The St. Etienne Model 1907,The bread and butter French heavy machine gun throughout World War I, the

The St. Etienne Model 1907,The bread and butter French heavy machine gun throughout World War I, the St. Etienne was also one of the worst machine gun designs to ever grace the pages of military history.  The St. Etienne Model 1907 was born as Puteaux Model 1905, a bizarre and overcomplicated design that sported pitiful performance.  Unlike most machine guns, which utilize a blow back system where hot gasses move a piston backward, the Puteaux used the strange and mysterious “blow forward” system.  The Puteaux worked by tapping a bit of gas from the muzzle via a gas trap.  Rather than blow a piston back, the Puteaux directed the gas in such a manner that the piston was blown forward, the momentum of which worked the action.  The strange mechanism was incredibly complicated, even for a blow forward design, so much so that I couldn’t even begin to give the specifics of how it worked.  All I can say is that dozens of meticulously machined parts operated to make the weapon work. One particularly interesting aspect of the Puteaux was that the flow and pressure of the gas could be regulated, and thus so could its rate of fire from 50 - 600 rounds per minute.As would be predicted, the Puteaux suffered from problems due to the overcomplicated nature of its mechanics.  Even the tiniest bit of dust, dirt, or moisture could jam up the entire works.  It’s air cooling system was very inefficient, and due to overheating parts tended to warp, causing more malfunctions.  Unlike most machine guns of the time which used a belt fed system, hopper, or magazine, the Puteaux used 25 round strips which were fed into the action.  The weapon itself was chambered for 8mm Lebel, the standard French infantry cartridge at the time.In addition basic maintenance and repair of the machine gun was an often laborious and utterly confusing process.Due to its terrible performance, the Puteaux was rejected by the French Army, and the design was sent back for improvements.  After two years, French designers from the St. Etienne Armory introduced a new and improved model.  The new model was almost identical to the older Puteaux.  In fact the improvements they made were marginal and minimal.  Regardless it was good enough for the French Army, and the improved model was accepted as the St. Etienne Model 1907.During World War I, the Model 1907 gained a reputation as an utter piece of crap.  The mud and moisture wreaked havoc on its complex blow forward design.  By 1917, 39,000 Model 1907 machine guns were produced.  It was also in that year that the French discontinued the model in favor of the more reliable and robust Hotchkiss M1914.  Like the Chauchat, another French stinker in machine gun design, the French made their problem other people’s problem.  When the United States entered the war, France gladly donated its stores of M1907 machine guns to the US Army.  They also donated a number to the Italian Army and Greek Army as well. -- source link
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