The ''Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault'' ("Châtellerault Weapons Factory"), often abbreviated to MAC, was a French

state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...

weapons manufacturer in the town of

Châtellerault Châtellerault (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Châteulrô/Chateleràud''; oc, Chastelairaud) is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France. It is located in the northeast of the former province Poitou, and the re ...

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.royal decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...

of 14 July 1819 to manufacture

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

s, then (after 1850)

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

s and

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

Antoine Treuille de Beaulieu Count Antoine Hector Thésée Treuille de Beaulieu (7 May 1809 – 24 July 1885) was a French General of the 19th century, who developed the concept of rifled guns in the French Army. He studied the subject of rifling between 1840, particularly in ...

in 1840 began to develop the concept of rifled

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

at Châtellerault for the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

. The

Lebel Model 1886 rifle The Lebel Model 1886 rifle (French: ''Fusil Modèle 1886 dit "Fusil Lebel"'') also known as the ''"Fusil Mle 1886 M93"'', after a bolt modification was added in 1893, is an 8 mm bolt-action infantry rifle that entered service in the French Ar ...

, the first military firearm to use

smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to a ...

ammunition and the primary French infantry weapon during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, was developed and produced here.

History

Following the French tradition of state arsenals competing with each other and with private industry, MAC designed and manufactured several well-known French small arms, including the

FM 24/29 light machine gun The Fusil-mitrailleur Modèle 1924 M29 (or MAC 24/29), designed in 1924 by the Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault, was the standard light machine gun of the French Army from 1925 until the 1960s and was in use until 2000-2006 with the National ...

and its derivatives the MAC mle 1931 and

MAC 1934 The MAC 1934 is a machine gun of French origin. It is effectively the aircraft variant of the Reibel machine gun. History In 1934, the ''Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault'' (Châtellerault weapons manufacturing company, often shortened to ' ...

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

s, as well as the MAC 1950 (later MAS 1950)

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol is a type of repeating single-chamber handgun ( pistol) that automatically cycles its action to insert the subsequent cartridge into the chamber (self-loading), but requires manual actuation of the trigger to actuall ...

. Some features of prototypes developed by MAC, including the MAC-48

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

, MAC 1950 machine carbine and MAC 1955

automatic rifle An automatic rifle is a type of autoloading rifle that is capable of fully automatic fire. Automatic rifles are generally select-fire weapons capable of firing in semi-automatic and automatic firing modes (some automatic rifles are capable of ...

, were retained in the production of other designers' weapons which were adopted by the French Army. The facility closed as a weapons manufacturing facility in 1968 and was transformed into the central repository of all French military

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

s related to armament matters (''Centre des Archives de l'Armement et du Personnel''). It is open, for older declassified material, to bona fide researchers upon written request.

Sources

*Danel, Raymond and Cuny, Jean. ''L'aviation française de bombardement et de renseignement (1918/1940)'', Docavia n°12, Editions Larivière. *De Vries, G. and Martens, B. J. ''The MKb 42, MP43, MP44 and the Sturmgewehr 44'', Propaganda Photo Series, Volume IV, Special Interest Publicaties BV, Arnhem, The Netherlands, First Edition, 2001. *Ezell, Edward Clinton. ''Small Arms of the World'', Arms & Armour Press, London, Eleventh Edition, 1977. *Ferrard, Stéphane. ''France 1940 l'armement terrestre'', ETAI, 1998. *Gotz, Hans Dieter. ''German Military Rifles and Machine Pistols, 1871-1945'', Schiffer Publishing, West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1990. *Huon, Jean. ''Les fusils d'assaut français'', Editions Barnett, 1998. . *Lombard, Claude. ''La Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Châtellerault'', Brissaud, Poitiers (France), 1987. *Pelletier, Alain. ''French Fighters of World War II'', Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., Carrollton, Texas, 2002. *Smith, W. H. B. ''Small Arms of the World : The Basic Manual of Military Small Arms'', Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, Pa., 1955. *Wollert, Günter; Lidschun, Reiner; Kopenhagen, Wilfried. ''Illustrierte Enzyklopädie der Schützenwaffen aus aller Welt: Schützenwaffen heute (1945–1985)'', Militärverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, Berlin, 1988. *Deutsches Waffen Journal *Visier *Schweizer Waffen Magazin *Internationales Waffen Magazin *Cibles *AMI *Gazette des Armes *Action Guns *Guns & Ammo *American Handgunner *SWAT Magazine *Diana Armi *Armi & Tiro

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manufacture d'armes de Chatellerault Firearm manufacturers of France Companies based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine

History

See also

Sources

External links