From 1871 to the 1920s France implemented a number of schemes to introduced military education, shooting theory and practice, not only as a way to boost patriotism but also in a bid to prepare boys and teenagers for military service after leaving school. For this, various scaled down rifles were ...

Yeah, I'm a sucker for nice French rifles. So when Old Western Scrounger brought in another batch of them, I offered to do a video. These are rifles taken out of French long-term storage, having been rebuilt at French arsenals to like-new condition, and are in beautiful condition.

Full video on ...

When the French took over control of the Mauser factory complex in May 1945, the plant had some 85 tons of pistol parts on hand - 7.3 million individual components in various stages of production. This was enough to make a whole lot of guns, even if many of them were not completed parts. So along...

Allied troops occupied the Mauser factory complex in Oberndorf in April of 1945, right at the end of the war. The factory was put under French administration and by May that same year production lines were restarted to supply French forces (who needed as many arms as they could get). In total, ju...

After a long line of conventional side lock pistols, the french cavalry are given a pistol constructed entirely differently, much to their displeasure and also to the displeasure of the arsenals producing them. The revolution gives a good excuse to revert to more traditional designs but let's hav...

A little comparison between a very early first type Chassepot rifle and the more common second pattern, plus a tangent into local military history, since one of the rifles lived through a significant event in Swiss and French history.

As for the third rifle, well that's a surprise!

This is the last chapter of the series about the Mousqueton de Cavalerie Légére ou de Hussards Modéle 1786 System 1777 or shortly the French light cavalry flintlock musketoon of the French wars. The video tells the story of its development and manufacture, and also intruduces the drill and tactic...

The star of today's show seems to be a M1786 French light cavalry carbine - a really elegant little arm by the way - but in fact the true hero of the story is Honré Blanc, superintendent of the armoury of St. Etienne from 1763 to 1797. He was in charge of establishing a new method for manufacturi...

Most modern revolvers can trace their lineage all the way back to Colt's designs of the 1840's, but not these...

In this episode of Up In Arms, Curatorial Assistant Christian Wellard is looking at a beautiful set of early percussion revolvers belonging to King Ferdinand II of Sicily.

Dear All, The French Model 1777 smooth bore cartridges are probably the simplest designs among all contemporary military cartridges. They are fast and easy to make. Here is the way it was done according to the military regulations.

Black powder military rifles of the 1860s-1880s are a really enjoyable group of guns. A lot of them are relatively reasonably priced, and they are actually pretty easy to reload for. The unavailability of factory ammunition (for most, although not so much for the Trapdoor) makes them seem like a ...

When the US entered World War One, the country had a grand total of 1,453 machine guns, split between 4 different models. This was not a useful inventory to equip even a single division headed for France, and so the US had to look to France for automatic weapons. In June 1917 Springfield Armory t...

The FAMAS was the best bullpup rifle of its era, but it was a difficult platform to modernize with optics. In 1995, the "FELIN" (Fantassin à Équipement et Liaisons INtégrés; Integrated Infantry Equipment and Communications) was commissioned to create a next-generation weapons platform for the Fre...

The lads have a go at the @Riflechair #cabinfeverchallenge 2024 in Division 5, Muzzleloading, at 50m with a French Chasseur carbine in 18mm. How did they get on?

Sorry for the poor audio - I was filming in an indoor range with a loud ventilation system running. But it was a chance to shoot a proper select-fire SIG-Manurhin 540, and I wasn't going to let that opportunity get away! It's a quite nice rifle, weighing in at 3.5kg / 7.75 pounds in 5.56mm. Frank...

In part 2 we explore the why, who and how. Why was it adopted, who was it issued to and how was the conversion done. We also finally have some range time with it.

I came across this prototype (serial number 7) PDW/compact SMG in a collection, and had the opportunity to take it out to try on the range. I don't have any specific data about it, but it was made by Matra Manurhin, which only existed for 5 years, from 1985 until 1990. This was part of the repeat...

Today we have a short look at two of the predecessors of the French MAC 1950 service pistol. The first is the Type SE MAS 1948, which retains many of the characteristics of the previous MAS 1935 pistols. After that is a preproduction MAC 1950 (serial number F 20), which has the same style of safe...

The Chauchat is a machine gun with a reputation for being unreliable - a reputation that is only partially deserved. But what the Chauchat does completely deserve is its reputation for being notoriously difficult to shoot well. The grip design, stock design, sight placement, trigger, and the dyna...

Part 1 or a two part series on the French 1867 conversion, usually called the Tabatière, Tabby or "that French Snider knock-off". In this episode we take a look at how similar the 1867 action is to the Snider and what prior breechloading systems might have influenced it. As a bonus we look at the...

According to many internet articles the FAMAS was designed for steel cases and simply can't function with brass cased ammunition. It'll cause malfunctions and not shoot straight innit! Well acktchually... Let's get this myth busted once and for all!

In the late 1940s the French developed a new suite of small arms, including a competition to replace the 7.65mm MAS-38 submachine gun with a new 9x19mm SMG. The eventual winner of this program was the MAT-49, which became an iconic part of French Army weaponry in Algeria and elsewhere. The St Eti...

When France was developing it's new suite of small arms in the late 1940s, there was a debate over whether to adopt an intermediate-power cartridge or retain the full-power 7.5x54mm round for the infantry rifle. Initially, a French 7.65x35mm cartridge was developed and used for several years of d...

War were declared with Prussia, a heavy defeat at Sedan, Metz falls and the national arsenal is serverely depleated. Such is the dire situation for the governement of the national defence proping up France at the beginning of the 1870/71 war. General mobilisation is in force but with what can the...