Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917

Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917
Mle. 1917 rifle.
Type	Semi-automatic rifle
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1917–1926
Used by	French Army
Wars	World War I Rif War World War II (limited)
Production history
Designer	Ribeyrolles, Sutter, Chauchat
Designed	1917
Manufacturer	Manufacture d'Armes de Tulle for Mle 1917. Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Etienne for Mle 1918.
Produced	1917–1918
Specifications
Cartridge	8×50mmR Lebel
Action	gas operated, rotating bolt
Feed system	5-round capacity clip-fed internal box magazine

The Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917 (also called the RSC M1917) was a semi-automatic, gas-operated, infantry rifle that the French Army placed in service during the latter part (1918) of World War I. It was chambered in then-standard 8mm Lebel, the rimmed cartridge used in other French Army infantry weapons of the time. Altogether, MAT (Manufacture d'Armes de Tulle) had manufactured 86,000 RSC M1917 rifles when their production run ended in late November 1918. However very few have survived in fully functional, semi-automatic condition and those have become highly sought-after collectibles.

The adoption of the Modèle 1917 can be traced to early attempts by the French Army to replace its Lebel rifles with a more advanced semi-automatic design in the years before the outbreak of the First World War. In 1913, a semi-automatic rifle was selected to be adopted as a replacement for the Lebels and Berthiers in the army's inventory. In 1910 the army tentatively adopted the semi-automatic long recoil operated Meunier rifle as a replacement for the Lebel rifle. Considerable delays were experienced in the final choice for the ammunition, which ended up being a powerful rimless proprietary 7×56.95mm round. Only 1,013 Meunier rifles had been manufactured by 1916 and about 300 were sent for field trials in the trenches. They were well received but the special ammunition problem was a major handicap.

The M1917 RSC (for: Ribeyrolles, Sutter and Chauchat) was formally adopted in May 1916 and a fairly large number (86,000) had been manufactured by November 1918. It was less expensive to manufacture than the Meunier rifle since it used standard Lebel rifle components, notably: the barrel, stock, handguard, barrel bands and trigger guard. Above all else, it was chambered for the standard 8mm Lebel ammunition, which was loaded on special five-round en-bloc clips. The Mle 1917 RSC was gas operated with a rotating bolt, the gas port being located underneath the barrel and near the muzzle as in the later M1 Garand rifle. The Mle 1917 was widely distributed among French infantry during 1918. However the troops did not like it as they found it too heavy, too long and too difficult to service and to maintain in the trenches. The weak point of this rifle was the size of the gas port located under the front end of the barrel. Because of its very small internal diameter the gas port tended to foul up with repeated firings thus leading to weaker and weaker bolt returns in prolonged use. Hence the gas port required frequent cleaning out (every 100 rounds or so) which could be performed after removing the large brass screw under the front end of the barrel. Furthermore, the special clip for the Mle 1917 was not particularly strong.