Chatellerault Mle. 1924/29

     Notes: Following World War 1, everyone knew that the French would have to replace the horrible Chauchat light machinegun.  By 1924, Chatellerault had such a weapon: the Fusil Mitrailleur Mle. 1924.  The Mle 1924 was designed to fire a new cartridge, nominally of 7.5x58mm in measure.  The Mle 1924 was a rather good one for the time, but unfortunately, the mountains of captured German 8mm Mauser ammunition could be chambered, fired, and even fit into the magazines of the Mle 1924 – generally resulting in a violent chamber explosion or an equally-violent burst barrel, causing sometimes fatal casualties.  The 7.5mm cartridge was redesigned, becoming approximately 4mm shorter, and 8mm Mauser could no longer fit into the gun.  This version was called the Mle 1924/29.  Though they saw limited use during World War 2 (primarily before and during the German invasion), they did most of their work during the colonial wars of the 1950s. Nazi forces made limited use of the Mle 1924/29 during World War 2. Perhaps the most unusual of users were the Viet cong during the Vietnam War; these were Mle 1924/29s captured in the 1950s from the French during their own war in Indochina.  Another unusual user was the Japanese during World War 2, who also captured some from the French in Indochina and Burma.

     The Mle 1924 and Mle 1924/29 are essentially highly-modified versions of the Browning Automatic Rifle.  The magazine feeds from the top of the receiver, and they were selective fire weapons by virtue of twin triggers (the front fires the weapon on semiautomatic, and the rear on automatic).  The cyclic rate was only 500 rpm, so short bursts and even single shots are easily squeezed off.  Barrel length is 19.7 inches, tipped by a conical flash suppressor. The front sight is a blade in a dovetail, allowing for drift adjustments; the rear sight is a tangent-type sight, graduated from 200-2000 meters.  The tangent sight folds, and has a peep sight above it to allow for quick, short-range shots. In addition to a bipod, a monopod can be screwed into the butt. Possibly due to being based upon the BAR, the Mle 1924/29 was an outstanding weapon, easily maintained, accurate with natural pointing qualities, and able to withstand the abuse heaped upon weapons by the average soldier.  In no time at all, they were rapidly being mass-produced and replacing the much-hated Chauchats.  They were used during World War 2, by the Free French, Resistance, Free Polish forces, and even the Nazis, who captured thousands of them.  After World War 2, they were given to former French colonies in Africa, where they are used to this day, and then were distributed by mercenaries and rebels all over the continent. 

     The M-1931A was introduced in 1931 for use as a tank machinegun or from a tripod.  It basically morphs the Mle 1924/29 from an automatic rifle into a machinegun. It had the same basic mechanism as the Mle 1924/29, but also differed greatly in several ways.  The M-1931A used a 23-inch heavy barrel without a flash suppressor.  The AFV machinegun version had no stock, using spade grips instead; the ground-mounted gun had a rudimentary stock which was padded with soft rubber encased in leather, and had an equally rudimentary curved pistol grip.  It had a cyclic rate of fire of 750 rpm (the Mle 1924/29 has a rate of 450 rpm) but this difference is not important in game terms.  The M-1931A may be fed by a 36-round box magazine or a 150-round drum, both of which were attached to the right side of the receiver, though this could be switched to left-hand feed, something sometimes required when mounting in AFVs.  Case ejection is straight down from the receiver.  In 1934, some M-1931As were modified internally to make them more reliable and to simplify stripping; these designated M-1934s.  For game purposes, they are the same as the M-1931A. After World War 2, a few M-1931As were bought by the Swiss; these were converted to fire the 7.5mm Swiss cartridge and modified to use the US M-2 tripod.  The standard French tripod weighed nearly 25 kilograms; the M-2 weighed 20 kilograms and was mechanically much simpler, and quicker to set up.

     When M-1931As were set up in a twin mounting, they were known as Reibel machineguns.  Most of these were used from large fortified positions, such as the Maginot Line, though some were used from commander’s cupolas on AFVs.  They are fired from twin spade grips. An aircraft-mounted version was also devised, designated the M-1934/39.  The Nazis put captured M-1931As to work, designating them the Kpfw MG-331(f); the Mle 1924/29s were also put into service with the Nazis, designating them the Leichte MG-116(f).  They were used along the Atlantic Wall to supplement German-made machineguns.  In addition, they were used by Free French Forces and the French Resistance – many ended up in France again after in Operation Overlord, taken there by French troops who had fled to England during the Dunkirk operation.  (Rumors say that the French troops preferred the Mle 1924/29 to the BARs the US had given them, and many BARs given to the French forces were simply returned to the US forces.)  Other users included the Polish, who used the M-1931A AFV-mounted version; the Cambodians, who used them until 1975, and the Viet Minh, NVA, and Viet Cong; it is not known how long they were used after the end of the Vietnam War, but they were retired long ago.

     Note that while actual examples of the original Mle 1924 will be extremely rare, statistics are included below for it for comparison and completeness purposes.

Weapon

Ammunition

Weight

Magazines

Price

Mle 1924

7.5mm Mle 1924

9.38 kg

25

$2491

Mle 1924/29

7.5mm MAS

9.24 kg

25

$2352

M-1931A (AFV MG)

7.5mm MAS

11.8 kg

36, 150 Drum

$2359

M-1931A (Tripod Mounting)

7.5mm MAS

12.04 kg

36, 150 Drum

$2379

M-1931A (Swiss)

7.5mm Swiss

12.13 kg

36, 150 Drum

$2531

Reibel

7.5mm MAS

24 kg

36, 150 Drum (x2)

$4818

 

Weapon

ROF

Damage

Pen

Bulk

SS

Burst

Range

Mle 1924

5

4

2-3-Nil

7

3

7

57

(With Bipod)

5

4

2-3-Nil

7

1

3

75

Mle 1924/29

5

4

2-3-Nil

7

3

7

61

(With Bipod)

5

4

2-3-Nil

7

1

3

79

M-1931A (AFV Mounting)

5

4

2-3-Nil

6

1

1

157

M-1931 (Tripod Mounting)

5

4

2-3-Nil

7

1

1

157

M-1931A (Swiss)

5

4

2-3-Nil

7

1

1

155

Reibel

10

4

2-3-Nil

12

1

3

157

 

Chauchat

     Notes:  Well, what good things can I say about the Chauchat?  None, really.  The Chauchat has been described as the worst firearm ever designed.  The Chauchat uses the long recoil method of operation.  This does not lend itself to an aimable weapon, especially when coupled with a high-power cartridge.  The Chauchat is built of inferior metal, and thus the moving parts wore out very fast.  The parts themselves were fitted together rather loosely, even when new; the rapid wear just made this worse.  The Chauchat thus literally shook itself to pieces as it was fired.  The magazine was required by the abrupt taper of the 8mm Lebel round, but it meant that the magazine was going to be only so big and no bigger.  (No one knows why belts or drums were not considered, or better yet, another round.)  In World War 1, the Chauchat was forced upon the French Army and the US Marines (in .30-06 Springfield).  The Marines used a straight 30-round magazine.  One more country, Serbia, had the misfortune of using small amounts of the Chauchat; theirs were chambered for 8mm Mauser, and used magazines with a slight curve in them.  They had no better luck with the Chauchat than anyone else.

     If you force the players or NPCs to use a Chauchat, for whatever cruel reason, the GM should assign the weapon a 1 in 20 chance per round of firing of jamming for seemingly no reason at all.  This is over and above the normal chances of jamming due to catastrophic failure. 

     A number of weapons were produced that were based on the Chauchat.  These appeared late in World War 1 or just afterwards, and were generally built on improved (sometimes vastly-improved) versions of the Chauchat.  One of these is the Chauchat-Ribeyrolles 1918, which is generally considered a submachinegun rather than an automatic rifle. It blends the Chauchat with the RSC Mle 1917 semiautomatic rifle, which was one of the standard rifles in the French Army at the time. The CR 1918 was gas operated, and unusually, the gas tube runs down the weapon to the right and below the barrel. The 13.4-inch barrel is equipped with a muzzle brake, though with the high-power ammunition and short length of the weapon, it was not particularly effective. Often simply called the CR 1918, this weapon was designed for use as a personal weapon for tank crews, and in some ways could be considered the world’s first PDW, despite using a full-power cartridge. The CR 1918 was first tested with a Mannlicher-Berthier clip, but this was considered too small, to the designers went back to an improved Chauchat magazine. (This was considered too bulky for such a weapon.) The ammunition was to be a mix of tracer and ball rounds; three, four, and five to one ratios were experimented with. The CR 1918 did not have a stock, though it did have a rear pistol grip; this goes with the intent of the weapon to be a close-ranged weapon for tank crews bailing out or sweeping enemy infantry off the tank. On later French Tanks, it could also be used as a Firing Port Weapon. The CR 1918, however, did not appear in any decent quantities until 1919, and was ultimately rejected by the French Army, who cited some lingering mechanical problems and the power of its ammunition, which  was really too much in such a weapon.

Weapon

Ammunition

Weight

Magazines

Price

Chauchat

8mm Lebel

9.07 kg

20

$2369

Chauchat

.30-06 Springfield

10.34 kg

30

$2622

Chauchat

8mm Mauser

9.51 kg

20

$2599

CR 1918

8mm Lebel

4 kg

8 Clip or 20

$1887

 

Weapon

ROF

Damage

Pen

Bulk

SS

Burst

Range

Chauchat (8mm Lebel)

3

4

2-3-Nil

7

3

4

55

With Bipod

3

4

2-3-Nil

7

1

2

72

Chauchat (.30-06)

3

4

2-3-Nil

7

3

4

47

With Bipod

3

4

2-3-Nil

7

1

2

61

Chauchat (8mm Mauser)

3

4

2-3-Nil

7

3

4

55

With Bipod

3

4

2-3-Nil

7

1

2

72

CR 1918

5

4

2-3-Nil

4

3

8

16

 

Hotchkiss M-1922/26

     Notes:  This is a light machinegun developed in the wake of World War 1.  It is a standard type of gas-operated weapon.  The housing in front of the trigger guard that appears to be a magazine well is actually the tilting flap of the breech-locking mechanism.  The weapon was actually fed by either a top-mounted magazine or a side-feeding metallic strip.  The M-1922/26 saw little actual use, whether in peacetime or wartime: The British tested a few in .303 British caliber (it was eventually rejected); 1000 were used by the Czechs in 8mm Mauser (they were eventually rejected in favor of the VZ-26); 5000 were used by the Greeks in 6.5mm Greek Service; and an unknown number were used by the Dominican Republic and Brazil, in 7mm Mauser.  The Spanish Army also used it in 7mm Mauser is fair numbers during the Spanish Civil War.

Weapon

Ammunition

Weight

Magazines

Price

M-1922/26

.303 British

13 kg

25 (Box)

$2562

M-1922/26

8mm Mauser

14.04 kg

25 (Strip)

$2730

M-1922/26

6.5mm Greek Service

9.52 kg

25 (Strip)

$1984

M-1922/26

7mm Mauser

11.31 kg

25 (Box)

$2283

 

Weapon

ROF

Damage

Pen

Bulk

SS

Burst

Range

M-1922/26 (.303)

5

4

2-3-Nil

8

3

6

74

M-1922/26 (.303, Bipod)

5

4

2-3-Nil

8

1

3

97

M-1922/26 (8mm)

5

4

2-3-Nil

8

3

6

75

M-1922/26 (8mm, Bipod)

5

4

2-3-Nil

8

1

3

98

M-1922/26 (6.5mm)

5

4

2-Nil

8

3

7

65

M-1922/26 (6.5mm, Bipod)

5

4

2-Nil

8

1

3

85

M-1922/26 (7mm)

5

4

2-3-Nil

8

3

6

67

M-1922/26 (7mm, Bipod)

5

4

2-3-Nil

8

1

3

87