- FM 24/29 light machine gun
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FM 24/29 
LMG 24/29Type Light machine gun Place of origin 
FranceService history In service 1930s-1950s
1930s to 2000-2006 (National Gendarmerie)Used by See Users Wars World War II
First Indochina War
Algerian War
Suez CrisisProduction history Designed 1920s Manufacturer Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault Variants M1924/29D
M1931Specifications Weight 9.75lb Length 1080mm Barrel length 600mm Cartridge 7.5x54mm French Caliber 7.5mm Barrels 1 Action Gas Rate of fire 450 rpm Muzzle velocity 830 m/s (2,722.4 ft/s) Feed system 25 round box magazine Sights Iron The Fusil mitrailleur modèle 1924 M29 was the standard light machine gun of the French Army from the early 1930s until the 1950s and was in use until 2000-2006 with the National Gendarmerie.
Contents
Development
LMG 24/29
After the end of World War I, the French army sought to replace the problematic Fusil-mitrailleur mle 1915 machine gun (better known as the Chauchat). French commanders considered standardizing on the American M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), but eventually required the development of a locally built weapon. MAS (an abbreviation of Manufacture d'Armes de St. Etienne - one of several government-owned arms factories in France) proposed a direct derivative of the BAR, but the Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault (MAC) won the bid with its weapon, which was loosely based on the BAR action. It had been formulated and designed by a Lt Col Reibel. The new fusil-mitrailleur modèle 1924 (automatic rifle, model of 1924) featured a bipod, an in-line stock, a pistol grip, a top-mounted 25-round magazine and a bolt hold-open after the magazine's last round had been fired. Protection of all the openings against mud and dust was excellent. The cyclic rate was 450 rounds per minute. Since the standard 8 mm Lebel ammunition type had been found inappropriate for large capacity magazines, ammunition was a brand-new rimless 7.5x57mm round.
In the late 1920s, the FM mle 24 entered limited production and operational use, where numerous problems with the new ammunition type appeared. In particular, 8mm Mauser ammunition which was in use with captured rifles used by auxiliaries in Morocco during the Rif War, could be chambered and fired with disastrous results. This situation led to the development of the 7.5x54mm type, which was chosen in 1929 as the standard calibre for all future rifles and light machine guns in French service. The accordingly modified fusil-mitrailleur modèle 1924 modifié 1929 (FM 24/29) was mass-manufactured in the 1930s until older FMs could be phased out of service.
The trigger mechanism housing (TMH) of the FM 24/29 was also used in Henri Delacre's bullpup submachine gun.
Operational use
The FM 24/29 was the standard squad-level automatic weapon of the French infantry and cavalry at the start of World War II. After the French surrender in World War II, the Germans captured large quantities of this weapon, which they used operationally until the end of the war.
From 1943 on, as the French army was re-equipped and re-organized in North Africa with Allied support, the FM 24/29 was kept in service, as French troops considered it superior to the Browning Automatic Rifle.
The FM 24/29 served in the armed forces until after the end of the war in Algeria, it was the workhorse in the First Indochina War. It was replaced by the AA-52 general-purpose machine gun in the 1960s, but it was still in use with National Gendarmerie regional brigades until 2000-2006.
Variants
Model 1924/1929D machine gun
Model 1924/1929D mounted in a firing port of the Maginot Line.The Model 1924/1929D machine gun was a variant of the MAC 24/29, adapted to firing from interior firing ports in the bunkers of the Maginot Line.
M1931
A modified version of the gun, the M1931, with a heavier barrel and drum feed was produced for installation in tanks and fortified emplacements. The rate of fire of this version was raised to 600 rounds per minute. Production ran from 1931 to 1940[1].
Users
See also
- Breda 30
- Bren light machine gun
- Charlton Automatic Rifle
- Mendoza C-1934
- Type 11 Light Machine Gun
- Type 99 light machine gun
- Degtyaryov machine gun
References
- Ferrard, Stéphane. France 1940 l'armement terrestre, ETAI, 1998, ISBN 978-2-7268-8380-8
- Philippe Truttman, La Muraille de France ou la Ligne Maginot, Gérard Klopp éditeur, 1985.
- Site sur les armes françaises.
External links
French infantry weapons of World War IISide arms Rifles and carbines Submachine guns Machine guns and other larger weapons Mortars Brandt Mle 1935 · Brandt mle 27/31Grenades F1 grenadeCartridges used by France during WWII Categories:- Light machine guns
- Machine guns of France
- World War II French infantry weapons
- 1924 introductions
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