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The Ruby Pistol - An interesting bit of history

Discussion in 'Military Training, Doctrine, and Planning' started by Ken The Kanuck, Aug 4, 2011.

  1. Ken The Kanuck

    Ken The Kanuck Member

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    I saw this article on the WWI Ruby pistol which I felt was quite interesting and thought that I would share. One interesting point it raised was that of weapon supply when war breaks out. I have to imagine that many wild, wondeful and crazy things happened in this department.

    Hope you enjoy.

    http://www.examiner.com/firearms-in-...nch-forces-wwi

    K
    TK
     
  2. Gebirgsjaeger

    Gebirgsjaeger Ace

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    Dang, Ken we should have known those facts much earlier! If we had known those facts, we would have paid to buy each French soldier his own Ruby and had to wait only a few weeks til they were broke down. What a easy way to win a war:p:D

    Thanks for posting the article!
     
  3. brndirt1

    brndirt1 Saddle Tramp

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    sounds disturbing like the infamous Chauchat machine gun of the same period. Unreliable, non-interchangeable parts, and the scorn of all who were forced to attempt to use them.
     
  4. Skipper

    Skipper Kommodore

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    Although, higly "fashionable" and much demanded, it was not a matte rof life or death. The Ruby pistol was not the only available. It was just prefered by officers because it was modern, light and could be hidden in a boot. Until this model was avalilable for all officers, they used the M-1873 or the m-1892 revolvers with the famous "Jambon" (ham) shaped holster. There was no real emergency in fact because the jambons were largerly available and they were even used in 1940 (I'm sure some of you will recongise these holsters on their picture collections.



    The French soldiers hated the Chaucat because mud would get stuck inside. 35.000 Chaucat Machine guns were made of whom 19.000 were "gladly" given to the Americans in 1917 . I always thought WWI would have been the end of it, but I very recently read some surviving Chaucats were used in WW2 during the Battle of France in the Alpine fortresses. In fact they were reliable as long as they were inside and away from mud and humidity. As a matter of coincidence I studied the Chaucat history recently because I found a Chaucat amno bag at a flea market and wanted to know what I had bought.
     

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