The U.S. Army wanted a general issue autoloading rifle that would fire the .30-06 cartridge, but such a rifle was prohibitively large with existing designs such as the Browning Automatic Rifle and French Chauchat.
M1917 Chauchat: The US used a mix of Chauchats in .30-06 and 8 mm Lebel.
The fairly large Gladiator factory was thus converted into an arms manufacture in 1915 and became the principal industrial producer of Chauchat machine rifles during World War I. Later on, in 1918, a subsidiary of Compagnie des forges et acieries de la marine et d'Homecourt named SIDARME and located in Saint-Chamond, Loire, also participated in the mass manufacture of CSRGs.
The French Chauchat, German MG-42 machine gun, and some other recoil operated firearms use a gas trap style mechanism to provide additional energy to 'boost' the energy provided by recoil.
M1917 .30-06 Chauchat, a French developed light machine gun used by the US Army starting in 1917
Chauchat |