Honour Bound: Chauchat Machine Rifle

Much maligned today, the CSRG (Chauchat) machine rifle was in fact the most manufactured automatic weapon of WWI, outnumbering every other machinegun made, by the Allies and the Central Powers. It was the world's first successful squad automatic-the ancestor of the modern assault rifle. In the Chauchat one can recognise for the first time together all the classic attributes: the pistol grip, the in-line stock, the large capacity magazine, the fire selector, and the bipod. French and AEF CSRG Gunners formed the nucleus of the world's first Infantry machinegun-killer teams during World War I, using the CSRG to such telling effect that many were awarded the highest decorations their countries could bestow. A well-reasoned, historical classic.