Jacques Sigaud-Barnerias ran a business in Theirs, France (in the south, east of Lyon) making a variety of cutlery and associated products. Among his various table knives, pruning knives, corkscrews, and pock knives he also sold some pinfire revolver knives. The revolver element was made under co...

EDIT: Please note that apparently the Priestel book I used as a major source for this video is partially incorrect, in that Pauly did create a traditional percussion system in France. The fire piston / diesel system was done slightly later after he moved to England, perhaps to avoid the Forsyth p...

Joseph-Célestin Dumonthier was one of the most notable and prolific gunsmiths in France specializing in combination guns. He made a variety of knife-guns and gun-knives large and small, as well as things like cane guns and occasionally even just regular guns. He initially worked in Houdan (about ...

There is a well-documented incident of the French intercepting a couple hundred CETME-B rifles being smuggled to the FLN in Algeria, and putting them into service with the Marine Commandos. I managed to get a CETME-B parts kit and have it built into a complete rifle (thanks, Parabellum Combat Sys...

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In the 1970s when the French Army was looking for a new rifle 5.56mm, they tested a number of foreign rifles alongside development the FAMAS at St Etienne. These included the...

Our story begins with the French model 1873 revolver and ends with the Swiss model 1878 revolver, the latter having its roots in the former and the two being in service more or less in parallel. Here we'll take a look at how their lockworks differ, take a look at the service ammunition and, of c...

When France was looking to replace the MAS 49/56 rifle for military service in the 1970s, it tested all of the major rifle options available. These included the Colt M16, FN CAL, and HK33. The HK required some modification to meet French military requirements, specifically the capability to launc...

Since inadvertently becoming "the Ruby guy" I have had to regularly remote diagnose problems with disassembling their Ruby's. Since they are pretty basic as firearms go, there is only so much that can go wrong and only so many ways of solving those pesky disassembly issues. In this vid we show yo...

The FAMAS began being rolled out in earnest to troops in the early 1980s. To coincide with this, Unique rolled out a 22 carbine very closely following the profile and general handling of the FAMAS, the F-11. Closer inspection of this now quite rare beast shows that it is in fact an X-51Bis carbin...

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This year, Bloke and Chap entered divisions 1, 2, 3 and 7, with MAS 36, Lee-Enfield No.4, MAS 49, L1A1 SLR, L39A1 with scope, FAMAS and L85A1 SA80 IW.

Ho...

Charles François Galand is best known for his simultaneous-extraction Model 1868, but he also developed a very good solid-frame revolver. This was specifically for the French 1871 military trials, which specifically required a solid frame. The Galand was chambered for 12mm Galand (with its distin...

From 1871 to the 1920s France implemented a number of schemes to introduced military education, shooting theory and practice, not only as a way to boost patriotism but also in a bid to prepare boys and teenagers for military service after leaving school. For this, various scaled down rifles were ...

Yeah, I'm a sucker for nice French rifles. So when Old Western Scrounger brought in another batch of them, I offered to do a video. These are rifles taken out of French long-term storage, having been rebuilt at French arsenals to like-new condition, and are in beautiful condition.

Full video on ...

When the French took over control of the Mauser factory complex in May 1945, the plant had some 85 tons of pistol parts on hand - 7.3 million individual components in various stages of production. This was enough to make a whole lot of guns, even if many of them were not completed parts. So along...

Allied troops occupied the Mauser factory complex in Oberndorf in April of 1945, right at the end of the war. The factory was put under French administration and by May that same year production lines were restarted to supply French forces (who needed as many arms as they could get). In total, ju...

After a long line of conventional side lock pistols, the french cavalry are given a pistol constructed entirely differently, much to their displeasure and also to the displeasure of the arsenals producing them. The revolution gives a good excuse to revert to more traditional designs but let's hav...

A little comparison between a very early first type Chassepot rifle and the more common second pattern, plus a tangent into local military history, since one of the rifles lived through a significant event in Swiss and French history.

As for the third rifle, well that's a surprise!

This is the last chapter of the series about the Mousqueton de Cavalerie Légére ou de Hussards Modéle 1786 System 1777 or shortly the French light cavalry flintlock musketoon of the French wars. The video tells the story of its development and manufacture, and also intruduces the drill and tactic...

The star of today's show seems to be a M1786 French light cavalry carbine - a really elegant little arm by the way - but in fact the true hero of the story is Honré Blanc, superintendent of the armoury of St. Etienne from 1763 to 1797. He was in charge of establishing a new method for manufacturi...

Most modern revolvers can trace their lineage all the way back to Colt's designs of the 1840's, but not these...

In this episode of Up In Arms, Curatorial Assistant Christian Wellard is looking at a beautiful set of early percussion revolvers belonging to King Ferdinand II of Sicily.

Dear All, The French Model 1777 smooth bore cartridges are probably the simplest designs among all contemporary military cartridges. They are fast and easy to make. Here is the way it was done according to the military regulations.

Black powder military rifles of the 1860s-1880s are a really enjoyable group of guns. A lot of them are relatively reasonably priced, and they are actually pretty easy to reload for. The unavailability of factory ammunition (for most, although not so much for the Trapdoor) makes them seem like a ...

When the US entered World War One, the country had a grand total of 1,453 machine guns, split between 4 different models. This was not a useful inventory to equip even a single division headed for France, and so the US had to look to France for automatic weapons. In June 1917 Springfield Armory t...

The FAMAS was the best bullpup rifle of its era, but it was a difficult platform to modernize with optics. In 1995, the "FELIN" (Fantassin à Équipement et Liaisons INtégrés; Integrated Infantry Equipment and Communications) was commissioned to create a next-generation weapons platform for the Fre...