how much of the aggressive recoil comes from weakened springs over the past 100+ years and the barrel/bolt assembly smacking into the back of the receiver faster and harder than was originally designed. Of course, unfortunately the Gladiator factory is not still making springs.

I was hoping they'd end the cliff hanger off with the Star Trek: TNG "To Be Continued" screen

Videos like this that goes in depth about the truth of the gun is what gives me a new appreciation for the gun itself. While many of us sit here and look at the Chauchat as one of historys greatest failures in military small arms, it's nice to know there was a point and purpose for the gun being used in such a widespread manner.

I have been waiting for this episode for a long time. Thanks for all the high quality entertainment you have provided so far. I hope we all be around for another 99 episodes. Cheers!

I've always noticed the Chauchat seems like a particularly loud when firing, even compared to its contemporaries firing the same or similar ammunition. Seeing how short the barrel actually is, I can see why. It must have been throwing quite a bit of still-unburnt powder behind the bullet which creates a nice loud report and bright fireball as it exits the barrel. Thus the need for the flash-hider/cone as well as the distinctive boom-boom-boom when firing.

Yay!!! I’ve been waiting for this one for so long!!! :) thanks!

always excited to see a new C&R video, among the best channels on youtube. keep it up guys. i hope it lasts till at least you get through WWII.

Because right when was about to sleep I get this notification. Yay I love this.

Holy crap, I can't believe I caught an upload after subscribing so soon! I love this channel so freaking much, I wish I would have caught it far sooner. It kind of makes me wish I could be a Firearms historian, but with your videos out in the open, nobody would be able to top these.

Oh boy that War Were Declared snuck up on me good!

Ive got my last full B-day today. I think I can forego sleep for this highly refined, functional, and reliable piece of history.

War Were Declared should be on one of your shirts this year. great vid

I forgot how much of a pleasure to watch this videos are! And man if I love these guns, they make such an intimidating sound, long recoil actions are so cool.

Honestly given the use of off-the-shelf steel tubes and the various other techniques, it really does look like it was assembled from bicycle parts.

Paul Auguste Pierre RIBEYROLLES Born dec 12 1874 in Paris Father Auguste Ribeyrolles (dead at the time Paul went through the military selection process) Mother Pauline Hélène Marchant He had a posponed military service because he was studying at école des arts et métiers in Châlons ( a town not far from Reims in Champagne) engineering school. He made one year of military service only because he was the older son of a widow in the 67th infantry regiment from nov 1895 to sept 1896. He had left knee accident leaving him with arthitis which made him unfit for service in 1904. During WWI he was recalled on nov 19th 1915, named at the 35th infantry regiment dec 1st 1915 then passed to 13th artillery regiment dec 4th 1915 on ministry decision. Named second lieutenant temporarily, for the duration of the war, and detached to the ammunition manufacturing inspection in the subdivision of automatic rifle fabrication from fev 2nd 1916 to fev 11th 1919 . Chevalier de la légion d'honneur feb 16th 1916 Second lieutnant permanent grade july 22 nd 1921 Deceased dec 11th 1947 in Paris.

You guys are freakin awesome, love the detail. Thanks.

This show just keeps getting better and better

About to watch this episode on my lunch break now..cant wait

C&Rsenal episode with no "would you take it into battle?" answer: *STILL* better than Game of Thrones season 8......

Ok, we TOTALLY need a poster, and some kind of image of Othais with a huge hammer saying "here's my persuader". Someone please MAKE IT HAPPEN. Like, NAO!.

A dealer had a couple of unserviceable Chauchats for sale, his main selling point was that they were probably more reliable than the functionable ones.

Good morning C&Rsenal, I love you, but I need to get some sleep. We can talk about guns once the sun's up. Say hi to Mark.

I love the way this gun looks and how it sounds

Parts of it make my PTRD41 look quality, I would still love one in my collection.

I was asleep and woke up to pee, and this was in my notifications. Thanks a lot it's not like I have class in the morning or anything JK I'll miss some sleep for this with no ragrets

600 guns per day and 10,000 magazines per day (did I recall you saying that?) tells us the magazine was regarded as expendable in action. Loaded clean and put in closed pouches and loaded direct from the pouch so dirt should not be a major issue I would think. As you have mentioned previously the Chauchat is a machine rifle not a light machine gun. IIRC it was used more in semi automatic than full automatic; if only to conserve ammunition. Nice work chaps and chapesses.

Thanks for letting us know!!! Good works!!!

The tough that is more then 100 years old is amazing

I love the Chow Chat! Such a good gun, the Chow Chat. I'm so glad you guys are reviewing The Chow Chat.

Great video and that animation was just superb!

(Puts on C&R shirt and waves a penment with Yay! On it)😀

Just have to say you guys are really making some great content only found you guys and ian in the last month or so I have to say mae is the just the best at what she does she seems to have a super naive way about describing the firearms and doesn’t seem to be all clouded up with the prejudice that men have...... thanks again guys for doing this. Oh and not too mention she’s a pretty decent shot

Just got done watching the Vickers episode and this pops up. Nice! (mixes more Gin&Tonic)

Really like the close up look at the gun

Brilliant as usual good job guys!!

I love your work with historical weapons, greetings from Austria! :)

Dude, you had the perfect opportunity to make another springy snakes gag.

I found this video to be far too harsh on the Chauchat. The weapon is portable, it can be properly fired on the move and was easy to produce and disassemble. Othais mentions that the Germans would not use the Chauchat in the front lines but I have photographs of Germans stormtroopers with the Chauchat; and the Germans would use the Chauchat even in WWII (not that the weapon in itself was that good). The Syrians also used the Chauchat in 1948 against Israel. Othais also does not include the USA in the map of the users of the Chauchat, which is absurd - 75% of the US units in Europe were armed with the Chauchat. The Chauchat gunners suffered more casualties but that is the fate of the automatic riflemen in the squad. They are also the most decorated and that wasn't different with Chauchat operators. And again, the Chauchat was the first mobile base of fire organic to the infantry, with the creation of the squad as tactical unit, and it is hardly convincing that the German bulky and heavy counterpart was a better option. Most complaints regarding the Chauchat were given to the American version, and that also happened for the lack of training of American soldiers in either version. While the Americans also tend to use the BAR as comparison, the BAR only saw less than 2 months in combat in 1918. The idea that the Chauchat "is crap" is contentious at best.

"We could see an improvement on the grip next episode" *looks over at the 1918 thumbnail* I THINK I CAN SEE IT

HA HA Joke's on Othias this time because I'm off tomorrow!

Learned a lot of things of a weapon my grand father used during WWI (I'm french).

To heck with listening to Othias, I'm here to see Mae! Thanks. I got here in under 1000 likes. It's a miracle.

Dude I love your name! If I ever have a son. I'm gonna name him after you.

Wow, I didn't expect the barrel to be that short.

By the way, I rearranged my office so I could sit on a couch and watch this episode. Didn't feel like an hour-ten!

Italy also received an unknown number of machine rifles but they were used only on the mountain front due to the problems with the mud

I think mark should retro fit one fix the bipod sights and all that future anvil episode ;)

I might be wrong, but there are possibly another 1913 - in France. Saw photos couple years ago, but it could be relocated czech one.

I have always genuinely wondered, "How would history have differed if the 8mm Lebel was properly engineered and properly dimensioned?".

Um, that beautiful french accent you've developed. Did you ask if I wanted cheese with that?

Thank you . Othis.

some thoughts about the high bipods. My guess is that the height might have to be seen in conjunction with the muddy terrain of artillery battered no mans land. I guess it's quite easy to imagine that you would often sink in quite a bit with those by pods when you put it on that stirred up soil you'd find on the western front.

I need an Othais grunt compilation.

Here we go Project Lighting Gun, Nice to it Primmer

I think the bipod is meant more to handle the berm of a trench than level ground

13:09 *_WAR WERE DECLARED!_*

Nice!

10:08 You mean "Assistant _to_ the General Manager"

Quite nice close-up video going over the anatomy and disassembly of the gun. Is that due to something new, or am I just imagining the improvement?

When I look at the Chauchat with it's ridiculously tall bipod, my tactical mind says you should be firing it from a standing position in a trench or behind a parapet. Then you set your bupod on the lower section of parapet and fire over the taller, or through an embrasure.

A little bit of both, as long as it was operated by a competent operator and used in the proper 8mm cartridge it was usable and functional although it could never really be considered the most reliable gun available.

Kinda surprised you guys didn't talk about the failed extraction when Mae was shooting, was that just a rare case? I don't remember if it happened on project lightning. looking forward to episode 100!! keep up the fantastic work you guys!! ^^

and the gang goes back to the auto loading rifle "OOOh here we go" war were declared "Called it"

Impressive how quick you can build a gun designed for the assembly line.

`That's guu i'v been wanting to know about for years...

i feel like when everyone complains about the bipod being too tall i feel like they're using it wrong i think the spikes stick into the ground and you pull the thing toward you not the setup used by everyone

So. In summation. It was better than nothing. That’s in 2 ways. 1. It’s was better than not having nothing (no lmg/machine rifle). 2. when compared to all other lmgs/machine rifles it’s better than none of them.

6:13 Wow, this is some high definition imagery! Kudos for that!

I wonder how much more pleasant the Chauchat would be to shoot if it operated with short-recoil rather than long-recoil. Short-recoil could potentially make it a little bit simpler too.

6:35 I have that exact shotgun! Love that bugger!

im 15 seconds in and like "I REJECT YOUR FALSE DICHOTOMY!!!!!"

It's not a machine gun, its a semi-auto gun that just so happens to be also a machine gun lol. Great video, and the gun sounds awesome.

One of my favorite weapon in World War Heroes ❤

Hi Othias!

Thanks...

call me crazy but i feel that the CSRG action could be refined and adapted to modern cartridges quite easily.... for example 7.62 NATO would probably work quite well in this action. Yes you’d probably want to redo the rear of the gun to be more inline with the stock of a CS1913 (ie inline stock) but it would probably be fairly reliable and cheap to produce; even if only one was ever made.

55:20 Using PPSh-41 instead of PPS-43 *sigh*

tbh I'm waiting more for the Winchester 1897 than the 1911. Well that and more .32s and Othais' wardrobe tour.

At first I thought May was wearing blush at the range but no that's just the Chauchat beating up her cheek.

When firing machineguns like the M60 when I was trained with. We gunners have to aim low at 6' O clock either with the bipod or tripod to deliver a burst. Machineguns on full auto fire and delivering bursts will have what is known as a cone of fire. The greater the range the more dispersed your rounds will hit at the target. Therefore the gunner has to aim low at what range he estimates must create a beaten zones where he knows where his rounds are going to impact to effectively fire bursts into the enemy whether it be a trench or enemy machinegun position. Machinegunners and automatic riflemen use this method of fire now since training has become more standardized over 100 years of use of machineguns and squad automatic rifles. In the French Army and later US Army and Marines during WWI would only be issued to a pair of enlisted men who are good or excellent marksmen and have good mechanical and reflexive skill to be trained on these guns. Over time in combat these men knew their jobs when handling and have faith in their abilities using them in combat.

I spat my beer on the key board when I hear "user inter face device." GAH! You left me hanging. Would Mae take this into battle?

Looks like it's gonna be a good day

Between this and Project Lightning, you show shots from your Chauchat. Are you going to Chat Chau next year? Okay, I will go home with my bad dad (heh, that rhymes) puns now.

I deduced from what my great grandmother and gtandmother knew about my great gteat great grandfather (a Serbian soldier awarded the Serbian Order of The White Eagle) that he was issued this LMG on the Macedonian (or Salonika) front of WW1.