France - Forgotten Weapons

Guycot 40-Shot Chain Pistol (Video)

December 19, 2016 Ian McCollum 28

The Guycot chain pistol was the development of two Frenchmen, Henri Guenot and Paulin Gay in 1879. It is chambered for a unique 6.5mm caseless rocket ball type cartridge in which the base of the […]

Uruguay’s Forgotten Mauser: the Dovitiis

December 6, 2016 Ian McCollum 11

Uruguay’s Model 1871/94 Mauser conversions – known usually as either Daudetau or Dovitiis Mausers – are a really interesting story of arms history. It begins with Antonio Dovitiis, and Italian tailor and merchant of military […]

French C6 Long-Recoil Prototype Semiauto Rifle (Video)

November 18, 2016 Ian McCollum 21

France began working on developing military self-loading rifles virtually as soon as the 1886 Lebel was adopted, and they would pursue a pretty elaborate series of trials right up to World War I. One series […]

Vintage Saturday: Snipers in Shorts

October 22, 2016 Ian McCollum 33

The man in the front has an FR-F1, a French-issue sniper’s rifle roughly based on the MAS-36. The man others appear to have MAS 49/56 semiauto rifles. And of course, it wouldn’t be a desert […]

Vietnamese soldier in French service working on his MAT-49 SMG.

Vietnamese Guns for Algeria

October 18, 2016 Ian McCollum 42

I was pointed to this interesting snippet of a document about one particular shipment of arms to the Algerian rebels fighting French colonial occupation in the 1950s – from Vietnam. Can’t say I would have […]

French and British troops on the Somme, 1918

Vintage Saturday: Lined up on the Somme

October 15, 2016 Ian McCollum 86

Actions of the Somme Crossings. Men of the 20th British Division and the 22nd French Division in hastily dug rifle pits covering a road, Nesle sector, 25th March 1918. the Frenchman in the foreground […]

RIA: Russian M1870 Galand Revolver (Video)

September 5, 2016 Ian McCollum 40

The Galand was an innovative revolver design created by Frenchman Charles Francois Galand and patented in 1868. It is most notable for using a long lever system to eject cartridges by throwing the cylinder and […]

RIA: Semiauto FAMAS

August 9, 2016 Ian McCollum 134

The French FAMAS was one of the first bullpup rifles to be adopted and built in large numbers by a military power. It was adopted by France in 1978 at right about the same time […]

Vintage Saturday: Life and Death in the Mud

July 16, 2016 Ian McCollum 54

The kit of a French Private Soldier in the Battle of Verdun, 1916

World War One Soldiers’ Loadouts

July 5, 2016 Ian McCollum 54

A reader sent me a link to a pretty cool image gallery showing the basic clothing and equipment of five different major combatant powers from mid-WWI. I have re-uploaded the individual photos in case the […]