The Chauchat- How do we fix it?

>>33184417
>mainly how its utter shit.
It's not, you clueless faggot

Le rifle is fine, Les americain cartridgé are ze problem

Simply by not chambering it in .30-06 and not talking shit about first mass produced LMG which was potent, yet not flawless weapon

>>33184417
Those were the only problems with it. Streamline consistent mass production of it and seal the magazine and it will be fine.
Unreliability is mostly a meme, as it was the American conversion of it that was very poorly done to change it to straight mags and .30-06
French Chauchat was revolutionary for its time as one of the first widely distributed light machine guns, bringing the sheer amount of firepower to move along with the infantry, rather than stay behind them.

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>>33184489
>>33184464
>first mass produced LMG
>chauchat
that's a funny way of saying hotchkiss portative

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This is what the Chauchat originally looked like in 1905. But it didn't interest the high brass back then. In 1915 they changed their mind and asked for this gun to be ultra simplified so that all of its parts could be outsourced to small private workshops all over the country. It was made of stamped steel and had as few parts as possible. As a result, the QC wasn't that good, and the feeding of 8 mm Lebel ammo with its huge taper has been an issue with every semi-auto and auto design. And yeah, the open magazine was a problem but it was supposedly made that way to allow proper loading because of that particular half moon shape, again because of the cartrdige's heavy taper.
But in the end, the objective was accomplished : build as many automatic guns as possible in the shortest amount of time, and it provided France much firepower.
It is said that the Chauchat, the Viven Brassiere rifle grenade, the RSC 1917, the FT17 tank and SPAD SXIII plane were all decisive into winning WW1.

>>33184417

>Red dot with magnifier
>Railz
>Collapsible stock
>Magpul foregrip
>.300 Memeout conversion

>>33184417
>hearing a lot about how it's shit

You should try getting your information from sources other than BF1 reviews on youtube.

>>33184567
>first widely distributed =/= first mass produced
Lern 2 read

>>33184696
It's actually a great gun in BF1

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>>33184719
Seems like a pretty wide distribution to me, especially considering this isn't even counting clones like the type 11/96

>>33184572
Holy shit the original was Borchardt-levels of a e s t h e t i c

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>>33184417
>If you sealed the mag would it be substantially better?
>Sealing an 8mm lebel 20 rounds half-moon mag.
If you want to load ammo with a hammer or a crowbar, maybe.

>I also heard the parts of individual guns were not interchangeable, making it a nightmare to repair.
It was made if many factories, with lots of subcontractors. Because what mattered was shitting as many of them as possible. An issue shared with many french weapons of that period (other countries as well); if you add handfitting to that, you'd better only take spare parts coming from the same factory, and spend some time at the armory adjusting the pieces.
You'll notice that some of the Chauchat screws use a spanner pattern, so the soldiers wouldn't be able to disassemble the weapon completely, and some parts would only be changed (and handfitted) at the regimental/divisional armory, that were equipped with metalworking gear.
On the other hand, the extensive handfitting means that they are pretty good quality for such low industry standarts.

It's a weapon of its time. Made with what was available, as quick and as
much as possible. In that regard it was very successful.

Concerning most reliabilities issues: They existed, though overblown, and the weapon was upgraded regularly until the end of the war. You had two revized kinds of mags (the US troops may have gotten the shitty earlier versions), a few internal design changes,...
I've never heard a french primary source dissing the Chauchat, and the malfuctions chapter in the manual is shorter than its equivalent for the first BARs.


To answer OP's question: Belgian Chauchat, upgraded in 1931 IIRC.

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>>33185000
>>33184572

>>33184417
>So how do we fix it?
Why would you want to fix an outdated ww1 gun?
Not having an open magazine would be a good start.
Also that opening behind the charging handle looks troublesome for the trigger group and cycling the action, and should probably be covered somehow.

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>>33185330
And since we're talking about rare Chauchats :
SMG variant meant to be used as a fireport weapon in tanks.

The french have nothing to envy to the slavs in the Obrez department.

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>>33184417
>>33184489
You can't close the sides of the magazines as it's open so you can push the follower down to load it.

It's not as big of a deal as people make it out to be anyways. The magazines were in pouches after all. Just the one in the gun is left exposed.

>>33184959
None of those were in large numbers. The French developed modern fire an maneuver tactics with the Chauchat .

>>33184572
>Prototypechauchat_copy.jpg
That's not a prototype, that's the M1913 model meant for Aircraft.

>>33184567
>light

>>33185537
>8×50mm Lebel

>>33185648
>thinks light an heavy was dependent on caliber before the browning .50

The vickers is in .303, you call that light?

just seal off the mag and maybe fix the opening on the primer

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>>33185682
It's man portable and uses a rifle caliber.
I thought the first part wasn't in question since it uses a bipod and is named Hotckiss PORTATIVE.

And yes, some Vickers chambered in .303 were indeed LMGs. The ones that didn't use tripods or gun carriages and watercooling systems.

>>33184417
How do I hold it, cause that foregrip is way too close to the trigger

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>>33184417
Looks ok to me
https://youtu.be/msXl2ZybwTk