.30-06 M1918 American Chauchat - Doughboys Go to France

[@spvrda]

Morphy employees had to lure Ian out of the room by shaking a bag of .32 French Long ammo after filming this video

[@M.RQ.Mittag910]

HAhahaha... good one (I actually just recently watched the 7+ year old video of Ian putting together one of the early prototype firearm display walls with the inventor of the system, when he displays & talks about some of the firearms in his own collection)

[@caleblunsford8257]

*whistles* "Here, boy!"

[@Treblaine]

"hold on, shh, that sounds like someone shaking a bag of 7.65mm French Longue."

[@MrNikolai07]

Ian owns one of these I believe.

[@mistergrosbig4085]

Ahaha

[@AARONSHEERN]

Military: We need machine guns! We're desperate! Lewis Gun: What about me? Military: We're good thanks.

[@DarnedYankee]

Britain: WE NEED MACHINE GUNS Lewis: I have a design Britain: WE’LL TAKE YOUR ENTIRE STOCK

[@leneanderthalien]

The Lewis weight twice a Chauchat and cost 3times more: this is the real explanation…

[@jamesricker3997]

Ironically, they also had the BAR

[@TylerSnyder305]

​@@jamesricker3997it's well known that the BAR barely made it to the war.

[@smokerjim]

​@@DarnedYankee more like "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!"

[@Vtarngpb]

Something tells me the rejection of Lewis guns in .30-06 came from a certain William Crozier 😡

[@nickthompson9697]

I feel like Lazerpig could make a whole video roasting him.

[@jmjedi923]

​@@nickthompson9697maybe, he usually does videos on vehicles not weapons

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

@@nickthompson9697 C&Arsenal have made it something of a running joke ;)

[@greycatturtle7132]

Yea

[@jebdunkins6796]

Is that the guy who stopped the US Army from buying Lewis Guns because he had a grudge against Lewis?

[@villev8844]

"This is my Chauchat. There are't many like it, but this one is mine."

[@Londonjackuyyt]

Eight-milimeter LEBEL.. Full Metal JACKET!

[@patrickwentz8413]

I love how, at about the 5-minute mark, the Chauchat flops over by itself as it faints. So the gun was so bad it even scared itself. LoL.

[@theeyesofryan]

It gave me that vibe of when I'm exhausted after work and I jus flop onto my bed like "annnnnd I'm done"

[@mpk6664]

This made me laugh more than it should've

[@rogerjohnson8707]

Ian personally owns of of these. Curious if it's his gun for sale.

[@ihcfn]

@@rogerjohnson8707 He said he's been assured that it runs ok, so no.

[@jon9021]

It’s French, so it probably surrendered..sorry I’m English, it comes naturally to us.

[@kmech3rd]

Are we SURE the designers weren't secretly Elbonian in heritage?

[@patrickwentz8413]

Fifth columnist Elbonians infiltrating the French Arms industry!

[@rodrigodepierola]

That's a question for 23andMe.😂

[@Superhytechjetfighter]

Scott Adams was right.

[@ringding1000]

Yeah, you can be sure this was a true French idea of it era. That's not to say that the Elbonians weren't declaring it to be the best idea since the portable outhouse and pounding the table for it, (I think the Elbonians still issue it even yet today for their high speed low drag operators). And it's arguably better idea than the German Mg 08/15 version of their standard Maxim.

[@OldManAndTheSeaOfTooManyCats]

Seeing the field strip the spirit of John Browning smacks his forehead…

[@exharkhun5605]

The word you're looking for isn't "forgotten", it's "denial". 😁

[@rodrigodepierola]

You win the internet today

[@Gjoufi]

Yeah I thought repressed traumatic experience would fit but denial is much shorter 🤣

[@thealmightyaku-4153]

5:00 The gun was so shocked by the insult, it fainted

[@pieshka4509]

3:00 Ian: for the first 2 divisions that are being sent over- My brain: OVER THERE!... OVER THERE!.. SEND THE WORD, SEND THE WORD, OVER THERE!

[@Arthurzeiro]

Ian makes a Chauchat video without saying "cachunk" once? Inconceivable

[@NephilBlade]

Inconcevable!

[@LordEvan5]

I don't think you know what that word means, and if you do it doesn't mean what you think it means.

[@mathewweathers2788]

These are the best firearm history videos on the internet.

[@LD-Orbs]

Ian is doing valuable work. May he prosper greatly!

[@iceonthesun8880]

Only gun channels I watch are Forgotten Weapons and Paul Harrell. Both are informative and straight to the point in regards to the task at hand, with no fluff as a bonus.

[@andythem320guy9]

You did prove in project lightening that both versions can work. But, under the right circumstances and training.

[@boatrat]

Don't forget all the remedial work needed on the magazines!

[@danielboudreau8404]

There's nothing like starting your Saturday morning with a plesant video from Forgotten Weapons.

[@chubbycatfish4573]

Ian should do an entire video in French for an April Fool's joke.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Or just to expand to a francophone audience? Maybe a crossover with Gilles Messier?

[@RonJeremy514]

@@Justanotherconsumer Pretty sure all the french firearm enthusiasts on KZbin already know about Ian.

[@TheWineGuy101]

5:00 "you would think this simpler magazine would be a better design... but it's kind of not, really." M1918 - "aw 😞" *falls over*

[@sifuhotman1300]

Cute reaction... Poor gun :')

[@markfergerson2145]

Might be why it spit out the end cap later in retaliation.

[@BleedingUranium]

@@markfergerson2145 The end cap flying off is a defence mechanism when threatened.

[@DenisR-tt1oe]

Agreed! AT least Eugene Stoner did learn from their mistakes. Chauchat magazine, bad, AR magazine (AKA Stanag), great.

[@Fliss317]

Chauchat LMGs were used in Spain during the Spanish Civil War: it is entirely possible that someone got good with one back in the late 1930s!

[@diegoferreiro9478]

If I am not mistaken those were the French pattern, and they should arrived in small quantities to the Republican side. From the logistics point of view, the Nationalist side was a nightmare, while the Republican was hell. I guess all existing calibers of the time were present at some point or another.

[@paulbeesley8283]

I seen to recall that the in the second War, the Waffen SS, got lumbered with some. They must have been desperate.

[@voiceofraisin3778]

Given the reports from the International brigade im going to go with a solid no on that! The Chauchat was badly assembled and needed skilled well trained operators, the ones the republic got were clapped out WW1 relics that had been badly stored and were operated by unskilled amateurs. Most opinions on it were that youd be lucky to get a 2 round burst before something fell off.

[@ciamciaramcia99]

@@diegoferreiro9478 The quantities weren't that small (atleast not for spanish civil war). Poland had almost 12000 Chauchats in early 20s, later in the same decade they converted half of them from 8mm Lebel to 7.92mm Mauser, and in 1936-37 sold 2650 abroad, mostly to Republican Spain and Mexico, who themselves were 3rd biggest arms supplier (after Poland and soviet Union) to Republicans.

[@panagiotiskostarellis742]

Well Hellenic Army got French surpluses and used it extensively in 1919 Odessa campaign, 1919-1922 Asia Minor Campaign and of course in 1940-41 . In fact it was our main SAW and we produced 8 mmR Lebel for that reason. My Grandfather fought with this in Greco-Italian war for 6 months. He was drafted back in 1934 and in the meantime took part in 3 month long manoeuvres. So, lot of retraining. He never mentioned malfunctions, fault case rejection or difficulties in operating the machine. Only complaint was limited ammo. So now after Ian explaining manufacturing deficiencies, i am convinced about bad the source of bad reputation.

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

Considering what happened after with that weapon, I suspect the reports were not so much lost, more taken round the back, dispatched with a service revolver and left in an unmarked grave.

[@bebopwing1]

"Putting the vertical grip way out here is just too far to be useful" Daniel Defense says hold my beer and watch this!

[@RonJeremy514]

"So here is our 18" rifle, we have a grip at about 18" too. Careful where you place your fingers..."

[@tylerwilliams6022]

I never really thought about it, but John Browning had a rather large impact on post WWI MG development. Even though he was nearing the end of his life he still had a big impact on MG evolution. With his 1917, 18, and 19 designs being fielded through most of the 20th Century. With the M2 still in widespread use to this day!

[@stillhere9728]

Chauchat and the phrase “good enough” is an odd combination to say the least

[@TitouFromMars]

The chauchat, despite all its flaws, fulfilled its role. So no, "good enough" is exactly the right word.

[@DebatingWombat]

@@TitouFromMars And it’s important to recall that its low production cost would mean that the Chauchat was cranked out in astonishing numbers, something not to be sneezed at in a war of attrition where it was one of the few, truly portable, fully automatic weapons available.

[@FirstMetalHamster]

Well, with enough time and development almost every gun can improve.

[@jazzmaster909]

The 280000 "good enough" machine guns you have is better than the 280000 "amazing" machine guns they dont have. Or something to that effect

[@iskenuz]

The Chauchat wasn't actually a bad design. It wasn't a particularly exceptional one, but almost all of its issues have been linked back to the holes in the magazine. In environments that aren't literal hell on earth, it's a little heavy but it tends to run without issues.

[@mickleblade]

That strip down looks loads of fun to strip and fix in a muddy trench

[@HussarPlays]

I looked at the thumbnail with my drowsy morning eyes and was like: “What kind of newfangled mall-ninja ar15 is this?”

[@Sherwoodnt]

I only know like 0.15% French so at the start, I thought you said "Armes oubliette" and I was like.... yes, I can picture Ian gleefully entering The Gun Pit. Alternatively a fun nickname for your channel.

[@LRK-GT]

It's been over a hundred years, and as far as we know, no one has made repro Chauchats. Considering, the STEN is equally 'cost optimized', that really says something about the Chauchat...

[@matthewwagner9350]

there is a replica bfong chauchat coming onto market for the ww1 reenactors

[@shawnmiller4781]

It’s a product of its era. Remember the Sten came out twenty years later after a lot of lessons had been learned

[@mimicrymwot]

An important thing to remember is that creating a reproduction of a historical firearm is very expensive. Such a product would not be targeted at mass market (pretty much any LMG would be better for recreational/sportive shooting), but for a relatively small - and very accuracy-demanding collectors' market. So you have to set up a unique production line for a mechanically complex - well, at least compared to a stamped subgun like Sten - gun (which, by the way, you almost certainly would have to reverse-engineer yourself, as I highly doubt there is the technical package available in public), with an infamously finicky proprietary magazine, in a semi-proprietary cartridge that almost no-one used or produced in large quantities for 80 years. And then you would have to make profit with the target audience of several hundred people. It took decades for someone to risk trying to produce and sell STG44 repros, and it is an iconic, German (!), WW2 (!) gun that pioneered an entire weapon class of assault rifles. In no way anyone would invest in reproducing a crappy, French, WW1, LMG, the only notable things about which are how quickly everyone ditched it as soon as they had access to anything better, and how low was the -BAR- bar to be better then Chauchat.

[@ReboyGTR]

*Did the Doughboys ever make doughnuts?*

[@tim5114]

Dough nuts are what you see when the pillsbury doughboy bends over

[@generalawing]

@@tim5114it’s 9 in the morning. I didn’t need to see this.

[@johnjimmies8256]

​@@generalawingsee these dough nuts! HA goteem!

[@coryhall7074]

Absolutely, doughnuts would have been made at least weekly by both regimental (and perhaps even battalion) kitchens as well as the Red Cross and other civilian organizations

[@patrickhuber8630]

The battlefield of france made them into burned crossaints. Folded over and over and burned out.

[@ZGryphon]

It's probably just a coincidence, but the fact that it looks exactly like it was made from actual bicycle frame tubing really drives home that "made in a bicycle factory" thing. :)

[@Tippet76]

Thinking on it, its probably not a coincidence. If they had a massive bicycle factory that was used to making tube frames why not keep it as close to what they know how to make as possible.

[@AngrySanta-o3f]

The bipod made from a bicycle stand is going a little too far tho

[@Yea_I_Got_Nothing]

Thats a scary looking piece of factory equipment turned in a rifle. 😮

[@hoilst265]

"PIERRE! This machine gun is too long! Tres ridiculous!" "Fine, Jacques. Then we just put the buttstock under then receiver."

[@RonJeremy514]

@@hoilst265 "It's not that great Pierre!" "Putain, we have a war to figh we can't spend too much designing and refinig the thing! Send it to the production lines asap!"

[@huddunlap3999]

And the Army couldn't even catch Pancho Villa

[@ZGryphon]

all the Federales say / they could have had him any day / they only let him go so long / out of kindness, I suppose

[@tomhalla426]

An example of Woodrow Wilson’s denial of the probability of the US getting involved in the war. No real preparations were made prior to the declaration of war, and Springfield and Rock Island had been in very slow production rate compared to TR or Taft administrations.

[@hoilst265]

There's a school of political science thought that, like, half the bad stuff that happened back in the 20th Century can be traced back to Woodrow being an oblivious moron.

[@tomhalla426]

@@hoilst265 Tommy Wilson was not stupid, he was evil. Joseph Hall-Patton (The Cynical Historian) mocks his own reaction to Woodrow Wilson, which he fully justifies. Aside from being a Fascist before Mussolini invented the term, he was a creatively destructive historian justifying the Southern side in the Civil War. His conduct before and during WWI offended all sides, justifiably. He totally pissed off both the Chinese and Japanese at Versailles, again by being his racist self. Most people know about his offending the Germans, but he egregiously offended the faction of the Republicans in the US who might have backed his policies, so he was assured that they could not pass Congress.

[@hoilst265]

@@tomhalla426 Aye. I'm not American, but I should not have been so glib. I am Chinese-Australian (my Grandfather left in the late 1930s for...obvious reasons, though he was sorta Australian anyway), and while the CCP is rightfully seen as bad today...eh, on the other hand, you can't really blame 'em. The phrase "Century of Humiliation" is not an exaggeration - while Europe, for example, was offered help and support to rebuild after WWI, China was kept as a Western playground.

[@coomman-e4j]

I've had imagery of this gun in my head for a long time after reading To the Last Man by Jeff Shaara. Wasn't expecting that but I think the author did a great job showing the attitudes towards the gun regardless if it was effective at times or not.

[@blank557]

John Moses Browning saw this abomination, and said to himself; "Nope. I can make something better than this for our boys to go to war with."

[@skoshman1]

You mean "I'm already making something better. Better hurry up to get it to troops... working."

[@TheArklyte]

And then he made an awesome automatic rifle... that costed almost three times as much to produce as MG42 two decades later😅

[@FloodExterminator]

@@TheArklyte To be fair, the BAR is more mechanically complex than the MG42. IIRC, there was a version of the BAR that had a switch that changed the full-auto firing rate.

[@ringding1000]

@@TheArklyte And the Germans couldn't have designed and produced the MG42 2 decades earlier either. And almost 80 years later, ain't no one using the MG42 design either.

[@fzyturtle]

​@ringding1000 Except for the MG3, which is still in use, and the M60, which is a essentially a blend of the MG42 and FG42 chambered in .308

[@lizardb8694]

To quote great american novel: “Ugly frigging thing,” Krazewski said. Crouching over the Chauchat automatic rifle, he yanked at the stock, twisting it on its bipod. “Look at it.” Anton Myrer "Once an Eagle".

[@bwhog]

One issue with the Chauchat is that it required lubricated ammunition to function well. Did the American gun work around that or did they also have to have oiled cartridges? A point worth making is that in WWI, it was still really difficult to process aluminum and it was something of a wonder metal. So to see it used in this gun is interesting. Also, as I recall, basically no one was really ready for WWI and everyone found themselves QUICKLY short of all sorts of items and had to massively increase production.

[@vincentmueller3717]

I have a friend who purchased one of these ,without magazine, in the late 90's. He took it to his friend, Max Atchisson, for some help. Max stuffed the mag well with aluminum foil, really tamped it in, then carefully removed it and took some measurements. After some modification and fiddling, he made a Johnson LMG mag somewhat functional in that particular gun. I don't know if it had the chamber modification. If it didn't have a mag, why bother? These were $17-$21 DEWAT guns in the 1960's, and amnesty registration was free. I can see why a $20 live leagal, nonfunctional machine gun could exist, but really, only in this sort of circumstance.

[@Hysteria98]

Max Atchisson? By chance the same guy who made the AA12?

[@vincentmueller3717]

@Hysteria98 Yes. Max was a long-time Atlanta area resident, who sadly passed in the early 2000's. I was fortunate to shoot several of his different prototype firearms. The Chauchat guy bought several at auction.

[@ianloughney9570]

It's so weird to think of this as a competitor to the BAR. The BAR just seems miles and miles ahead as far as modernity, quality, usability, really everything.

[@tylersmith3139]

Is it really though. The fire rate of the Chauchat is a lot more realistic for 15-20 round mags than the BAR which fires quickly with a small mag. The original BAR overheats quickly and doesn't have any tweaks like a shroud to reduce heat. It just isn't that advanced for it's time.

[@ianloughney9570]

​@@tylersmith3139 I think you have some misconceptions here. The fire rate of the BAR in low is effectively identical to that of the chauchat, they just eventually got rid of the low bc it was one of the few truly bad features of the BAR. In fact, in general extremely low fire rates for LMGs were a feature that, even by WW1, was pretty obsolete. Especially to be included as the sole fire mode for the chauchat. Walking fire was always a joke and that alone is a big part of the reason the BAR lasted and the chauchat didn't. Also, idk what you're basing your overheating issue claim on, but that is also simply wrong. For an MG, the relatively low fire rate and mag capacity on the BAR ensure that it's pretty difficult to overheat. Now, later model BARs did use cooling fins on the barrel (yet another thing your comment was wrong about), but that was for longevity and handling, not in-combat functional overheating issues. Look, you may not like it, but fact is the BAR was really really advanced for it's time. Was it the perfect gun? No, there are better LMGs today. But, was it miles better than basically any other option in 1918 and made the chauchat look like a joke? Yes, absolutely. Hell, the US used it for so long that when it left service it was competing with the M240, and that's still standard issue today! There's a reason it's the longest serving light MGs in US military history.

[@diooverheaven6561]

​@@ianloughney9570i wouldn't say it was miles better than all the competition as Lewis and Madsen were also fine weapons to my knowlage. Hell Madsen is still used today by brazilian police

[@cgi2002]

​@@ianloughney9570 in fairness the biggest issues with the BAR were all relatively easily fixed as it was tweaked throughout its lifetime. That said the US military managed to keep its biggest issue when it came to using it for basicslly its whole lifespan. The god awful control setup, the lack of a pistol grip made it so much less user friendly than nearly anything else you could find, the few versions of it with that as standard are so much more comfortable to use and becsuse of that so much easier to be accurate with.

[@ianloughney9570]

@@cgi2002 Definitely agreed, there's a reason it got an A1 and A2. And really IMO the fatal flaw that finally did kill it was its weight, they could never really incrementally improve that out lol. But yeah, like I said, its not like the BAR was a perfect gun, hell it's been obsolete for 50 years. But compared to the chauchat, or even the lewis or madsen as another guy mentioned, it was lightyears ahead.

[@turdferguson6648]

I wonder if the standard grunt back then would make up what CSRG stood for, like Can't Shoot Real Good or Cheap S#itty Rifle Given.

[@josephd.5524]

'Happy as Ian in a French Armory.'

[@BatCaveOz]

"Camming the feed ramp" is a technique I used with my college girlfriend.

[@recoilrob324]

How many of us tried to pick out all the guns behind Ian on his first video from Morphy's? There's just one I wasn't sure of and he hasn't gotten to it yet...but I'm enjoying this series immensely.

[@jessyzarzan8492]

First off, I love your videos. I have been collecting collectorables, war artifacts. Furthermore, a long time I've been collecting swords, bayonets and what not. At the end, I've always found out of my room looks like a pirates hoarding room from the 1700s & 18s. I'm a pirate at a heart and cannot let my sh go.

[@spencersdh1]

The WWII mod for Ravenfield has this American version of the Chauchat. It's coded to jam after the same number of shots with every magazine, and has an animation for the stuck casing being pulled out. There is nothing you can do to avoid this.

[@goncalo33]

That's proper attention to detail.

[@andrewdescant]

I'm less than a minute in, but I needed to say thanks to project lighting this gun is iconic at least to me.

[@Locutus494]

5:05 "But it's kind of not really" and the American Chauchat took offense to that! 🤣

[@dbmail545]

My grandfather was issued one of these in France. First time over the top it gets a stoppage he couldn't clear, gets tossed and he grabbed an M1917 off a fallen doughboy

[@jamesbackman172]

Most Doughboys said Chauchat was french for peice of shit 🤣

[@jameljay2183]

Th M1918 wasn't not considered a front-line wheapon and it's unlikely , if it was usued in combat .. I'm really curious of the veracity of a " first shot" jamming issue ... that thing happen in cartoons and rarely in real life .

[@dbmail545]

@jameljay2183 He didn't say "first shot" nor did I. The Chauchat had a severe design flaw: the bolt had to be removed to clear many types of stoppages. This is evident from Ian's disassembly of the weapon. My grandfather refused to discuss his experiences in France with children. I only know this story because he told it to his WWII veteran son-in-law my father. Don't beclown yourself by attempting to sound authoritative about things you have no way of knowing the truth of.

[@tomw.6511]

I saw some Chauchats with box magazines in the Belgrade Military Museum. From what I read these must have been Belgian Chauchats sold to Yugoslavia and rechambered from 7.65mm Belgian to 8mm Mauser.

[@jamesjacobson3966]

With America rearming prior to Pearl Harbour and Lend Lease underway to supply arms to Britain were any Chauchats available still in the US inventory for 2nd line use at home or for supply to the British Home Guard?

[@beanhurst]

Whenever Ian says "long forgotten" and chuckles a little I check the date to make sure it's not April 1st

[@StressmanFIN]

Ah yes, the "better than nothing, but not by much" gun.

[@ClassicCase]

The Chauchat is a classic example of tremendous potential but a failure in execution. I see so many great ideas internally, but then a lot of other really unfortunate ideas that made it in there that made it suck.

[@SLON-sh2jg]

The stock is probably shortened to allow use with a BAR style belt cup (yes, they haven't released the BAR yet, but have decided to use its tactics in the CSRG). Interestingly, this belt did not have pockets (with the exception of two double pockets for M1911 magazines, reduced to one on the BAR version), instead magazines were carried in bags over the shoulder (each bag could hold about six such magazines), and you would probably have at least two such bags.

[@Uncle_Roadkill]

That intro reminded me of Johann, Ian's evil German cousin from WW1

[@mikemoore4033]

A machine gun that works way better in semi auto than full seems suboptimal.

[@michaelangelomaimone3181]

It’s only sort of a machine gun. It’s more of an automatic rifle. They were still figuring out machine guns (especially light machine guns) in WW1

[@johnfisk811]

The doctrine was that it was a semi automatic rifle that could fire in automatic if necessary. The overheating issue with the barrel cooling was a training issue. It took several magazine full in automatic to cause such overheating and this was advised against in the training.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Walking fire was a dumb idea.

[@DevinMoorhead]

Fricking early gang. Lets frickin go!

[@johnfisk811]

I understand that Gladiator contracted the magazine production to tin plate toy makers who had the pattern makers and tooling to press them out. However the tooling was made around the thin toy tinplate sheets hence the flexible magazines and the ribbing to try to stiffen them.

[@classifiedad1]

Did they ever consider just using more than 1 layer?

[@johnfisk811]

@@classifiedad1 I doubt if the presses could accommodate a double thickness nor make them to a close enough fit to put two together but I do not actually know the answer.

[@jeffreyholdeman3042]

“Normal shaped face”….I’m 💀.

[@Fastwinstondoom]

Time to go rewatch Project Lightning!!

[@moosemaimer]

Who else actually bought it?

[@sbreheny]

Interesting - from your description of the action, it sounds like it works exactly the same way as the Remington Model 8.

[@ForgottenWeapons]

Yes, they are both long recoil systems.

[@sbreheny]

@@ForgottenWeapons But I think the Chauchat fires from an open bolt, correct? I didn't see any hammer. Does it have a fixed firing pin?

[@davidcarr7436]

That's some decent French Ian

[@fjallaxd7355]

Even though it's goofy, I like the Chauchat. Good video.

[@punctatus3285]

CLANK..."Then the springs come out" 😄

[@hoodedrage720]

I was fr talking about this gun yesterday and you posted this video right after

[@neohavic6012]

My great grandfather fought in WWI at St. Étienne, and it makes me wonder what he fought with. My guess is the 1918 since I’ve seen picture(s) of him with one, but I’ve always wondered what else was firing around him.

[@Cakeyflour]

>Has a 30-06 (and a 8mm Lebel) Chauchat in his home at all times >Makes Chauchat video at Morphy's Ian logic. 😛

[@kutter_ttl6786]

This one is for sale on Morphy's, his personal one isn't. This video is really to promote the auction.

[@SamSeth]

​@kutter_ttl6786 amazing how, after all these years, people fail to recognize these videos are advertisement first and foremost. It's a business partnership with the auction houses

[@MandolinMagi]

@@kutter_ttl6786 But why? It's an American chauchat, why would anyone want it?

[@danw4237]

@@MandolinMagi Same reason people go to BDSM dungeons. Some just people enjoy the pain.

[@sussinhardrn1048]

Me, armed with the knowledge Ian has bestowed upon me, telling my buddy why his guns failure to extract is bad: "Ermmm, well..cause...you need them to!" Love your videos Ian, your delivery of that line was perfect.

[@glcartm]

.....🤦🏻‍♂️

[@bobgarner9228]

Cleaning the beast looks to be a nightmare

[@jdelark6428]

Very cool to see. I've only seen the Chauchat with American use in the WWI movie 'The Lost Battalion'. I recall the American soldiers in that film were not glowing with praise for the weapon.

[@BadBomb555]

Ian: _And you might think this would be a much better design, but it's kind of not really._ Merican Chauchat: *_Thud_*

[@johncole2469]

Every time I go to National Gun Day in Louisville, KY, and see the Morphy Auctions booth, I introduce myself mimicking Gun Jesus. We get a good laugh out of it.

[@MrWilberbeast1]

“Paint me like one of your French machine guns”

[@bretsubotnik1777]

He's happier than all get out,he gets to speak frog,great video

[@maximeb6662]

Got my Ianpat Boonie and just wow, really wanting to get the rest, great video as always!

[@scottfoster2639]

Another great video Ian.

[@jonathantatler]

The perfect history for Ian, an American made French gun! Want to know the history of the turned down Lewis guns now please? 🙏

[@CSMwarhammer]

Is anyone else excited when there is a longer video? It means more history or more interesting mechanisms!

[@buncer]

Amen.

[@magnashield8604]

Notice it doesn't have the French window in the magazine. That's an upgrade given the muddy trenches

[@Kurgan-8772]

Bro, a straight up assault rifle . Literally looks like an assault tifle before they were supposedly invented 😂

[@6thmichcav262]

9:11: the SPROING!! noise that things make that I have never taken apart before, launching some critical part into the darkest, dustiest corner of my basement, never to be found again...

[@CooperHudgins]

Can we get a video on the Savage 1899?

[@christophercripps7639]

Would any doughboy lucky enough to be issued a M1918 BAR choose a CSRG instead? The BAR was lighter and certainly more reliable (as evinced by its long service after WW I by many countries). The CSRG had a bipod of sorts. But by 1918 the Allies were in attack mode. The intended use of both was firing from the hip using a sling to support the weight. The tactic seems to have been spray & pray to keep the other guys heads down until close quarters combat - let your mates use grenades, bayonets and clubs. In essence the bolt locking mechanism of both were designed by John M. Browning as in the case of the Chauchat first in the Rem Model 8 (& FN 1900) sporting rifle. As far as high reject rates are concerned, better to get 1000s to the front with many rejects than only 100 perfect items; in mass war just how long would an item last in combat anyway?

[@Linchpin.supply]

I wonder if stoner took notes on the upper and lower disassembly

[@afre3398]

But was the Chauchat really meant to be used as a light machinegun like we think of it today. I see it more as semiautomatic gun, that also can fire in full auto.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

I see it as more of a FN FAL than an LMG.

[@randywatson8347]

"'you might think it was a good design , but it's really not''. Rifle goes ''bonk!''.

[@mikepokorny2835]

The CSRG and all it's variants are so neat until it actually gets field use.

[@mainiac4pats]

Wow what a great job, love to listen to you “wax poetic” about doughboys “wacking poughetically” during their campaign overseas. I never feel that you Ian do anything except deliver. My Uncle Jim Blanchard from South Portland Maine was into all things war related, collectibles, etc. he sadly passed away and now your channel means even more to me. I spent many years looking at the comings and goings of his collection which sprung from the many circles of shows in your area. Thank you Ian, our family represented in the World Wars and all of these things mean a great deal to freedom and the values that we share today.

[@WWFanatic0]

Ian just complying with Canadian bilingual standards in the opening here. Frankly I want to hear him do an entire video on a French gun in French now...

[@historysmith9597]

I'm not trying to be crude, but those front grips remind me of truck nuts 😂

[@jordanmarlins5784]

"Then the springs come out"

[@patrickhuber8630]

6:48 Spongebob Font stamped numbers

[@WMAJ6]

My great-uncle actually used these during WWI. I can't use the words on here that he used to describe them. Let's just say that he hated them. He said that they were junk that continually jammed and were useless.

[@docholiday7975]

The choice for these in early 1918 probably makes sense in the context of the times. There was a push by the Entente for American soldiers to be moved to France as quickly as possible at the cost of moving other armaments like artillery. Having production be local to their final destination would save on shipping space and any losses during crossing such as due to U boats. That the Americans saw themselves as being the army of 1919 would mean that even if they didn't take the BAR at the outset, they could instead pick it up latter once they had ironed out the numerous other issues with supply and transport. I still don't envy the poor sods that had to use these. The American entry into the war was horribly done, with training being woefully deficient and lacking in practical matters: "the [American] program of instruction wasn't shaped by actual war. [...] There was no practical instruction, no use of grenades, no trench work, no use of mortars or machine guns, and no practice of open-order. Artillery officer candidates had never fired a cannon or even seen one being fired." ~ General Louis Collardet, Franch military attaché to the US (side note, the Americans removed their foreign advisors as they felt they weren't necessary and they knew what they were doing) There were even accounts of soldiers having to shown how to load and fire their rifles before going over the top. If these were as awkward to use as Ian implies, the doughboys really had everything stacked against them.

[@JerryEricsson]

When I was a kid, one of the things I enjoyed was sitting in the background and listening to my dad visit with the neighbors and his drinking buddies (we had no electricity in our farm house and drinking was a way of life). One I remember well had served in WWI and talked about that machine gun. He called it a "shit shit" and said they had to piss on the barrel to get it to work when it got hot. Seems pissing on the barrel would release it when it was hot and get it back in action till it heated up again. He said as soon as he could he threw the damn thing in a junk pile and picked up a Springfield, then he had a gun that worked all the time. This was in the 1950's back when both WW1 and WW2 vets were around, the Korean war vets were young men still, one of my cousins married a Korea war vet who had his arm blown off when he tried to throw a grenade back out of his fox hole and it blew, took off his arm one eye and left him with bad scars all over including on his face. It made me think twice before I joined the US Army in 1970 but I went anyhow, I couldn't buy a damn job as a high school drop out in my home town, we had moved to Minnesota and found work out there but my wife was home sick so we moved back to South Dakota and after a month of job search's turned up nothing I called the Recruiter who was more then happy to come and get me, then send me off to training and on to Vietnam. That was indeed a trip but then that is another story completely.

[@nunyabidniz2868]

Americanized Chauchat: this abomination brought to you by William Crozier, because "I hate Lewis & his superior lmg..." 🤣🙄😲

[@BjornTheDim]

Yup. I'm going to go find one of Ian's Chauchat range videos.

[@billrivenbark8983]

Oh my God. You can disassemble a modern F35 stealth fighter completely in less time than this junk heap! No wonder American troops hated this gun!

[@watchthe1369]

Marines hated the thing. It seized up in the middle of intense attacks, and would overheat quickly.

[@johnnyrocko2933]

Yes, it’s ugly and has a bad reputation but so did my first girlfriend 🤪. I like the Chauchat. It’s cool in a steam punk/antique style.

[@stumpythedwarf8712]

I did not know there was a US version of that gun. Thank you Ian, as always. Please do the Lewis gun vid, I'd love to hear that story.

[@cammobunker]

It was well known that .30-06 Chauchat machine rifles tended to be "expended in combat" much more than one would think. Between crappy fabrication and that abortion of a magazine the thing was as likely to get you killed as save you. Doughboys tended to report them "lost in combat" which wasn't a lie, although that phrase was more intended for "damaged in fighting" rather than "Thrown in a shell-hole full of water never to be seen again". They would "lose" the .30-06 version and be issued the 8mm version as a replacement. (I read this in several Doughboy memoir books, all of whom seemed to have loathed the American version but found the French version much better. Wish I could remember what they were titled!).

[@P_RO_]

With only 18 rounds and a sort of slow reload, you gotta question the usefulness of the Chauchat. But it worked for it's role sort of. If there's a lesson here it is that a soldier experiences more than an occasional easy-to-clear stoppage, the gun will be known as junk unwanted by the troops who must have near-absolute trust in their weapons.

[@maineiacman]

In a video game FPS called Enlisted I have the French Chauchats, the full auto fire rate is so slow I end up just using it as a semi auto by tapping the trigger.

[@randomfaca]

you gotta remember even these light MGs were operated by teams, so reloads could be done by an assistant much faster. as for the reliability, you work with what you have. you either get these guns and be on the front to assist the worn down french army or you wait for the BAR while the Germans go for the jugular

[@erikbukovac5944]

compared to 5 shot stripper clip fed (springfield 1903) and 8 shot tube fed (lebel) bolt actions, a chauchat even in semi auto will be as effective as several rifles in a man portable package

[@wastedangelematis]

Modern caps require modern solutions : "fully A.I. voice translation of all videos to French....." Now for that.... I would upgrade my membership in any way !!! and to think I'm only in the app for now