Was the chauchat really that bad? I've heard that once

>>34405503

In the original French round it was fine. Really as good or better than any thing else designed at the same period. The holes in the magazine were a poor choice.

Once it was redesigned for the American 30-06 it was a goddamn shitshow. It was not made for that round and for whatever reason the conversion made it terrible.

But once again, this is an English language board so the only fudd tales to survive are those in English, so the Chauchat is the worst automatic rifle ever conceived even though in 8mm lebel it was fine.

>>34405503
In its original caliber, it was a less-than-ideal solution for the problems of the war, but a mostly functional one.

As the other anon said, the converted ones were garbage rods of the highest level.

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>>34405550
>The holes in the magazine were a poor choice.
The holes were for you to push the follower down so you can load the magazine. There's a reason why they never got rid of them. It's effect is also overstated. They were in magazine pouches.

>Once it was redesigned for the American 30-06 it was a goddamn shitshow. It was not made for that round and for whatever reason the conversion made it terrible.
The problem was incorrectly cut chambers. I have zero clue what the US inspectors were doing because they were at the Gladiator factory and should have found and fixed the problem.

>>34405503
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCwP3Dm52Ls&t=1s

all you need to know about the Chauchat in a nice, complete package.

>>34405503
Part interchangeability was not good.

>>34405503
the .30-06 version's chamber was reamed to the wrong size, and that caused it to be ridiculously unreliable

>>34407301

This. Solid gun, bad manufacturing techniques.

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>>34405550
>Once it was redesigned for the American 30-06 it was a goddamn shitshow. It was not made for that round and for whatever reason the conversion made it terrible.
>>34405642
>The problem was incorrectly cut chambers. I have zero clue what the US inspectors were doing because they were at the Gladiator factory and should have found and fixed the problem.
>>34407301
>the .30-06 version's chamber was reamed to the wrong size, and that caused it to be ridiculously unreliable
and the problem wasn't that it was rechambered for a straight walled, rimless cartridge, since the Germans rechambered it in 8mm just fine

>>34407327
What the fuck is that magazine design?

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>>34407327
I don't think the Germans made that many conversions.
>>34408038
The front part is just to latch the magazine in since that's how the French one did it.

>the one and only known original image showing M1918 in US service
And yes, they are Americans.

>>34408038
My guess is that the mag catch is designed for 2 points of contact to lock the mag in place.

>>34408127
I understand using the breastplates but why put on the stahlhelms?

>>34408184
The helmet was to protect from falling debris.

>>34408184
Showing captured equipment. Note the G98 and tankgewher

>>34405503
Most of the problems the 8mm lebel model had were resolved like removing/resizing the magazine cut outs and adding a dust cover. You could argue that it did it's job well since it was way cheaper and easier to produce than say a Lewis or MG08.

The .30-06 models were absolute abominations though.

>>34408319
if it's captured equipment are you sure they have M1918s and not 8mm conversions?

>>34408777
They're all Americans wearing American uniforms. They're just showing off what they found.

>>34408803
>They're just showing off what they found
that's what I'm saying
if they're showing off what they found, who's to say that they don't have captured chauchats?

>>34409628
Because they have M1918 Chauchats. Look at the magazine.

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>>34409670
>Look at the magazine
pic related, 8mm conversion

>>34409670
>>34409716
mauser 1916 magazine

>>34405503
No, it was after all the most produced lmg/fusil automatique of the war, its primary issue (some 70%) was the witness hole in the magazines, which i believe were done away with either with dust covers or ommited in later production