St Etienne Mle 1907-15.
- Thread starter ppsh38/41
- Start date
Yes, along with the later Berthiers as well. Mas 36 was not available in sufficient numbers in time to equip the entire French army before '39. 1886/93and 1886/93 R35 Lebels were also still in use.
They were used by the French in both World Wars, a whack of colonial wars and some even showed up in the early stages of the Viet-Nam War. A bunch were sold off here in the early 1960s, which is how I got my first one.
Biggest drawback was the really lousy ammo produced at times. But then, the French Communist Party sabotaged ammo production in the period of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, only took even a faint anti-Nazi stance AFTER Adolf went into Russia. Same outfit literally RAN the French resistance and turned non-Communist resistance fighters over to the Gestapo. But they came out of it smellin' o' roses and today are regarded as the backbone of French resistance.
Some of this ammo was just awful: 90% misfires with a perfect rifle on 1939 French production that was in beautiful condition. Asked the only European I knew about it (a German private) and he said, "That stuff was like that when it was new. How else do you think we went through them in 6 weeks? I spent 5 weeks riding around in the back of a truck, fired my rifle exactly TWO shots.... and one of those was at a rabbit!" (Pvt. Theodor Schroth)
Interesting thing about these is that they played with the sights. I have two right now, one with a standard barleycorn front sight (from Chatellerault) and the other (from St. Etienne) with a Lewes-type front sight: you put your target in the little groove. The Brits tried the Lewes sight on the Lee-Metford Mark I, gave up on it because it was too difficult to use in poor light. So the French put it back into production 30 years later. Must have been just GREAT, aimning at mud-covered men against a background of solid mud!
Rifles are beautifully made from good materials but they are a slightly-post-Neolithic design. IMHO, the French Army fought like lions, but their entire General Staff should have been stood up by a wall. They WASTED fine men with garbage equipment.
Still, they are interesting to have. Just got a bag of brass from TRADEX (free commercial here!) and so my pair will be going to the range in a couple of weeks (when our world dries up).
Have fun! That's what it's all about!
Biggest drawback was the really lousy ammo produced at times. But then, the French Communist Party sabotaged ammo production in the period of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, only took even a faint anti-Nazi stance AFTER Adolf went into Russia. Same outfit literally RAN the French resistance and turned non-Communist resistance fighters over to the Gestapo. But they came out of it smellin' o' roses and today are regarded as the backbone of French resistance.
Some of this ammo was just awful: 90% misfires with a perfect rifle on 1939 French production that was in beautiful condition. Asked the only European I knew about it (a German private) and he said, "That stuff was like that when it was new. How else do you think we went through them in 6 weeks? I spent 5 weeks riding around in the back of a truck, fired my rifle exactly TWO shots.... and one of those was at a rabbit!" (Pvt. Theodor Schroth)
Interesting thing about these is that they played with the sights. I have two right now, one with a standard barleycorn front sight (from Chatellerault) and the other (from St. Etienne) with a Lewes-type front sight: you put your target in the little groove. The Brits tried the Lewes sight on the Lee-Metford Mark I, gave up on it because it was too difficult to use in poor light. So the French put it back into production 30 years later. Must have been just GREAT, aimning at mud-covered men against a background of solid mud!
Rifles are beautifully made from good materials but they are a slightly-post-Neolithic design. IMHO, the French Army fought like lions, but their entire General Staff should have been stood up by a wall. They WASTED fine men with garbage equipment.
Still, they are interesting to have. Just got a bag of brass from TRADEX (free commercial here!) and so my pair will be going to the range in a couple of weeks (when our world dries up).
Have fun! That's what it's all about!
