The ''Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault'' (, "Châtellerault Weapons Factory", abbr. MAC) was a French

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

weapons manufacturer in the town of Châtellerault, Vienne. It was created by a

royal decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, royal figure, or other relevant authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislative laws, or customary l ...

of 14 July 1819 to manufacture

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, 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 ...

s, then (after 1850)

firearm A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

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 during th ...

s. Antoine Treuille de Beaulieu in 1840 began to develop the concept of rifled

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

at Châtellerault for the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

. The Lebel Model 1886 rifle, the first military firearm to use

smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powder Smokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to black powder. Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formula ...

ammunition and the primary French infantry weapon during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, 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 and its derivatives the MAC mle 1931 and MAC 1934 machine guns, as well as the MAC 1950 (later MAS 1950)

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...

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

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, 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 descri ...

, MAC 1950 machine carbine and MAC 1955

automatic rifle An automatic rifle is a type of Self-loading rifle, autoloading rifle that is capable of fully automatic firearm, automatic fire. Automatic rifles are generally selective fire, select-fire weapons capable of firing in Semi-automatic firearm, semi ...

, 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 organ ...

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 French companies established in 1819 1968 disestablishments in France

History

See also

Sources

External links