Firearms

General Characteristics:

*Most of the 820,000 Gras rifles available in 1914 went to the territorials and road-guards, and these were maintained until the end of the war. Additionally, 26,630 model 1884 and 1885 rifles were distributed to train squadrons, medical assistants, customs officers, forest rangers, and to some older reservists upon their arrival at barracks; 3,500 model 1878 rifles went to the Paris fire-fighters and to the Republican Guard; 13,000 additional Gras rifles went to the garrison at Madagascar. 146,000 model 1874 M. 80 rifles will be transformed into 8 mm rifles by replacing the original barrel with one similar to that of the Lebel. These are referred to as the model 1874/80 M. 14. This transformation program will take place from November 1914 to October 1915, when it is abruptly called off. As early as January 1915, 39,000 model 1874/80 M. 14 rifles had been sent up to the zone of the armies. In 1915, 450,000 were sent to Tsarist Russia. The remaining stocks of Gras rifles (all models) were either transformed into flare-launching guns or sold off to foreign private firms.

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*The model 1886 P, which began production in 1915, was also used though primarily by snipers and in machine-guns. (9.6 gm steel core with blackened-brass jacket - muzzle velocity 840 m/s [2,756 f/s])

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Note: There were two variants of the Berthier model 1907/15: a 1st type with an "elbowed" bolt set at a right-angle to the stock and a 2nd type with a straight bolt. It was this 2nd type that saw distribution in the Great War.

General Characteristics:

Note: The distinction between the model 1907/15 M. 16 and the model 1916 is that the former consisted of converted model 1907 M. 15 (3-shot) rifles and the latter were those newly manufactured with the 5-shot magazine. The magazine modification did not prevent the use of 3-shot clips, thereby simplifying logistics problems.

*Both 3-shot and 5-shot stripper clips were accepted.

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Note: There were three variants of the RSC (Ribeyrolle, Sutter, Chauchat) model 1917, or F.A. 17 (Fusil Automatique 17) as it was also known. The 1st type that did not have a hand-guard on the top of the barrel (see image at top of page) to protect the hand against the heat of the barrel; a 2nd type and 3rd type incorporated minor modifications to help simply production and functioning of the rifle, in particular on the bolt stop device. The rifle pictured above is the 2nd type.

General Characteristics:

A number of other rifles were used from 1914-1918 by the French army. Some were pre-war productions while others were manufactured during the war. Below are some examples of these.

The Gras model 1902 rifle was distributed mainly to Indochinese tirailleurs before the war.

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*Note: The Gras model 1902 was first set up to fire the 'M bullet' but was later modified to fire the model 'D bullet'.

General Characteristics:

The model 1907 rifle was distributed to Senegalese tirailleurs before the war, and is also referred to as either the 'Senegalese tirailleur rifle or the 'Colonial rifle'. Its design was based off the Lebel model 1886 but was constructed with the Mannlicher-Berthier firing mechanism.

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*Note: The model 1907 was first set up to fire the 'M bullet' but was later modified to fire to model 'D bullet'.

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The Meunier A-6 model 1916 was an experimental semi-automatic rifle that first began development in 1905. The Meunier gained official approval in 1913 but was only put into production on a small scale as an 8 mm semi-automatic rifle was preferred.

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The Remington Rolling-Block model 1915 was specially made upon the request of the French army by the American firm Remington. The rifle, which was set up to fire the 8 mm round, constituted the largest single order placed by the French army during the war of a foreign-made rifle. It was distributed to rear-echelon troops, primarily the drivers, conductors, the supply train and the heavy artillery.

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Other American-made rifles ordered by the French army include:

The firearms listed above are distributed to rear-echelon troops, primarily drivers, conductors, the supply train and the heavy artillery.