@@filouphilippe7680 tu as des contact pour trouver des frf1 et frf2 ?! je cherche désespérément c'est clairement mon rêve d'en avoir un mais c'est dur a trouver ces bêtes la ... :/
Regarding the "F" designation, there's a running joke in the army that involves designating _everything_ as F1. For example: the F1 tissues in your ration box, the the F1 bread roll at the mess hall, the F1 shitter, the F1 broom, etc. You can think of it like going to McDonald's and prefixing everything with "Mc", as in "I'd like a McCoke please, with some McFries". Same joke. P.S.: I continue to be impressed with Ian's pronunciation. :)
The US army has a similar issue with lots of M1's, especially during ww2. No clue if it was a running joke. At least the weapons tended to have at least a prevalent nickname so the confusion wasn't too bad.
Exactly, it looks like a George Lucas/Favreau prop gun. Too bad they didn't have M Lock back then and slim handguards: thumb over bore metrosexual first person shooter garand thumb pogues would be joining the chorus here. Look at that thing. A dropped twice MAS 36 (Once on the Maginot, twice at Dien Bien Phu) inspired someone from Yavin 5 to make a rifle for troopers to take to Scerif. But I don't think a wookie would carry it.
You're not the only Frenchman to think so. I mean, the GSG9 actively invited Ian to take a look at their signature gun. I have a feeling the GSG9 is not exactly looking for publicity, and that their total invite list of all time is frighteningly short... And even shorter for civilians... And yet again shorter when it comes to civilians who aren't French citizens...
@Antazur @Anders Juel Jensen Ian would gladly show all the curio and relic French arms from last 150 years in his channel. Every prototype included, he is very serious franchophile. Unfortunately French army is hidebound in bureaucracy. No foreigners (nor locals) have access to their museum pieces. In Finland for example, Ian have been welcomed to see everything in many regimental remembrance rooms for a long time, and have had access to army shooting ranges (in lieu of active reservist when they are training there). Sky has not been dropped on us, like Asterix always is scared off. Hope French army will raise its head from sand eventually.
As french i'm very happy to see this beautiful gun, I was pleasantly surprised to see the weapon in RE8 Village with the exact first german scope and when you buy the new scope it's the late 90's modern scope Ian talked about, a nice detail !
I recognised the original F1 pattern and wondered why they butchered it in-game with the extra fancy details, totally unawares that there was a beefed up F2 version, and then lo, this popped up in the sub feed some months later by coincidence, lol.
I am really happy that Ian's book sales are going so well that he can get firearms like this one for himself. He has put his mitts on SO many cool weapons to show them to us... only to have to hand them back to the owner or auction house with a pained sigh. I can't imagine a better home for an original condition FR-F2.
I've always been fascinated by this rifle since I read an article on the French Foreign Legion serving in Afghanistan in a Soldier of Fortune magazine back in 2005. It's very distinctive and appealing, it's up there with the SVD for my personal favorite rifles aesthetically.
YES! I'm so happy Ian finally got a chance to get his hands on one of these, been curious about it for a while and I knew it was one of the few french guns you had never had a chance to film. It definitely looks cool as hell, it has some of the look and feel of a PSG-1, but with a bog simple reliable bolt action, and gorgeous wooden furniture. Sexy as hell, and the weight from the wood probably helps with recoil as well.
One time during a marche forcé, me or my body lost a part of that gun. We walk back a big part of the marche and we never find the part. We where very lucky, the adjudant keep the secret, we do gard duty that nigh and we have to pay a pack of beer for the armory guy. We buy beer for the adjudant to, he keep some and let us have the rest. We where two very lucky légionnaire.
I'm not much of a firearms expert, I've never held one and I probably never will. But I can tell from the moment I saw this thing: that is one gorgeous looking rifle.
I've had the pleasure to shoot this interesting rifle with the mentioned Scrome J8, while serving with the French army overseas. The J8 reticle reminded me of PSO-1 from the good 'ol SVD, and was honestly pretty confusing to use. But the gun itself was a solid piece with a good accuracy, even when shooting AP to 600m.
I sure hope the one I'm buying still has a good barrel. I just received a J8 Scrome from Navy Arms. It seems sound enough. Glad to hear you were happy with it for war. I hope "surplus" status now doesn't mean it's spent. Thx for your service.
The glass on this rifle is actually quite good though the reticle is incredibly basic. Got to fondle Ian's at DB and he really made it shine. Check his upcoming videos...he gets rather excited about it's performance 😜
I remember on one of your older videos, you had replied to one of my comments stating the FR-F2 was one of the rifles you were missing in your collection. I'm glad you finally got one. :)
Hier, Ian. At 4:00 you did a good summary however I want to clarify. The MAS was founded in the 1800's while GIAT was created in 1973. MAS closed un 2001 but never belonged to GIAT. GIAT took over the maintenance contract fort the famas while MAS was closing, then became Nexter. They still exist but now they make only armored vehicules and their related ammunition (e.g 128mm,...) I apologize fort my grammar. I am French and I rarely have the opportunity to practice. Regards.
Small correction, the aa-52 when converted to 7.62 was renamed AN-F1. Currently it's phased out as a SAW but a large number of vehicles still use the remote triggered coaxial model with a heavy barrel.
@@ommsterlitz1805 I don't doubt it's a good rifle. But the best Cold War Sniper? There would be some heavy contention. And I will eat my shoes before I say the Famas is the best Bullpup rifle. I would put my money on the Dragunov as the best Cold War Sniper, it's still being used by snipers today. Semi auto, heavy caliber, reliable, nice range, very accurate, widely produced.
@@richardpowell4281 you may want to look around on the internet, there are plenty of discussions regarding the SVD and it's actual use. It's a fine rifle but saying it's the best cold war sniper rifle is a stretch, practically it's been shown to be more of a DMR rather than a true sniper rifle. I would argue pretty much any of the bolt action purpose built sniper rifles (such as this frf2) from the same era would vastly out perform that thing at a sniping role.
@@ommsterlitz1805 what are you talking about "looked too much like a hunting rifle?" The M40 was adopted in 1966, and that literally is a hunting rifle.
I’ve always loved the simplicity of the French! ❤️ They often try to upgrade as much on their products. They don’t try to make anything new they rather use something til it’s unusable. And I gr8ly admire their idea of conservation😁
The point is everytime we try crafting something innovative,it is either awful (chauchat lmg) or with such a complicated mechanism, it is extremely costly to produce (like the mas 38 smg in ww2,reliable but insanely expensive) so well executed simplicity is the best way to craft something reliable.
This has some good design features. Enough to make your life easier but without being complex. The barrel shroud and standard profile barrel are my favourite choices in this design. Also that safety is fantastic. It really was a rifle designed to fit its role.
Actually, it has a drawback: any movement from the shooter induces a shift. It was not uncommon to lock it to on side as to eliminate 1 axis. On the pros side, it is perfectly centred on the rifle’s center of gravity.
When this rifle was first introduced in ijji A.V.A. People judged its stats and laughed at it, claiming it would suck against TPG-1 and even the atrocity AWM.
It's incredible how little sniper rifles changed from in the 30 years leading up to 1990 vs how the 30 years since, virtually every rilfe from the coldwar was carryover from WW2 with weird stock/action set ups with proprietary everything, and scopes that were about as technologically advanced as those in WW2. Virtually the rifle from 80s that still exists virtually unchanged are the AI rifles and the only scopes that are worth a damn since then are the PMII scopes and maybe a few Hendsolts. Looking at this rifle you can really see what a game changer the AI PM/AW rifles were vs everything that came before. Even the Remington 700 based rifles are barely the same, with the base action being really to only thing that has carried over.
Prefering something personally doesnt mean its better in military use. And you can make automatic rifles as accurate as bolt actions, its mostly just a matter of price. That said, I am a bit confused in this case, because the Scar-H might be accurate enough for a DMR, but probably not to replace a long range sniper rifle.
@@termitreter6545 False. A bolt-action is inherently more accurate because less moving parts, simple as that. But yeah your 8000$ gun can barely outperform my 300€ M48, congrats.
@@NoFunNoMoshNoCoreNoTrendsYoure not actually refuting anything I say. The claim "bolt-action is inherently more accurate" is just a naive statement; its actually not that simple. Theres way more things that determine accuracy than that mechanism. And fun fact, modern service rifles like the HK416 will be way more accurate than your M48. The 8000 dollars are bullshit, but yes, it is more expensive, but you can easily do it. Thats the point.
@@termitreter6545 Fair enough. You're right. It's a naive statement. However the ceiling of precision is higher for Bolt-Actions, also due to caliber if that makes sense. I think it's a naive statement to say a modern 416 will be way more accurate than my M48. Depends on the distance entirely.
No that's not it because the Air force is named FR-G1 and G2/ G3 Swedish system have the same as US they use the M number. However it was a funny one ;)
@4.55, It's funny how Ian often comments about things being designed for right hand people only BUT He can't say anything negative about his new French friend!🤣 Great Video and that Is a cool rifle. BTW, I went to Sniper school many years ago and I too would rather have any well built bolt action over nearly any self loader. Ya'll Take Care and be safe, John
@@cheyannei5983 I like it. I used a Harris bipod on a heavy barrel Remington. It gave some maneuverability but probably not as much as this one. That was well thought out.
I recommande you to clean the dry sand or durt on your bipod Rubber pad. If they going too dry they will easily break, same recommandation for the handguard ! My dotation rifle actually 😁 soon replaced by the Scar H-PR. Going to the formation next week
Why would plastic handguard break? Also, what about care for rubber shroud at the end of handguard (around barrel)...do you have to treat that rubber to keep it from cracking?
I love this channel so much, thank you for showing/shooting all of these amazing weapons. I'll never be able to fire all of these unbelievable weapons so the next best thing is watching you.
@@dogboy0912 I remember that too! I only learned of it toward the end of my time playing CA but I was far too invested in the one to learn another ahaha. I'm so glad we got to e joy those games at the time.
@@dividedbyzero96 Yeah bro it's been far too long! I miss it so bad sometimes haha. Great memories. I used to roll the name LostMyShoe and wore the reindeer head Christmas cosmetic 24/7 bahaha. So fun.
History question: the FR .50 was seen in the hands of South African special forces in the Congo, but did the FR F1/F2 ever proliferate into similar conflict zones as well?
Such a cool looking rifle. I saw one of these in a youtube short and had to come looking to see if you’d made a video on it. I love this thing and its history.
"The French copy no one and no one copies the French" I think It was first meant as a mockery, but we're so proud we take it as a compliment :) Thanks Ian for showing us this beauty.
I've often stared at my MAS 36 and thought "damn this thing is ugly" but I'll bet it could be a super accurate target rifle. The action is milled from solid. The magazine walls are very deep and integral making it very rigid. Mauser fans won't like the rear locking lugs but they are substantial and the oversize bolt diameter limits flex. All it needs is a match barrel and a trigger. I like the FR 2's hanging bipod arrangement. I think it would eliminate some of the bedding headaches of the two piece stock.
Very cool looking. I like the mix of plastics/rubber/wood/metal all over the gun. It looks like a gun from the Fallout videogames, or some Star Wars pulse rifle.
This would make Scout Rifle similar to Jeff Cooper’s scout rifle concept. Good for hunting larger game like elk, mule deer, buffalo, caribou, etc. Probably want replace scope with more optic.
Biggest issue is that it most likely would never meet his height & weight requirements (off the top of my head he stated a Scout Rifle preferably weighs less than 7.5 pounds and 36 inches or shorter), never mind some of his more asinine requirements like a magazine cut-off and the ability to top feed from stripper clips.
I look at it like power windows and locks on a car, or disc brakes... Meaning things that come standard now on every car made were still a luxury or novelty thirty or forty years ago. Rifles like this, or Cooper's Scout concept, were very cutting edge technology back in the day. And yes, while you can spend $3500 on a precision/sniper/dmr/long range build, the average shooter can also achieve very passable results from a rifle build that costs a fraction of that. In fact, most manufacturers are today releasing even their low end entry level rifles at a state of quality that exceeds almost every firearm ever made up until the last few decades. Just refinements on already proven platforms. Which is cool, because now just about anyone can have access to an accurate scout type bolt gun for a reasonable amount, that is literally superior to what what many millions marched off to war with. Cooper was right about the man with one gun who knows how to use it thing... There's just something about having at least one decent bolt gun, if nothing else.
@@BeingFireRetardant I think I'd appreciate bolt guns a bit more if I was a right handed shooter, but when your wrong handed your options tend to be limited to the most basic models in the most common calibers. Combined with how many semi-automatic rifles can now compete with bolt actions in terms of reliability and accuracy out to moderate ranges makes it difficult for me to really appreciate bolt actions as a practical tool compared to say a good lever action or semi-auto for my uses.
Lol Ian don't have only one French Rifle ! His videos show the large knowledge he have about them ! Always fun to read US people knowing nothing more about France than "Escargot ... Frogs, coward, cheese and Baguette" lol . (i never eat Escargot and Frog's leg lol ... but Cheese or Bread are never better than in FRANCE lol) , and not the large Gun/rifle history from France, and some excellent gun as this FRF2 or FRF1 .... or famas etc ! The border with Germany (which need USA, UK and URSS to be beaten) haven't help french People to show their War Knowledge ... but if you know some History in all over the world ,you can discover "an other reality" lol. French People will never Forget what Us (UK, Australian, Canadian) Soldiers have done against Nazis ... but sometime they will be happy than more people remember Lafayette etc ! God bless you !
@@steveh1792 That's rigth ... i a real Pastries fan lol, and i live in Burgundy, so i'm obliged to drink Wine ... sometime lol ( lol I think it's more serious not to know French gastronomy than not to know French weapons) Fortunately, French charcuterie (Pork salting manly) survived the disappearance of the French arms factory (Manufactures d'armes de Saint Etienne, Tulles, Chatelleraut etc ) which were sacrificed by some armaments manufacturers ! However France is not the only country which have done rhe choice to buy their "ligth Army gun" to an other country ! (Cf Glock, HK used in USA)
@@Plutokta For the "F" its moslty for Rifle (Fusil), machin gun = Fusil Mitrailleur (FM) ; FAMAS = Fusil d'Assault Manufacture d'Armes Saint Etienne etc... For the equipment, helmets, musette F1 , F2 , I think its moslty a common designation for the Army to use F (like for the other weapons.) But I confirmed its originally used for "Fusil". EDIT: For history the first "weapon" I find under this designation is the F1 grenade (WW1) F for "Fusant" (which the translation is complicated it means pretty much "bursting" or "firing") so maybe since then they kept it like the american "M" .
The .50 BMG Hecate II is already the recommended platform for sniper use beyond 800m. The bean counters may not be interested in filling the gap with a .338 rifle. On the other hand I think it still makes sense to adopt a .308 precision rifle and in this day and age it really ought to be a semi-auto for the increased flexibility. Also for low volume procurement like sniper rifles it's not too uncommon for weapons that *aren't* formally adopted to see use nonetheless.
@@KyussTheWalkingWorm besides the SCAR, the FRf2 and the Hecate II are being looked over for upgrades and modernisation so they might be around for a while longer. as for .338 and the like, yup sniper teams and commandos outside of regular line regiments have access to other calibers and rifles, but we would refer to that sorta stuff as gucci gear.
I don't remember which armorer did some testing with some 49/56 MSE revamping them in some VERY ugly form. It was proposed as a stop gap weapon but Army didn't see this as an opportunity.
I need an old-school Tom Clancy Rainbow Six game set from the 70's to 00's with Ian as a narrator for your loadout. Operations all over the world with corresponding forces. Like, now. Please.
It's mildly amusing that while everything else inscribed on the rifle is in French, they chose to inscribe the calibre as "7.62.N", with the "N" for the English abbreviation for NATO. If they were being really particular, they would have incribed it "7.62.O", as the French form of NATO is "OTAN".
@@justforever96 I checked STANAG 2310 and the associated AOP and both only refer to the ammunition as "7.62 mm x 51"; the terms "7.62 NATO" or "7.62 mm NATO" are not referenced in the standard at all. I think that the term "7.62 NATO" must be purely colloquial. FYI, according to the Charter, the two official languages of NATO are English and French. The NATO E-3A Sentry AWACS jets actually have "NATO - OTAN" printed on the wings and fuselage.
It would, but they were more interested in concealment against night vision. Basically all the relevant design choices in this design favour handling, concealment and first round accuracy over a high volume of fire, as it was intended as a sniper rifle, not a DMR.
That’s the general principle behind insulation. Reducing the temperature of the outside surface by preventing heat transfer via the use of some insulation material (based on Ian’s description, it looks like they used stationary air, a very effective insulation). So yes: you are absolutely correct! They have insulated the barrel, which will 100% prevent the barrel from cooling down as quickly. However, as the gun was designed for a sniper role more than a DMR role and the manual of arms for such a rifle calls for less sustained fire than the DMR, it may not be as counterintuitive as one might think. For those among you who are more mathematically minded, here are some useful equations: Q= INT [ k*A(r)*(dT/dr) ] dr Q: rate of heat transfer (how fast heat can leave the system) k: the conduction coefficient (how good your insulation is) A(r): the cross-sectional area as a function of r (the farther you get away from the barrel, the bigger the “surface area” of your cylinder gets, and bigger surface areas transfer heat more effectively) (dT/dr): the change in temperature with respect to the radius (how hot it is as you move farther away from the barrel) Integrate the function to determine the final equation, and presto!
You rocked this rifle at Desert Brutality, given that the FR-F2 has rear locking lugs, how do you think this affects practical accuracy. Any idea what the desperation is compared to a similar toleranced rifle with front locking lugs
Ian be like: Well the FR-F1 and F2 are the same rifle only the barrel is changed,the locking lugs are modified,the front and rear ends are changed...huh
