FPW 1918
These 2 weapons were made by Chauchat & Ribeyrolles , two inventors of the Chauchat LMG these were SMG's but mainly developed as Firing Port Weapons for the Renault 1917 Tanks hence they are the first FPW of history. The first model is equiped with a US Springfield 1903 since american troops were given french tanks and required the FPW to be equiped with the sight they had tha habit to use on their riflesn in case they had to dismount and use the weapon as SMG, for the same reason , french armorers installed an efficient muzzle break...the proprietary clip was loaded with 8 rounds and was developed by Ribeyrolles for a select fire rifle he designed in 1915.... The second model is really easy to identify with its slightly modified Chauchat SMG magazine, it has no muzzle break and only a front sight , rear sight being installed on a detachable stock Both were used between July and November 1918 and withdrawn from service because of the too powerful cartridge , 8 mm Lebel aka 8x 50 R French, producing a recoil that could not be mastered when the weapon was not used as a FPW for defense of the tank but off hand and having the well known reputation to be unreliable in autoloading from a magazine ( no problem with clips ) because of the rimmed case developed in 1880 obliging the mag box to have an heavy curve instead of a straight design with rimless cartridge like 6.5 x 53 mm Daudeteau that was made in 1912 but not adopted because of WW1 and the 5 millions rifles built in 8x50 R Lebel and the 500 000 LMG in the same caliber : Hotchkiss, Saint Etienne 1907 and later more than 200 000 Chauchat and the semi auto rifle RSC 1917, RSC 1918, the Delaunay Belleville Automatic Rifles 1916 & 1918
Photo from: ? Information from: DCB Shooting Supply
