The weapon has a poor reputation in some quarters, with some experts assessing it as the worst machine gun ever fielded. Conversely, the Chauchat version in U.S.30-06 made by 'Gladiator' for the A.E.F., the Model 1918, proved to be fundamentally defective and had to be withdrawn from service. The Belgian military did not experience difficulties with their Chauchats in 7.65mm Mauser and kept them in service into the early 1930s, as did the Polish Army. Besides the 8mm Lebel version, the Chauchat machine rifle was also manufactured in U.S.30-06 Springfield and in 7.65Г—53mm Argentine Mauser caliber to arm the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) and the Belgian Army, respectively. It was mass manufactured during World War I by two reconverted civilian plants: 'Gladiator' and 'Sidarme'. Shortly after World War I, the French army replaced the Chauchat with the new gas-operated Mle 1924 light machine gun. in France had already initiated the process of replacing the Chauchat with the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle. Consequently, in September 1918, barely two months before the Armistice of November 11, the A.E.F. The weapon also ceased to function when overheated, the barrel sleeve remaining in the retracted position until the gun had cooled off. The magazines in particular were the cause of about 75% of the stoppages or cessations of fire they were made of thin metal and open on one side, allowing for the entry of mud and dust. Construction had been simplified to facilitate mass production, resulting in low quality of many metal parts. The muddy trenches of northern France exposed a number of weaknesses in the Chauchat's design. Afterwards the barrel trips a lever which releases the bolt and allows it to chamber another round. The Chauchat is the only mass produced fully-automatic weapon actuated by long recoil, a Browning-designed system already applied in 1906 to the Remington Model 8 semi-automatic rifle: extraction and ejection of the empties takes place when the barrel returns forward, while the bolt is retained in the rear position. Furthermore, it could be routinely fired from the hip and while walking ( marching fire). The Chauchat combined a pistol grip, an in-line stock, a detachable magazine, and a selective fire capability in a compact package of manageable weight (20 pounds) for a single soldier. It set a precedent for several subsequent 20th-century firearm projects, being a portable, yet full-power automatic weapon built inexpensively and in very large numbers.

The Chauchat was one of the first light, automatic rifle-caliber weapons designed to be carried and fired by a single operator and an assistant, without a heavy tripod or a team of gunners. The armies of eight other nations-Belgium, Finland, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Serbia-also used the Chauchat machine rifle in fairly large numbers during and after World War I. A total of 262,000 Chauchats were manufactured between December 1915 and November 1918, including 244,000 chambered for the 8mm Lebel service cartridge, making it the most widely manufactured automatic weapon of World War I. The Chauchat in 8mm Lebel was also extensively used in 1917вЂ“18 by the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.), where it was officially designated as the ' Automatic Rifle, Model 1915 (Chauchat)'. Beginning in June 1916, it was placed into regular service with French infantry, where the troops called it the FM Chauchat, after Colonel Louis Chauchat, the main contributor to its design. Its official designation was ' Fusil Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG' ('Machine Rifle Model 1915 CSRG'). The Chauchat ('show-sha', French pronunciation:В вЂ‹ ) was the standard light machine gun or 'machine rifle' of the French Army during World War I (1914вЂ“18). Chauchat machine gun from the Verdun MemorialДў0-round magazine (usually only loaded to 16-19 rounds)

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