FM 24/29 light machine gun

After the end of World War I, the French Army sought to replace the problematic Fusil-mitrailleur mle 1915 CSRG light machine rifle (better known as the Chauchat). French commanders considered standardizing on the American 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 partly derived from the BAR action. It had been formulated and designed by a Lieutenant Colonel Reibel assisted by Chief Armorer Chosse.

The FM Mle 1924 entered production in late July 1925 and saw first operational use in Morocco in May 1926. It was immediately well-received and even favorably compared in performance with the much heavier Hotchkiss machine gun. However, problems created by the new 7.5mm ammunition did appear. In particular, 8×57mm Mauser ammunition which was used in captured Mauser rifles carried by auxiliaries in Morocco during the Rif War from 1920–26, could be chambered and fired with disastrous results. This situation led to the development of a slightly shorter 7.5×54mm round, which was retained in 1929 as the standard ammunition for all future rifles and light machine guns in French service. The modified fusil-mitrailleur modèle 1924 modifié 1929 (FM Mle 1924 M29) was mass-manufactured (187,412), beginning in 1930. In addition to these newly manufactured guns some 45,530 older FM Mle 1924s, already in service after phasing out the notoriously unreliable Chauchat, were rebarreled in order to accept the newer 7.5×54mm ammunition.

Both the original fusil-mitrailleur Mle 1924 (automatic rifle, model of 1924) as well as the modified Mle 1924 M29 have the same overall features: a folding bipod, an in-line stock, a pistol grip, a top-mounted 25-round detachable magazine and a bolt hold-open after the magazine's last round had been fired. There are two separate triggers: the trigger in front for using semi-automatic fire only and the rear trigger for firing on full automatic. Protection of all the openings against mud and dust proved excellent. The cyclic rate was controlled at 450 rounds per minute, thus allowing more continuous firing without overheating. In general, this new weapon was accurate and highly reliable but the barrel was screwed well into the receiver, as in the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), and thus it could not be separated quickly and easily in the field as for the British Bren gun. The French Army instruction manual (July 1925) recommends not to go beyond 400 rounds of uninterrupted firing since at that point the gun needs to be given a pause of ten to fifteen minutes in order to cool off. But instead, the French instruction manual recommends the following routine for the FM 1924 : fire 4 to 5 detachable magazines (100 to 125 rounds), take a short pause, then keep repeating that same restrained fire plus short pause routine which permits steady performance and very extensive firing periods.

French foreign legion airborne of the 1 REP firing a FM 24/29 during a Viet Minh ambush (1952).

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 reorganized 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 was the workhorse in the First Indochina War and served in the armed forces until after the end of the war in Algeria.[1] 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.

•  Algeria[3]
•  Benin[4]
•  Central African Republic[4]
•  Republic of China
•  Republic of the Congo[4]
•  Djibouti[5]
•  Finland: 100 received from France and used during the Winter War[6]
•  France: First adopted by French Army in 1924.[7] Also saw service with the National Gendarmerie.[8]
•  Israel: At least 200 were in service with the IDF, possibly more prior to the formation of the IDF. A 1942 dated field manual was written or translated by the Haganah. The gun was referred to as "מקלע צרפתי שטו," or "French machine gun château," probably a corruption of "Châtellerault," where the FM 24/29 was made.

Yiftach Brigade outpost at Kibbutz Misgav Am on the Lebanese border. 1948

•  Ivory Coast[4]
•  Kingdom of Laos: Received by French Government during First Indochina War.[9]
•  Lebanon[4]
•  Nazi Germany: Captured weapons. The mle 1924/29 served as Leichtes MG 116(f).[10] The few surviving Mle 1924 models were given the designation Leichtes MG 115(f).[11]
•  Niger[12]
•  North Vietnam (Viet Minh and Viet Cong),[13][14] known as Vĩnh Cát, from the French vingt quatre (24).[15]
•  South Vietnam (Vietnamese National Army)[16]

• ZB vz. 26
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• Bren light machine gun
• Charlton Automatic Rifle
• Mendoza C-1934
• Madsen machine gun
• Type 96 Light Machine Gun
• Type 99 light machine gun
• Degtyaryov machine gun
• Lahti-Saloranta M/26

• FM mle 24/29