France - Forgotten Weapons

Lepage Wax-Bullet Dueling Pistols

January 3, 2018 Ian McCollum 28

In the early years of the 20th century, before the Great War tempered society’s interest in the martial arts, dueling came into the popular vogue. Not the lethal kind, but rather a more sporting style […]

Repurposing Obsolete Rifles: The Lebel R35 Carbine

December 19, 2017 Ian McCollum 21

Get your “Only Dropped Once” shirt here, and do your part to push back against the stereotype of the French soldier! The French military had investigated the possibility of a Lebel carbine in the 1880s, […]

Converting the Lebel to 7.5mm: The M27 Lebel

December 12, 2017 Ian McCollum 19

Get your “Only Dropped Once” shirt here, and do your part to push back against the stereotype of the French soldier! In the aftermath of World War One, the French military instituted a plan to […]

Gevelot 11mm Sliding-Chamber Pinfire Rifle

December 9, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

This rifle design was developed by the Gevelot cartridge company to compete with the Modele 1866 Chassepot for French military use, although it was not successful in that attempt. The weapon has an uncommon […]

The First Modern Military Rifle: The Modele 1886 Lebel

December 5, 2017 Ian McCollum 40

Get your “Only Dropped Once” shirt here, and do your part to push back against the stereotype of the French soldier! The Lebel was a truly groundbreaking development in military small arms, being the first […]

Parisian Needlefire Knife-Pistol Combination

November 30, 2017 Ian McCollum 21

Combination knife/gun weapons have been popular gadgets for literally hundreds of years, and this is one of the nicest examples I have yet seen. This sort of thing is usually very flimsy, and not particularly […]

American Viven-Bessières WW1 Grenade Launcher

November 26, 2017 Ian McCollum 22

The standard American grenade launching system in World War One was the Viven-Bessières, borrowed directly form the French. It had been adopted by France in 1916, replacing copies of the British Martin-Hale rod grenades. The […]

The St Etienne Mle 1907: France’s Domestic Heavy Machine Gun

October 19, 2017 Ian McCollum 37

When the French first began testing machine guns in the late 1890s, they were one of the few countries that did not purchase quantities of Maxim guns. One of the reasons was that in France’s […]

MAS-36 LG48: A Grenade Launcher for the Bolt Action Infantry

September 28, 2017 Ian McCollum 16

Once it became apparent that the MAS-36 was going to be used in a substantial amount of frontline combat (to the contrary of its intended role as a reserve or secondary rifle), it became important […]

MAS-36: The Backup Rifle is Called to Action

September 25, 2017 Ian McCollum 44

There is a common assumption that the MAS-36 was a fool’s errand from the outset – why would a country develop a brand new bolt action rifle in the mid 1930s, when obviously semiautomatic combat […]