After some competition and mad-minuting, it's about time we take a look at the difference between the pre-war and post-war versions of the MAS 36 and see how the design was optimised for easy manufacturing without compromising on performance.

Chappy tries his hand at the début de siècle pre-WW1 French Berthier Cavalry Carbine exercises. How does he do with his 8x50R Lebel M16 Berthier Mousqueton?

Chap has in itchy trigger finger and finds a handy solution to try out his new antique shootin' iron. All you need are cases, primers and a handy rubber pellet, oh and a drill with 4mm bit.

A little teasing look at Chappie's Manhurin-built SIG SG 540 in .223 Rem on the 300m range.

Blokey likey. It's kinda the M16A1 of the SIG range :)

Also served as practice for working with a handheld Rode Wireless Go in an interview stick.

Chap takes a look at the principle of lever delayed blowback using some uniquely French examples (naturellement, notamment un FAMAS et un AA52), a spring, a brass rod and bits of wood.

We do a deep dive into the trigger mechanism, fire selector and burst fire mechanism of the FAMAS F1 using period docs and Chap's arts 'n' crafts models. The mechanisms illustrate perfectly the ingenious solutions that designers had to come up with for first generation bullpups.

Chappis strips a French MAS-44 from its original wrappings

Welcome to Bloke on the Range Strip Club, where we're only interested in one thing: Will It Strip. This episode: What to do once you've stripped your French 7.5x54 MAS 36 charger? It depends on the piece and whether you're doing it by the book. In any case nimble finger work is involved...

Welcome to Bloke on the Range Strip Club, where we're only interested in one thing: Will It Strip. This episode: can a Swiss 7.5x55 GP11 charger be used to load a French 7.5x54 bolt action rifle, namely a MAS36 or Berthier M34? Let's find out...

Mike gets a chance to have a go on a factory semiauto FAMAS bullpup rifle owned by the gentleman behind the HACH Helvetic Arms Switzerland channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcxfZ9q0qCpq3CBlDNctrCw
He ran Remote Brutality with that rifle, which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/wa...

Welcome to Bloke on the Range Strip Club, where we're only interested in one thing: Will It Strip. Up today: What happens when you've stripped but you can't blow your load? You have to relieve all that pent up spring pressure somehow! Fear not, the French thought of that (at least for the FM1924/...

Combat in sandy places such as Algeria highlighted that tight tolerancing of the conventional MAT49 32rnd magazine and mag well could cause jamming and feeding issues. The was resolved with the issue of a (19)58 sand magazine with a number of features to render it and the SMG far less sensitive t...

The Ruby is simple and of barely adequate quality for a service pistol but nonetheless rugged and reliable. It is often the case however, that the user can't disassemble it for cleaning.
Why is this and what can be done about it?

While most countries are still messing about with single shot percussion pistols or tentatively trying out newfangled percussion revolvers, the French navy blows caution to the wind by adopting a metallic cartridge revolver patented by Eugène Lefaucheux in 1854 using the pinfire ammunition patent...

Retrofitting an optics mount for the FAMAS was no easy feat considering the wobbly top cover construction. The designers finally came up with a novel if somewhat bulky solution.

Chap goes full nerd on the MAT49, including history, features, a major design fail and accessories. For those patient enough there's a bit of dakka at the end, or just skip to 23:28!

Big THANK YOU to http://armesfrancaises.free.fr/ for letting us use his photos!

Chap does a show and tell covering the MAS45, a nice simple .22 universal traininer used by the French armed forces for 35+ years. Aside from the unique rear sight it shares many similarities to Mauser .22 rifles of the 1930s and 40s, including the KKW, and from it's interesting history it's clea...

The advent of the percussion era and developments in gun carriages brings about the design of a new short handy musketoon for French artillery crews. Issued from 1829 onwards, initially as a smoothbore flintlock, the musketoon evolves through the final stages of muzzleloading technology.

LEGAL...

BotR jumps on to the Manurhin MR73 love-fest bandwagon, well almost. Instead of gushing about the new production models now being distributed by Beretta, Chap will introduce his vintage original 80s 4” target model MR73 and reveal the most important feature of its lockwork, the key to the excelle...

In early 1937 France adopts not one, but two service pistols, both in 7.65 Long for ammunition compatibility with the upcoming SMG (MAS38). The most widely known is the 1935A mostly due to being the template for the SIG P.49, but the other pistol, the 1935S, is usually dismissed as being somehow ...

The FM24-29 is one of the crowning successes of the France's post WW1 rearmament program. Gone is the requirement to feed archaic 8mm Lebel which frees the designers to adopt a modern design. Clearly inspired by the BAR, the FM24-29 is the precursor to the ZB-26 and eventually the BREN. Despite r...

MAB was a successful firearms manufacturer in France for nearly 70 years, focusing on small carry pistols for civilian and police use, as was popular in Europe until the late 1970s. From the late 1960s though MAB developped a big all-steel 9mm service type pistol, the lost "wonder 9", which is st...

The SACM 1935A pistol, developped by Charles Petter, is a pistol mostly famous by association due to it's infamous offspring the SIG P.49 / 210 and myth sometimes blurrs fact as features of the later are attributed to the former. Let's have a closer look to filter fact from fiction.

As requested in the teaser comments, the Chap shows his journey to bringing his previously mummy-wrapped arsenal new MAS44 up to shooting form with hopefully a few interesting anecdotes about the rifle along the way.