Chauchat
| Chauchat | |
|---|---|
|
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| general information | |
| Military designation: | Fusil Mitrailleur Modèle 1915 |
| Country of operation: | France, USA, Belgium |
| Developer / Manufacturer: | Chauchat, Suterre, Ribeyrolles / Gladiator |
| Production time: | 1915 to 1918 |
| Furnishing | |
| Overall length: | 1170 mm |
| Weight: (unloaded) | 9.5 kg |
| Barrel length : | 450 mm |
| Technical specifications | |
| Caliber : | 8 × 50 mm R Lebel , model 1918 .30-06 Springfield |
| Possible magazine fillings : | 20 cartridges |
| Ammunition supply : | Curve magazine |
| Cadence : | 240 rounds / min |
| Fire types: | Single and continuous fire |
| Number of trains : | 4th |
| Twist : | right |
| Closure : | Turret lock |
| Charging principle: | Recoil loader |
| Lists on the subject | |
The as Chauchat known or CRSG Fusil Mitrailleur Modèle 1915 (FM 1915) was an easy French machine gun , which in the First World War was used.
history
The FM 1915 is a design by Colonel Louis Chauchat, who was involved in the development of a self-loading rifle for the French armed forces at the Puteaux arsenal from 1903 . He was supported by his assistant, the precision mechanic and technical draftsman Charles Sutter.
Together they created a light machine gun as early as 1911, which can be regarded as the forerunner of the FM 1915. This weapon, known as the Chauchat-Sutter C7, showed itself to be prone to failure during tests in 1912, so that a revision was necessary. In January 1913 the improved FM 1913 was tested. It worked satisfactorily - except for the magazines, which needed further improvement.
On July 19, 1915, it was decided to include the further revised FM 1915 in the armament of the French armed forces. For the production, a contract was signed with the Société des Cycles Clement et Gladiator , based in a suburb of Paris , which had previously manufactured bicycles. Paul Ribeyrolles was the production manager at Clement et Gladiator at the time .
The FM 1915 is also known as the CSRG (Chauchat, Sutter, Ribeyrolles, Gladiator). Originally 55,000 pieces were to be produced, in 1916 a further 55,000 pieces were ordered. In December 1916 the order was increased to a total of 155,000 pieces and an order for a further 25,000 pieces was placed with the Forges et Aciéries de la Marine à Homecourt in St. Chamond . When production ceased in 1918, Clement et Gladiator had produced 247,944, the Forges et Aciéries 20,195 FM in 1915.
From 1924 the FM 1915 was replaced by the FM 1924 in caliber 7.5 × 54 mm .
commitment
The French army first used the FM in 1915 in limited numbers in 1916 in the Verdun sector ; it was then used on a large scale on the Somme .
The operating team initially consisted of two men, the shooter and an ammunition carrier ( French Pourvoyeur ). The shooter carried 320 rounds in 16 magazines, the FM 1915, a pistol with two spare magazines and his other personal equipment, the ammunition carrier his personal equipment, a carbine, a shovel and 906 rounds of ammunition in boxes. The two-man operating team was overloaded with it and could hardly keep up with the rest of the infantry , which is why a second ammunition carrier was soon added. In 1917 the operating team was increased to four men (plus a corporal as group leader). Together with three to four rifle grenade shooters and mostly eight rifle shooters who were also hand grenade launchers, the operating team formed a half-platoon ( demi-section de combat ). In 1918 the team was reinforced again to seven men (in addition to group leaders, shooters and ammunition carriers, three carbine shooters with additional magazines).
The FM 1915 served as fire support for the attacking infantry; this should be shot from the hip stop while walking, with one of the ammunition carriers changing the magazines. When defending against counter-attacks, the FM 1915 replaced the heavy machine guns that could not follow the infantry so quickly.
In cooperation with the rifle grenade shooters, the operating teams took action against German machine gun nests, whereby two half-moves were supposed to give each other cover.
In addition to the French army, the FM 1915 was also used by the US expeditionary corps - in addition to models in the original caliber, Clement et Gladiator produced the 1918 model for them in the American orderly caliber .30-06 Springfield (the magazine capacity was only 16 rounds). Since neither the FM 1915 nor the 1918 model proved themselves, the development of the Browning Automatic Rifle was pushed forward, but this weapon came too late to play a role in World War I.
The Belgian army also used the FM 1915, which was set up for them on the Belgian orderly cartridge 7.65 × 53.5 mm and was not replaced until the mid-1930s.
Greece, Poland, Russia and Serbia also used the FM 1915.
technology
The FM 1915 is an air-cooled, closing blowback loader with a long barrel return and rotating head lock . The ammunition is fed from removable curve magazines . The design shows clear parallels to the Model 8 automatic rifle from Remington, which is based on a patent by John Moses Browning from 1900.
When ready to fire, the bolt carrier with the rotating head bolt is in the rear position, the barrel in the front. When the trigger is pulled, the bolt carrier snaps forward under pressure from the recoil spring. A feed lever that is movably attached to the bolt carrier pushes the topmost cartridge out of the magazine forwards and upwards so that it gets in the way of the bolt head. The bolt head pushes the cartridge into the chamber and rests with its bottom against the case base. The bolt carrier slides forward; The bolt head is rotated by a control cam, so that its locking lugs engage in corresponding abutments of the barrel extension. Then the firing pin hits the percussion cap of the cartridge and ignites the propellant charge. Due to the gas pressure that is created when the propellant charge burns and acts on the case base, the barrel and the bolt and bolt carrier unit locked with it are thrown back against the force of the closing and barrel recoil spring.
When the moving parts have reached the rear end of their movement, the bolt carrier is held in place by a locking lever; the barrel slides forward again under the pressure of the barrel recoil spring, the extractor in the bolt head holds the empty cartridge case in place. In the forward movement it takes the bolt head with it until it is rotated and unlocked by the control cam. After that, the run goes ahead alone; if it has advanced far enough that the empty cartridge case no longer touches it, it is ejected from the weapon by the spring-loaded ejector. When the barrel reaches its foremost position, it actuates a transmission lever, which in turn actuates the locking lever that holds the bolt carrier in place. If the trigger is still pressed, the bolt head shoots forward again and feeds the next cartridge.
The FM 1915 can fire both semi-automatically and fully automatically. Originally the FM 1915 did not have a flash hider; later a funnel-shaped attachment was used, which was also retrofitted on many older weapons.
weaknesses
The FM 1915 had significant weaknesses. The crescent-shaped magazines, which are necessary due to the shape of the cartridges, which are not very suitable for automatic weapons, were made of relatively thin sheet metal and bent quickly (especially since they were carried in magazine pouches by the shooter on the belt and could be compressed when the shooter threw himself down) . Two large openings on the magazine side meant that mud or dust could easily get into the magazines. In fact, nearly seventy percent of all jams were attributed to the magazines. Additional openings on the weapon itself (ejection window, cooling openings, clamping lever slot) allowed dirt to easily penetrate into the weapon. During prolonged sustained fire, the cooling fins in the barrel jacket expanded, so that the barrel no longer ran completely due to the resulting friction.
The sights of the FM 1915 are offset to the left in the direction of fire. The shooter must ensure that he places his head against the housing in front of the screw socket at the rear end of the housing so that the recoil does not give him a painful blow to the cheekbone (this blow was known as "la gifle"). If the weapon is not held firmly enough, the recoil energy may not be sufficient to fully reload.
The 1918 model turned out to be even worse; the FM 1915 probably owes its reputation as the worst machine gun of all time to him. The cartridge chamber of these weapons was not drilled correctly; Especially in the area of the case neck it was mostly too narrow for the American cartridge, which resulted in frequent case jams.
The feet of the bipod were too small for the weapon to sink into soft ground. After the war, the Belgian army equipped their FM in 1915 with a bipod with larger feet and an overall more stable construction.
literature
- Gerard Demaison, Yves Buffetaut: Honor Bound - The Chauchat Machine Rifle. Collector Grade Publications, Cobourg Ontario Canada 1995, ISBN 0-88935-190-2 .
- Vladimír Dolínek, Vladimír Francev, Jan Šach: Illustrated lexicon of weapons in the 1st and 2nd World War. German adaptation by Harald Fritsch. Edition Dörfler im Nebel-Verlag, Utting 2000, ISBN 3-89555-223-2 , ( Dörfler Waffenkunde ).
- Chris McNab: Small Arms of the 20th and 21st Centuries. Pistols, revolvers, rifles, submachine guns, machine guns, grenade weapons. Kaiserverlag, Klagenfurt 2007, ISBN 978-3-7043-1440-6 , ( worth knowing - sport, technology ).
- George M. Chinn; The Machine Gun Prepared for the Bureau of Ordnance, Dept. of the Navy USA, 1951
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Maxim Popenker: Chauchat CSRG M1915. In: Modern Firearms. world.guns.ru, accessed November 30, 2015 .
