I'm consistently impressed by Ian's ability to describe metal parts of guns, instead of "this pointy bit with a hole in it" or "the surrounding thing with a hole in it".

"The French don't get much respect for small arms design, but they ought to." Forgotten Weapons in a nutshell

I have one of these, the Garand used at least 7 features of this design. The French were years ahead of everyone with this design...The Kalishnikov uses the trigger/sear without many changes. My gun is a late 1918 gun with the improvements that were added to the Mle 1918...

That bolt gliding is satisfying to watch.

i'm amazed that Ian can keep so many facts and figures in his head....and speak without notes....He is a joy to listen to.....

As a French myself, I'm a bit surprised when you say the rear sight is graduated in yards, which isn't common in France. I think we're talking about meters here ! Great review though !

didn't garand study French autoloading rifles when designing the garand?

It's a damn shame the French don't get the reputation they deserve with weaponry, it all seems to be focused on WWII with people.

I love the look of Great War firearms. The Semi-autos and automatics are so rough and industrial. It reminds me of a lot of concept guns in Steampunk.

So basically, the French invented DLC.

One of my absolute favorite rifles from my country. Hard to find, even in France. They're not notably accurate and have some flaws but I think it looks super cool and is a very significant weapon for us along with the 1886. The Meunier is pretty cool too.

I love how much I learn from this channel.

The French deserve more respect in the way of small arms development. Flintlock, Minie ball, smokeless powder, first to use FMJ bullets I think (Swiss design?), wasn't the Chauchat the first practical LMG(?), and of course here's the RSC 1917, as well as the French-Canadian designed M1 Rifle(Garand). Vive la France! I do not say that as a Frenchman because... well... I'm not French, but I say that as a gun owner, because they've done SO MUCH to help advance firearm technology over the centuries. Also, have you tried escargot? It's actually pretty good!

Never knew about this. Cool video.

I absolutely love this channel. I learn so much just from one video. Keep this channel alive, brother. Greetings from Poland.

That gun looks like a Lebel got impregnanted by a Chauchat! XD

You constantly ,through your incredible vids , make more for the conservation of the french rare arms ,than the french Army itself.Really brilliant and so far from the usual "i am a badass retired from the USMC and i love firing guns" .Thanks so much.

Who in their right mind would dislike this video? Great work Ian, I love the channel and always get excited to see new videos.

your videos are so great! Thanks for all the history behind each. I had no clue this all happened

oh i love how many videos you are putting out now

This channel is so amazing. Not only do you showcase modern weapons but you also help educate and preserve history by showing old rifles like this.

I just about did a happy dance when I saw you'd done a video about this! Thanks for bringing such a cool piece onto the show. It's great to finally see one. I think I read once that certain features of the Mle. 1917 and Mle. 1918 rifles inspired John Garand with his project.

Thanks a lot to show us one of our rarest rifles ! I was looking since a long time for a closer looks of that's rifle. I hope that one day you will present us the meunier 1916 and maybe, an another rare weapon, the STA modèle 1924. Thanks a lot for your high quality presentations. Best regards from France

Great video Ian ! I have been curious about this rifle for a long time, thanks for all the info:) Best regards Vintovka builder

Very nice piece. the action sounds smooth as well. Very pleasing to look at.

It is ever a pleasure to listen such an informative and well-balanced lecture about weapons.

Never knew about this rifle --- nice video Ian, keep them up!

The description on the RIA catalogue says "mechanically fine" and doesn't mention the clipped firing pin; maybe you should advise them of its condition so that they can improve their description?

It's amazing how French arms development is sort of dismissed. I've learned so much about French weapons of this period lately and it's given me a real respect for them. On the artillery front the Canon de 75 modèle 1897 (75mm field gun) was fantastic, in the air Neuports and Spads were wonderful. And this rifle is pretty nice too.

You always bring up a gun that just blows my mind. Very very neat.

I had no idea about this gun! Thank you for the informative video.

Hope the "they shall not pass" dlc has this weapon added to bf1

Learnt alot there and to be honest a very nice looking piece of kit.

cool to see more detail on this rifle!..... you can still see the influence on later designs....

Thanks Ian, entertaining and informative as ever. I guess the gas port plug would make it easy to adjust the amount of blowback by machining plug grooves to different depths and/or different hole sizes - I wonder if this was intentional ?

Great video, Ian!

I think that the intent of using the Lebel furniture was that first of all it is already available, and second of all, it might make it harder for enemy snipers to distinguish who had a Lebel and who had a RSC 1917. Just my thoughts

Love your videos!

Ian has taught me that the French developed some pretty cool stuff the past 125 years or so. Thanks Ian!

Awesome and informative video!

Great Job Ian, another rife even someone like myself was not aware of.

This is one of my favourite channels

this is why i am subscribed love the videos

Best gun in the verdun game!

When you pulled back the bolt, it seemed like a real smooth action, at least in camera

so cool to be shown such things

i don't know how i've gone this long without knowing the proper use of those old iron sights, Thank you

Thanks for another interesting video

you are a master of your craft. thank you for your teaching

Every once and awhile I come across a firearm that I didn't know existed. Bravo Ian. As in most things, including firearms design, one can see with this rifle that there are few concepts and ideas that are new. More than 100 years ago the rotating bolt and multiple locking lugs were not only thought of but were being used in production firearms. Nothing new under the sun , huh. Semper Fi

So early 20th century had it's own form of downloadable content.

You must be reading my mind. I was just wondering after watching your last video if you had done one on the RSC yet. I have one of the converted rifles, and I'd say, yes, that one still has a functioning gas system.

I did not know this. Thanks Ian!

Wow, amazingly modern design. It's remarkable how similar the action is to the Garand, mechanically speaking. I definitely think the French are much maligned when it comes to anything military, sometimes unfairly as this rifle demonstrates. Another great vid, thanks Ian! :)

Other than also being a southpaw named Ian, I also look at French small arms favorably (setting aside bias that comes with French heritage) - I know I'm gonna love your channel! ;D

I like how at the end you said, "Good Luck, if you want to try and make this your own." Something with this much history must be extremely expensive and go for a lot at Auction Houses such as Rock Island.

The action on that is so smooth

Good video. Very interesting rifle.

I want one of these so bad, they are so interesting and I love them to bits.

Hi Ian, that gas port cover looks like a type of delay valve design. Ive seen similar used in other applications. Of course I could be completely wrong lol !!

I got a chuckle when you said they were given to the guys who could best exploit them and listed company CO's. Not that you are wrong (how would I know), but it made me think of some of my CO's exploiting any weapon. The CO's with the most decked out M4's tended to be the ones who would be the least likely to be using them.

another excellent vid

Love the sound of the bolt getting cycled

Always good to learn something new.

Awesome rifle thanks Ian

It might be just me but when yiu operate the charging handle that sound it makes sounds amazing

Coolest semi automatic rifle ever. I want one. I want many of them. The fact that they handed them specifically to "Spirited" individuals makes them that much more awesome. Many years ago someone probably held that rifle and went aww yeah just like someone would today.

I just realized thanks to this video that I never 100% understood how a rotating locking bolt actually unlocked until now. I'm still not sure how recoil operated ones functioned so I was wondering if he has a great video where he shows one? I can't help but admire the mechanics.

Really glad to see a video about this rifle. I am French but i am also a reenactor and this is my favourite rifle. Next a video about the italian breda 30?

That's some hard-core machining on that bolt. No? I can't imagine these being cheap to mass produce.

Wow, thanks. This is the first time I've heard of this weapon. Great history.

Great review I'll have to look at the world war I museum Kansas City if they have one very cool it doesn't say in the description how much love your channel great reviews

Ian, since you're on the topic of French weapons here, the Erma-MGD PM9 SMG would be a really interesting one to look at if you ever come across one in person...Interesting weapon by the way, never seen one until your video

Thanks learned something new (1918) or old but new to me.

Thanks a lot for that video ! 👍😊 Strange the MAS 36 wasn't a semi-automatic rifle, as they made on in 1916... 🤔

Hi Ian, big fan of the channel. Feel that you ought to know a KZfaqr under the username TheLoner47 is reposting your RSC 1917 video. Keep up the good work.

the magazine cover sort of reminds me of the ptrs-41 magazine cover and also if ever came across ptrs would you do a video on it?

I know there's only 4 in existence, but if you can, I would love to see a video about the Huot automatic conversion of the Ross rifle. I read a bit about it (It cost about 50$ to convert the ross rifle into a full auto LMG instead of 1000$ for a new lewis gun) and I'm super intrigued by how it actually works. That, and I'm also a french speaking Canadian so It would be cool to see a prototype weapon from my part of the world :P

wow that action is smooth as butter

Bygone politics aside(as many of the comments herein seem to focus on), I just want to say that your videos are the most informative and well rounded firearms entries on youtube. I enjoy firearms mostly for their mechanical innovations and intricacies. I can tell that you share my fascination with the history and ingenuity that created these instruments. Only their use is subject to politics.

The magazine system is pretty similar to the one of the PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle. Maybe Simonov got the inspiration from this french rifle. I guess that style of magazine works well for an AT rifle, but not so well for an infantry rifle. The SKS is pretty much a scaled down PTRS, but with a more conventional top loading fixed magazine..

Do a video on the Ribeyrolle 1918! It was the first functional weapon with an intermediate cartridge.

I've been waiting for a video on this particular rifle for ages. Ever since I learned of its existence I've been fascinated by it. Everything about it screams that this is how semi-automatic battle rifles should look (in over all design, not specifically this configuration). Aesthetically, this is what I prefer in battle rifles. A long stock that comes up near the end of the barrel, the gas tube concealed withing said stock, and just being long like that. That's part of why I'm more of a fan of the Gewehr '98 than I am of the Kar98k. To me, for some odd reason, a short bolt action just doesn't seem right (but a shorter semi-auto is fine with me, and I'm not sure why for either of these), and the distance between the front and rear barrel bands looks too short for my preference (again, I prefer the Gewehr '98 in this regard). With all of those things in mind, when I saw this, I fell in love with it, which was odd for me, because there was a bit of a stigma in my mind towards French firearms, which I guess, rather illogically, stemmed from how I viewed them in WW2, which is to say that many were desperately thrown together just to get something out there to kill Germans with. On a slightly related note, I'm actually designing a rifle like this for Germany in a story I am writing set in WW2, and this obviously is instrumental in that design (both in the lore of the story setting and in my actual design).

50% of the comments are BF1 hopes for French faction... Tnx a lot EA... I am just here to learn the gun

The clip system seems to work similarly to the PTRS-41 if I interpreted it correctly?

What a cool rifle---another one for the wish-list. By the magazine design and gas piston, I could see Chauchat's engineering right away. Question on this gun: what is the recoil like with that gas-piston design in a semi-auto?

Hey Ian. Saw you on Gunstories the other day.

Didn´t the French use meters on their sights? Interesting video btw.

This is amazing, love it !

Does anybody know what the little post and that pull-tab looking thing at the end of the barrel are? Bayonet port, or something else?

The bolt head really reminds me of a Ross Mk. 3. It would be interesting if they got some inspiration from that design.

A very interesting rifle! Please tell us what this rifle sold for at the auction.

+Forgotten Weapons Hey Ian have you ever played the PC game Verdun?

It would be interesting to see a comparison between this, a Mondragon M1908 and a Fedorov Avtomat.

this one is obviously a holdover from the musket era, super cool pioneer in semi-auto design

That bolt sounds amazing

What sort of numbers of Farquhar-Hill rifles made it to front-line service?

damn the sounds smooth

Hi Ian, I am presently writing a book and need a little more information about the RSC 1917. Could you please explain to me where the safety is on the rifle and what distance would very long-range be if the long range is 400 to 800 hundred yards?

Brilliant Many thanks!