If you havent check my other suggestions here is the links
- Some Italian weapons
- Some wepons for Axis
- Some more weapons for Axis
- Some weapons for western allies
and also check this post that coldestwinter made some of weapons are from his post - New Weapon Suggestions - France
Let’s start with rifles
Meunier rifle
The Meunier rifle , known as the “Meunier A6” or “STA No. 8”, evolved as a part of the program initiated in 1890 by the French military to develop a semi-automatic infantry rifle that would eventually replace the Mle 1886–93 Lebel rifle Four government research establishments (STA, ENT, Puteaux and CTV) proposed over 20 prototypes. .( 5, 10, 15 round internal magazine, fed with five round stripper clips./ 7×59mm “7mm Meunier”)
Here is the thing A rifles (Meunier A6) were developed by Section Technique de l’Artillerie hence STA
while B rifles were developed by Ecole Normale de Tir and C were developed by Commission Technique de Versailles there was 20 or so prototypes I found some images from other rifles (semi-auto) but I couldn’t find descriptions for some and I did find descriptions for some but no image Imma
STA No 4 OR A1(No picture)
Rifle Meunier first version received a gas engine with a rigidly connected gate and a gas piston. It was proposed to lock the barrel by turning the bolt, equipped with five lugs. Below the gate there was an integral box magazine for eight rounds. The original design of the weapon performed well during the tests. When using a cartridge 6x58 mm with a bullet weighing 103 grain (6,67 g) was able to achieve an initial speed of the order of 900 m / s. The weight of the weapon did not exceed 4 kg.
A1 carbine(no picture)
he A1 carbine (STA No 4) was created on the basis of the A1 product. This weapon was a slightly modified rifle of the very first version, the design of which was changed due to the need to reduce the size. The barrel and stock of the rifle were shortened, which resulted in a decrease in the total length of the weapon by 10 inches. Also, a new reduced store for 5 cartridges.
A2 and A3 (No picture)
After the development and testing of the Meunier A1 rifle, it was decided to modernize the project in order to use the new ammunition. The result is the STA No 5 and STA No 6 rifles, also known as A2 and A3. They differed from the basic model by automatic equipment and a magazine designed for an 8x50 mm R cartridge from an existing Lebel rifle.
A4 (No picture)
In 1903, a relatively small experimental batch of Meunier A4 carbines was released, which was sent to the troops for testing. Six army regiments were involved in checking weapons. During trial operation, it was found that the E. Mönier carbine system has significant advantages over existing small arms, and therefore is of great interest to the army. The carbine was recommended for adoption, however, such a decision was never made.
A5
By 1908, a new version of the self-loading rifle was created - the Meunier A5. This weapon was designed to use the new 6x61 mm. During the development of the next version of the rifle, the authors of the project changed some features of the basic design. Due to the improvements and the new cartridge was able to significantly improve the characteristics of the rifle. So, when using the 104-grain (6,74 g) bullet, the initial velocity reached 1005 m / s
The 1916 Meunier Carbine
In 1916, the A6 rifle was officially adopted under the designation 7mm Fusil Automatique Modèle 1916. In addition, in the same year, the rifle was upgraded, which resulted in the appearance of a carbine in a number of modifications for various purposes. The total length of the carbine did not exceed 1096 mm, it was also possible to install an enlarged magazine on 10 or 15 cartridges.
Other prototypes couldn’t find description
About B1 here is something I found
The 7mm ‘B’ model would be the most prevalent autoloading rifle of the Great Conflict seeing action from 1914-1919 and until the British SMG and German Carbines came into use, would make it the only SLR in active use. It never was able to replace all French rifles during the conflict, but would arm Twenty divisions and several more smaller units when the war started in 1914.
Lebel MLE 1886 with VB rifle grenade
The Viven-Bessières rifle grenade , named after its inventors, also known as “VB grenade”, and officially referred to as the “Viven-Bessières shell” in the French Army instruction manual, was an infantry weapon in use with the French Army from 1916 onwards
Winchester Model 1907
The Winchester Model 1907 is a blowback-operated, semi-automatic rifle produced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company beginning in 1907 with production ending in 1957. It fired a cartridge of intermediate power, cycled through a semi-automatic operating mechanism, fed from a 5, 10, or 15 round detachable box magazine located immediately forward of the trigger guard.
The french government initially ordered 300 Model 1907 rifles in October 1915 from Winchester, soon followed by an order for 2,500 more rifles. Ammunition orders for these rifles exceeded 1.5 million cartridges of .351SL before 1917. Subsequent orders in 1917 and 1918 totaled 2,200 Model 1907 rifles.
MAS 36 CR39
This is MAS 36 meant for Paratroopers which could mean a cool event to add French Paras
A MAS 36 equipped with a folding hollow aluminum stock designed for use by airborne forces.
The Berthier Mle 1892 M16
The most successful and long-lived variant of the Berthier system was the short and handy carbine version of the five-shot Mle 1916 Berthier rifle, designated “‘Mousqueton Berthier Mle 1892/M16 “. Contrary to the Mle 1916 Berthier five-shot infantry rifle whose manufacture had barely started during the late summer of 1918, the mass production (over 800.000 “mousquetons” ) of the Berthier Mle 1916 five-shot carbines had begun much earlier, in May 1917, at the Manufacture d’Armes de Chatellerault (MAC). The Berthier M-16 five-shot carbine immediately proved to be very popular with mounted cavalry, artillery, and reconnaissance troops.
The Lebel Mle.1886 M27
By 1924 the French had realized their once revolutionary 8x50mmR cartridge was outdated. They picked up the Mle.1924 machine rifle and paired it with a rimless 7.5x58mm cartridge that would ease automatic feeding.
This new Lebel M27 was produced in a short rifle and carbine configuration and approximately 1,200 appear to have been completed. . The entire bottom assembly was removed and a unique staggered box magazine and trigger group were furnished. The rifles were sent to trials where they apparently performed acceptably. The project was doomed, however, by the extreme cost of all these modifications. Instead, the military moved on to investigate converting Berthier.
Lebel Mle 1886 à Lunette
While the Lebel rifle was quite effective up to 300 meters with the standard Balle D boat-tail bullet ammunition, accuracy at longer distances was impaired by the existing open sights. Consequently, the APX Mle 1916 and APX Mle 1917 models of the Lebel rifle with adjustable telescopic sights were issued in numbers during WW1, beginning in late 1916.
LEBEL MLE 1896/M93
The Lebel Model 1886 Rifle, commonly known as the Fusil Modele 1886 M93, was a standard service rifle introduced by the French in 1886 and then modified in 1893.
LEBEL MLE 1896/M93 CARBINE
Post WWI France had a surplus of these rifles (LEBEL MLE 1896/M93)and with Germany’s rapid militarization it became apparent that the French military would soon need to rearm, and utilizing these weapons was a quick way to full fill this requirement. In 1935 the program began by simply shortening the Lebel’s into carbines. This conversion was done by the four main French arms factories; Tulle, Chatellerault, St.Etienne, and SACM.
Fusil M1907/15 M34
With the end of World War One, it was finally possible for the French military to replace the 8mm Lebel cartridge with a modern rimless cartridge, and they wasted no time in doing so. By 1924 a new round had been adopted, Next, the arsenals would start working on converting 8mm rifle to the new cartridge. The first candidate was the Lebel, and in 1927 a conversion was approved and a batch of a few hundred made - but this was a more expensive and time-consuming process than anyone wanted. After some brief trials, it was decided to work on adapting the Berthier instead, and in 1934 a conversion designed from St Etienne was approved as the 1907/15-M34.
This new design used a new 22.5" barrel (570mm), a Mauser-style internal 5-round double stack magazine, and new sights. The receivers and trigger parts were retained from the rifles being converted, along with the nosecaps and barrel bands, but not much else. Still, these conversions were put into production alongside the manufacture of new MAS-36 bolt action rifles. By the time of the German invasion about 63,000 M34 Berthiers had been converted, and were issued to frontline troops. They would fight in the Battle of France, and would also be used by German occupation forces as the Gewehr 241(f).
Winchester M1907 Carbine in assault modification
Winchester M1907 Carbine in “assault” configuration, with bayonet and extended magazine. The French bought several hundred of these, some modified to allow fully automatic fire.(20 and 15 round )(600 to 700 RPM)
MAS 40
Developed in 1938, the MAS-40 was a semi-automatic rifle set to adopted by the French Army in 1941. However, the german invasion interfered with production.
RSC Modele 1917
The Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917 (“Model 1917 Automatic Rifle”), also called the RSC M1917 , was a gas-operated, semi-automatic rifle placed into service by the French Army during the latter part of World War 1( 5-round capacity clip-fed internal box magazine)
RCS Modele 1918
Following as a substantial improvement, the Mle 1918 RSC was adopted in 1918 as a rifle planned to replace all other rifles beginning in 1919. Production began in November 1918 just as the war was ending. No Mle 1918 RSC rifles are known to have been used in WWI. The Mle 1918 was significantly shorter and lighter than the Mle 1917 RSC and corrected basically all of the Mle 1917 RSC drawbacks.
RSC M1917 Chauchat Magazine Conversion
Simply put a 20 round RSC M1917 its funny how french did this knowing that one of the biggest problems with Chauchut was it mag .
Ribeyrolles 1918 automatic carbine
The Ribeyrolles 1918 was an attempt to manufacture an automatic rifle for the French forces. It was chambered in the experimental 8×35 mm round, used straight blowback, was fed from a 25 round magazine and had an effective range of 400m. The cartridge, arguably the first purpose-built intermediate cartridge(550/600rpm)
Faucon balanced rifle
The Faucon balanced rifle (French: Faucon Fusil Équilibré ) was a French self-loading rifle designed and produced by LtCol. Armand-Frédéric Faucon over a period of some 10 years from 1908 to 1918 in prototype form only(6-round internal box magazine)
French C6 Long-Recoil Prototype Semiauto Rifle
MAS 44
Rossignol ENT B1
A program of January 17, 1899, required the development of a machine gun likely to be used under conditions similar to those of rifle and to be operated by two men. In1900, the Ecole Nationale de Tir (ENT or National Shooting School) produced a 6mm (.236) B1 model. It was provided with an articulated butt plate, a wooden handguard that acted as a cooling jacket with lateral ventilation grooves and also with a folding bipod under the barrel. The sight is graduated from 200 to 2,000 m. The firing device has two triggers, one for single shots and the other for full auto. The gun works with direct gas action on the bolt carrier (Rossignol system) and there were two variations of. The B 1:
- one with only one gas tube ;
- the other with two symmetrical tubes, located on both sides of the mechanism. These guns are fed by a vertical box magazine introduced under the bolt (capacity and shape unknown, the boxes were missing on the two specimens examined).
Lance Grenades de 50 mm modèle 37 (Mortar)
The Lance Grenades de 50 mm modèle 37 was a French light infantry mortar designed and produced shortly before the Second World War.
OK now lets go for LMGs
Chauchat
The Chauchat , officially the Fusil Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG was a French light machine gun that went into service in 1915 with the French Army and was used primarily during the First World War. The weapon was designed according to the same concept as the Browning Automatic Rifle, a “walking fire” gun that could be fired from the hip by an advancing soldier to suppress an enemy trench line.
Belgiun Chauchat(CSRG M1915 with straight mag)
(The handgrip is behind the mag indicating this is a french made not American. American ones have their grip in front of the mag)
The Spring of 1917 saw successful testing of a CSRG 1915 rechambered to fire the 7.65×53mm round. Belgian technicians had worked with the engineers at the Gladiator factory that produced Chauchats on a curved box magazine to replace the crescent shaped french magazine. The Belgian magazine had the benefit of being fully enclosed with no cutouts to allow in dirt or mud.
Almost the entire Belgian Chauchat inventory was retrofitted and rechambered with 3,250 in service by the end of the war. The straight box magazine and rimless 7.65×53mm cartridge aided in improving the Chauchat’s overall performance
CSRG M1915/27(Belgium)
Work to improve the design continued, and an upgrades version was formally adopted in 1927. This included the 7.65mm conversion, with the best magazines made for any model of the Chauchat, as well as a series of dust covers to close off every hole in the gun (magazine well, ejection port, charging handle slot, and barrel shroud vents). The Belgians also replaced the original bipod with a much better type (similar to what they would use on the FN BAR), simplified the feed system, and added a tension latch to ensure reliable operation.
This new pattern of CSRG would be standard Belgian front-line armament until the FN BAR was adopted in 1930. The Chauchats were still in service with some until at the beginning of World War Two though, and saw service at that time.
And here is the picture showing both Belgium models
well let me make Chauchat worse
Fusil-Mitrailleurs C7 de Puteaux Systeme C.S. or the Chatchuat-Sutter 1911 machine rifle
The Model of 1911, however, chambered France’s standard 8x50R Lebel round. The CS M1911 had a curved magazine which continued to be used in Chauchat and Sutter’s future designs including the CSRG M1915 ‘Chauchat’. The M1911’s 20-round magazine was top-mounted, unlike the later Chauchat M1915 which moved it beneath the receiver, and the charging handle was below the centre of the magazine (rather than on the right as in the CSRG).
During official trials of the M1911, in November 1911, the weapon was officially designated the Fusil-Mitrailleurs C7 de Puteaux Systeme CS. The prototype’s locking lugs broke during the first trial but further tests were carried out in April 1912. During the second trial a further 1,500 rounds were fired which damaged several more parts and led to an out of battery detonation. While the trials showed the M1911 was not ready for service Chauchat and Sutter continued refining the design.
Chauchat MLE.M1918(American)
The original Mle 1915 was regarded by some as terrible and others as merely extremely finicky, but there is no such disagreement about the Mle 1918, the practically unusable .30-06 version manufactured for the American Expeditionary Forces. The latter is often ranked alongside the Ross Rifle as one of the worst weapons of WW1.
Due to what appears to have been a personal feud between the US Army Chief of Ordnance, General William Crozier, and Colonel Isaac Newton Lewis, inventor of the Lewis Gun, the US Army not only never adopted the Lewis Gun but actually confiscated Lewis Guns from Marines who had them. Further, General Pershing was extremely loath to deploy the new Browning Automatic Rifle until victory was certain, for fear that the Germans would copy it. Instead, the American Expeditionary Force were issued with Chauchats, initially 16,000 in 8mm Lebel but later 19,000 hastily manufactured chambered for .30-06, often with incomplete reaming and dimensional errors from rushed production
(16 round)
Yugoslav 8mm Chauchat M1915/26(Serbian event squad maybe?)
the guy on the right is holding a Dutch M.20 6,5 mm Lewis gun and the other guy is holding a Yugoslav Chauchat CSRG M1915/26 modification in 7,92x57mm. There is an interesting story about these Dutch Lewis guns. After the fall of Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April 1941. and occupation of Serbia by the Germans, some collaborator units appeared (SDK-“Serbian Volunteer Corps” ; SDS-“Serbian State Guard”). These units were not very reliable and they often smuggled weapons to resistance groups (especially the Yugoslav Army in Fatherland). Germans responded by giving these quisling forces weapons in calibers that were very rare in Serbia at the time: French MAS 36 rifles, MAS 38 submachine guns, FM 24/29 lmg, 1921 and 1928 Thompsons, Dutch Lewis guns.
German Chauchat prototype from WWI (Event squad for Germans)
Chauchat captured by the Germans and converted to 8×57 caliber
The magazine is of particular interest here – a mostly-straight mag was necessary for the Mauser cartridge, but the magazine catch on the gun was designed for the half-moon Lebel magazine. So the German solution was to add that front brace or extension to the magazine, so that it could use the gun’s existing catches.
FM/24/29
The FM 24/29 (Fusil-mitrailleur Modèle 1924 M29) was an improved variant of the FM 24 adopted in 1929, which switches out the cartridge from 7.5x57mm to 7.5x54mm French. The change was made for several reasons: For one, the FM 24 could load and fire a captured German 8x57mm cartridge with disastrous results, and the two cartridges’ similar appearances made accidental switches more common than desired. Secondly, the 7.5x57mm round had a tendency to explode in much more innovative ways than are acceptable in a firearm. The FM 24/29 served as the standard light machine gun used by France since World War 2 for over 50 years.
Darne LMG infantry version
During WWI, Darne received an order to produce Lewis machine guns for the French Air Force and made 3,266 guns. In 1916, Darne, father and son, developed a machine gun of their own design. Some specimens were delivered to the French Army in 1917 and in August 1918, the Darne establishment received a large order for 8mm machine guns. The armistice of November 11, 1918 caused the cancellation of this contract, but the Darne Company was invited to continue the development of its machine guns in order to improve their performances.
Hotchkiss 1909
The Hotchkiss company had developed in 1907 a lightened version of its machine-gun and was provided with a stock and a bipod. This weapon works by gas action and has a regulator, but the bolt is provided with a rotary head instead of the ascending bolt used on the other model. It is feed from the right side. The sight is graduated from 100 to 2,000 m.
Tested in 1908 (16 specimens bought for tests), this model revealed imperfections which the manufacturer corrected. On December 4, 1911, the Hotchkiss Company received an order for one hundred portable machine guns for tests to take place the following year at the Ecole Nationale de Tir in Chalons. The order was confirmed in April 1912, but these weapons were not delivered until 1913 and 1914. Finally, the weapon was adopted but received only limited use on aircraft.
Berthier automatic rifle
The Berthier automatic rifle was a light machine gun prototype. The weapon could be converted from an automatic rifle to an LMG.
Hotchkiss M1922
The Hotchkiss M1922 was a light machine gun manufactured by Hotchkiss.
It was never adopted in large numbers by the French Army nevertheless, it was exported to many European and Latin American countries under the names Hotchkiss M1926 or Hotchkiss M1934.
Lets move onto SMGs
MAS 38
(All the MAS SMGs hold 32 rounds and have around 600 RPM)
The MAS-38 is the culmination of several designs for an indigenous French submachine gun from all the way back in the mid-1920s. The French military cancelled the program to procure a new submachine gun, feeling that is had little use for a new service SMG. By the 1930s, the program was restarted and the MAS-38 began to be mass produced in 1939. However, budgetary concerns and the subsequent invasion of France by Germany in 1940 meant the first batches of the MAS-38 were not received by the French Army until late 1940.
Experimental 9mm MAS 1925 submachine gun.
Beginning in 1921, a new program was established for the armament of the French infantry that included a submachine gun. The development proceeds rapidly and in 1924 two prototypes were ready: that of the Technical Section of the Army (STA) and that of the Saint-Etienne National Weapons Factory (MAS).These two models are very close to one another – they appear as a small carbine, with a wooden stock, a tubular frame, a curved magazine and chambered for the 9mm Luger cartridge
Experimental 7.65mm Long S.E.-MAS No. 1 Bis.
Utilized unusual slanted receiver and bolt guide; based on Browning 18-30 carbine
MAS S.E. 1 Bis 9mm submachine gun.
Utilized unusual slanted receiver and bolt guide; based on Browning 18-30 carbine
MAS 38 (bipod and optics)
Accuracy submachine gun, for night shooting, with long distance sights and folding bipod (prototype)
Paris Police MAS-38 (A police event squad maybe?)
- MAS 38 used by the Police of Paris. The wooden stock is replaced by a metallic telescopic wire stock. A grip safety replaces the folding trigger device. Magazine housing receives an extension that can be folded under the barrel. A perforated cooling jacket is placed around the barrel. A selector switch lever is placed on the left side of the receiver above the trigger that permits single shot.
STA M1924
the first French-made SMG, chambered for the ubiquitous 9×19 Luger ammunition, was designed in 1922. Developed by STA (Section Technique de l’Armée – Technical Department of the Army),
After successful trials, an order for several thousand STA submachine guns was placed at MAS factory in 1924, but production ceased after delivery of the first thousand. (32 round)(600rpm)
STA m1922
The concept of the sub-machine gun was adopted by the French army during the early 1920s, after close examination of the German MP.18, and the first French-made SMG, chambered for the ubiquitous 9×19 Luger ammunition, was designed in 1922. Developed by STA (Section Technique de l’Armée – Technical Department of the Army), this was a more or less conventional weapon, broadly based on the German design, with only individual features being a lightweight detachable bipod under the barrel and a dustcover on the magazine housing.
(25 round/shorter than STA M1924/800 RPM)
Type 2 SE-MAS Mle 1924
Variant of SE-MAS Mle 1924 with longer receiver
Type CEV-MAS Mle 1925
Single-trigger variant of SE-MAS Mle 1924
Type ETVS Mle 1933
The design submitted by the E.T.V.S. was designed by one Captain Martin in 1933. It was an odd-looking submachine gun incorporating several features that were common in French SMG designs, including a folding magazine housing and stock. The magazine housing was built with a hinged cover which would ideally prevent dirt from entering through the magwell when the gun was unloaded. The folding magazine also acted as a manual safety feature, as the gun could not fire when the magazine was compacted. Despite the external design eccentricities, the E.T.V.S. submachine gun was reportedly a basic straight-blowback design internally.(500rpm/32 round)
SACM Petter Mle 1939
The Pistolet Mitrailleur Modèle 1939 (lit. Model 39 submachine gun), also known as the Petter Mle 1939 , was a French submachine gun that was produced by Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (SACM)
Delacre Mle 1939
Recoil-operated SMG utilizing roller-delayed action
Gnome et Rhône R5
FN-Heinemann Mi 35(Belgium)
Licensed version of Heinemann MP 32(40 round)
Type 1 chauchat-ribeyrolles
Jacques-Louis Chauchat died in 1917, and in 1918, Paul Ribeyrolles, perhaps with the help of Charles Sutter, developed a gun he called a “machine pistol.” It was designed to be used by a tank crew for short range defense. They developed the gun that Americans would design 60 years later as a Firing Port Weapon. It was made with the frame and locking system of an M1917 semi-automatic rifle. The stock was replaced by a pistol grip. A shortened barrel was fitted with a muzzle brake made with the recoil booster of a Vickers aircraft machine gun. The rear sight came from a Springfield M1903 rifle. The gas cylinder was also shortened and shifted to the right. A safety lever was on the left side, but there is no selector.(8round/8mm)
The only thing I can think to make this smg viable is to make it do rifle damage(IT fires 8mm lebel) and put it in BR 1 or 2
type 2 chauchat-riberolles
The first trials took place in 1918 with a gun loaded with a special eight-shot Mannlicher Berthier loading clip, but the piston broke during the test in October 1918. Other trials took place a few months later with a new model that had an aluminum frame fitted with pistol grips. The barrel and gas cylinder were slightly longer. The gun had no sights and could be fitted with a scope. The use of mixed ball and tracer bullets was recommended. It received a 20-shot Chauchat magazine. Tests went on until July 1919 with good results, but the gun was too powerful for the intended purpose.
Now for some pistols and other stuff just photos no descriptions as I am tired
Sabre de cuirassier modèle An IX
Sabre de cavalerie légère modèle An IX
Modèle 1939 (mine)
M1936 mine
M1935 mine
Savage M1907
F1 grenade
Couteau-Poignard Mle 1916 “Le Vengeur de 1870”
OF Mle 37 grenade
DF 37 hand grenade
Modèle 1935S
Star Model 14
MAB Model D pistol
Modèle 1935A
Modèle 1892 Revolver
Ruby handgun
