Patria Nostra Haven't heard of that yet. I know that some rifle magazines were not filled to capacity to deal with feeding isuses, like the Bren gun (I think the loaded only 28 rounds). But I assumed this was only because the Bren originaly fired a rimmed cartrige. I thought that rimmless cartriges don't cause those issues and so there would be no need to not fill up the magazines. Can you expand on why combat troops suposedly - I say "suposedly" because right now your word is the only information I have on this - do this?
One of the things I really enjoy about Ian is he doesn't pretend to "know everything" about the firearm. He does say I don't know, when he doesn't know.
@@hoppityhares2597 I wish more people in general would say "I dont know" more often. A lot of people just pretend knowing something they dont and talk a lot of bullshit just because they cant admit not knowing something
Yeah. He is a modest guy just explaining guns and doesn`t try to boss around with his knowledge. Some people have knowledge or experience but are too bossy and that keeps me from regularly watching their posts.
I'm going to answer a question that's everybody keeps asking: why are the French not making magazines that hold a multiple of 3 rounds ? Question: WHY NOT HOLD A MULTIPLE OF 3 ROUNDS ? Answer: on the last burst, you will not get the usual 3 rounds, indicating that this is the last burst. It is waaaaaay more prudent to have the last burst different so that the soldiers know it's the last burst, that having no difference. If the last burst is the same, a soldier can potentially miscount his bursts and have an empty weapon thinking he can still shoot, very dangerous assumption in the heat of combat ! This is why the last burst, being different, will indicate "this is your last burst soldier, please reload !". The French military have thoug it through be assured.
He lives in Arizona so he volunteers to be cryogenically frozen. French guns automatically reawaken him from his phoney war hibernation whlile Karl cackles and warms his hands around a Kar 98 :o
I learnt more about the famas in this video than I did in over 3 and half years of being issued with it! But then again I did all my basic training without understanding a single word of French.
What regiment since you only used it for 3½ year, must be 13th since they were the first getting the 416F. I never had any problems learning about my FAMAS even if I did not know any French either, my point is that you pick it up later.
@@thesturm8686 it's honestly kind of their stick. They'll take non Frenchie's and turn them into fire spitting french speaking warriors. And then zey send them to do all the military missions no one else wants to.
Thank's for taking an unbiased look at the FAMAS as this truly was a marvel of engineering for the time and while bullpup has its cons the FAMAS is exceptionally well balanced and actually quickly grows on you !
it would be quite nice if they trimmed it down a bit wouldn't it. I believe delayed blowback rifles are sub par compared to gas guns, but there's something about the simplicity of them that I really like.
the only thing i dont like about it is the carry handle and the bipod... i find it obnoxiously huge if they got rid of that added a rail on top level with the charging handle and changed the charging handle to be a bit smaller with a better profile id love it
I'm not much of a gun nut but man, something about the general bulpup design gets me. It's so sleek and looks so futuristic. I'm not sure how practical it is, but damn does it look awesome.
There is a significant potential drawback/risk with bullpup weapons. Though they are rare, if you have a catastrophic failure with the gun (aka it goes from gun to grenade), that explosion literally happens right in your face. Maybe I'm being a bit timid, but I know better than taunt Murphy.
Bullpup design is useful for Urban and Jungle combat, where the length of barrel may get in the way of movement in confine space. Many countries are using bullpup - Austria, France, China, Israel, India, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore etc. And some of those countries which adopted them are going back to conventional rifle platforms. New Zealand is replacing its Austeyr AUGs with an AR variant. France is replacing the FAMAS with the HK416. Chinese Marines found the QB-95 lacking, so the conventional platform QBZ-03 was developed for their use. Even the British were ready to abandon the L85. There are advantage to bullpup rifles over conventional platforms, and there are disadvantages. Each country weighs and measures their requirements for a service rifle, and selects the one they feel suits their needs the best overall. I have used the bullpup and M16-A1 during my national service. The real advantage is the shorter length but I found that changing magazines in the dark is slow.
This is one of the best channels I've ever seen. I love your calmness, the technicality and the time you take to explain things. Also your content is very different from the others. Not blowing things up all the time. Thanks for your effort and dedication You're great Ian!!
Memories... I remember not thinking much of it when I got #83991 handed to me at Saint-Cyr, mostly because of all the plastic parts. And then we went to the shooting range, prone position, five rounds, 100, 200, 300 meters... looking at the result I turned to full respect for my rifle.
Uryendel the extra length of the blade defeats the purpose of the short build... And the short build means you have a lot less range with the bayonet and longer range than a knife is the whole point of a bayonet I mean yeah it might come in handy at some point but overall it's probably more trouble than its worth
i think that when french army will use the hk 416, they will sell all their weapons to the usa like they did for the mas 49/56, or sell it to another country
@@onpsxmember Which when all the WWII generals died/retired everyone and their mother realized 'Oh fuck the M14 ain't it' to the surprise of nobody in NATO except the US
I remember the FAMAS being my favorite weapon in Counter-Strike when I was younger because of the burst fire. Finding out it was a crutch for noobs both in game and in real life is somehow both cutting and reassuring.
The early to mid 1980's was a great period for firearms and collectors per se. When I was in college, my mother got me a FAMAS for my 25th birthday. She knew I wanted one so bad, but as a college student I was rich in knowledge and very poor financially. I was quite lucky, since roughly 250 to 300 were subsequently imported. I believe my Mom paid roughly $1,050.00. I had an idea these would be collectible, hence I rarely fired it. I figured my FMAS was worth approximately $5k. I saw that the example in the video sold for $21,850.00. I never imagined this bullpup would go for that much. I have a pretty extensive collection. I've been collective/buying since circa 1982. I also have two FN-FNC. When I got one to fire a lot...still one of my favorite rifles to shoot. And shortly after that purchase, I bought another one...which has been fired only 200 rounds. During the 80's got a HK 93&94 and a bunch of other stuff. It's an addiction I can live with.
@@johnbacon4997 I doubt it. Cool as it would be to see SWAT teams using the FAMAS, there's much better options these days. I could be wrong, but if you had to choose between an HK416 or a quirky, aging bullpup rifle like this, you'd probably go with the newer, lighter and more reliable gun with parts in regular production.
@@AdamBorseti now were you speaking as a Frenchman or for the Frenchmen? Because I'll tell you one thing, if we, the people and most importantly soldiers really had the choice, the Germans would have been told to fuck right off with their AR15.
15:38 This is not only for the glove size, but also when you use the grenade launcher, you might want to remove the trigger guard to use the FAMAS sideway and without your finger getting caught in anything because of the higher recoil.
@bobhill3941 as a die hard Perfect Dark lover (literally use the screen-name dark2023 everywhere else for decades) I honestly have to say, the rotating to the right on the super dragon is... bizarre. In real life you'd usually rotate to the left, or just brace the rifle against the ground.
Poichigeon The French have a proud fighting history and that's coming from a Brit. Of course, their Navy never got the better of ours despite being gallant and we never fought the entire might of Napoleon's grande armee. When we did fight the French on land, we tended to do so at a time and place of our choosing. And it was the Navy that let us do that, so I tend to regard derogatory comments about the French as being ill informed.
George Morley Pre ww2 jokes perhaps. But presence of France during Germany surrender signing as "victor" was an insult to brits, Americans and soviets.
Absolutely loved this weapon. I've also had the pleasure of watching soldiers from other countries Nato/US and the looks on their faces said everything. Absolute joy to fire almost no recoil - almost like a toy. The only small issue was that you could swap everything around from left to right (I was left eye dominant) HOWEVER the switch for automatic next to the trigger could not be converted which meant that for automatic you had to pull it towards you which made it slower to arm in Automatic Very well explained
10:19 I like you video, but as a former French military Officer, I have to disagree on that part. One main reason Americans think you need more "training" to be just as efficient with a bullpup is mainly because most of them do learn on guns like the AR-15. So as soon as they have to practice on a different gun (with different ergonomics), the whole muscle memory need to be adjusted. Most of French military learn guns with the FAMAS and therefore become efficient just as fast as Americans with an AR-15. It's just a matter of muscle memory and if the FAMAS would be the first and only gun you would learn and practice, the whole "learning curve" debate doesn't apply. We can of course discuss on what could be more practical, more efficient, etc... but the whole "learning curve" argument between one platform or the other doesn't exist when you do learn first on one platform from the beginning. And this is not particular to the FAMAS, it could also be true for Israeli military with the Tavor, or Austrian and Australian militaries with the AUG, etc...
Absolutamente! I have been on both training and deployment together with French troops since 1982, last time in 2016 in Mali, as well as several times with British troops (Para/RM), cross training on both their FAMAS as well as L85 bullpups. It's all a matter how you are trained, and if you are properly trained, you are just as fast on reloading as with a "standard" rifle. And if properly trained to operate in the first place (and not just American "spray and pray", the time to change a magazine becomes even less of an issue.
@@TheRealRedRooster Idk.His reloads are applicable. If you are that used to something you will be faster. Of course you will most likely be slower because of stress of a real situation but you should be training with your gun to be faster and more accurate. Doesnt matter if it's a combat situation, you should train to be more than proficient with your gun. No use going to a range that only let's you shoot after every 10 seconds.
I had to look him up and all I see is him running around in (T)short and pants. Try that in a combat zone, with body armor and a full webbing, in rough terrain, while someone's shooting at you. That is the real world, and he will fail miserably with his gimmicks
17:45 The initial idea was to use the first pin (and that's why it's removable) to be sure you can completely disassembly the FAMAS even if you don't have anything else (including no ammo).
Used this rifle quite extensively, it’s a darn good rifle, none of my comrades ever really complained about it (soldiers always complain a bit but not that much) it’s precise, sturdy, and easy to field strip, the size of it makes it perfect for paratroopers. It’s quite comfortable to shoot too. I’ve used both the F1, the G2, and the last iteration with the félin system (the g2 truly is the best..) I am so angry our politicians made us change for the 416, this is only about economic interests, we could have improved the Famas, not only would it have been great for the Mas (manufacture d’armes de saint etienne) and conserve French jobs, but our whole army is used to function and train with the bullpup styled gun, everything needs to be learned again .. the 416 is honnestly good but not better that the G2 tbh
ive been thinking about this for a long time now... soldiers from other armies find bullpups awkward because they are trained on traditional rifles. austrians and french for example, or anyone who has spent time with bullpups will perform well. but now that theres HK416 and FAMAS is on second duty roles, whole mass of active servicemen will basically need to learn how to shoot well and reload fast again.
The concern is that these weapons were thirty or even forty years old for some and that the stock of spare parts was running out. It would have been very expensive to do it again. And then the FAMAS F1 was built around 480,000 units plus subsequent constructions. The French army is no longer a conscription army and we no longer need so many rifles. Ask yourself the question: Which is the most profitable? Buy a rifle off the shelf for around 100,000 pieces? or spend years and millions of dollars in R&D for just 100,000 parts? Although annoying the choice seems rational to me.
Never shot it but that rifle has some really cool features; a true ambidextrous option, bipod, semi, 3rnd burst & full auto. light and compact. I like it!
I was part of the French army while it was still in service and I can't lie I love it light short and whit the right training you can fix any miss fire
27:31 In France, .223/5.56x45 is considered as one of the 5 "war calibers" (as well as 5.45x39, 7.62x39, .50BMG and 14.5 Russian). To own a firearms in this caliber, it does require now to be part of a shooting club and request an authorisation with some paperwork (similar to NFA). It's mainly to avoid that civilians could use military ammo in time of war. For the same reason regarding guns and gun parts, a lot of .223 guns (not only FAMAS but also AR-15) are often converted into .222 Rem which is classified as a Hunting caliber.
Is 7.62x51 NATO (.308 winchester) a war caliber in France? In some countries that can't use 7.62 nato/ .308, the "necked-down" .243 is popular. The .243 round was also popular with some US Police SWAT Snipers for a little while.
308 is not a war caliber anymore. Since september 2013 you can use 308 (7,62x51), 30-06, 7,5MAS , 8mm Lebel, and other similar ordnance calibers for hunting as long as you use a hunt adapted bullet (no FMJ)
thepezfeo As François already mentioned above, since the new 2013 gun law, some of the "war calibers" previously restricted are now available, including for hunting. It does include the .308 Win, as well as 7.62x54R, .303 Brits, 7.5x55 Swiss, 7.5 French, .30-06, .243 Win, 8x57 an many of other calibers that were already classified as "Hunting" calibers. That's also open the door now to allow purchase of milsurp such Mosin, K31, Lee Enfield, Mauser, MAS, etc... (but no FMJ for hunting purpose of course). .243 Win is very popular in Europe too, as well as other neck-down .308 such .260 Rem or 7-08 Rem. In Europe the 8x57 Mauser and 6.5x55 Swedish are also two very popular calibers, including for Hunting. I know, sometimes those gun laws don't make sense and look quite complicated (and they surely are), so I hope our comments could help to understand them better. If you have any question, feel free to ask :)
Tremendously sturdy and reliable piece of gun. It was the first assault rifle I’ve fired back in 93’ and it worked flawlessly , paired with Hirtenberger ammo it never Jammed in burst nor at full auto ( which is quite quick cycle about 1200 rpm) . It feels solid and well made at the time , very compact and comfortable , small to carry around . I ve then tried others and will always prefer the bull pup to the regular ones , even the G36 which is quite a piece . At the time I was astonished how well worked this rifle . Good review Ian!
Thank you, Ian, for a very interesting video. I remember firing this weapon when I did my military service in 1991/1992. I fired it in the firing range, where it was a nice weapon to fire with. I was not a great shooter with the MAS 49/56, but, I managed to put repeatedly 10 out of 10 bullets in a kneed man target at 200 meters (220 yards.) Recoil was OK, and I don't remember any misfiring problem. I found it very interesting to learn about the principle of the mechanism (delayed blowback.) I remember seeing also some improvements in the last years of this weapon in France (thanks to plan Vigipirate.) Many FAMAS had Picatinny rails installed and a sort of all-around grip (a bit like the Marine version, not the same exactly.) For speaking in French, A for effort and good job at trying but you need to improve your accent. Keep trying, French is such a beautiful language.
I have used both the G36 and FAMAS as service rifles. And without the crappy magazines it is not that bad of a rifle. It is very accurate and super handy and balanced. I have never had any problems with the trigger. Sure it was not as good as on the G36, but good enough to shoot very accurately at 300 - 400 m. The military version also does not have the quick adjustable rear sight. It was fixed to 300 m, which worked fine due to low trajectory of 5,56. I dont trust the locking of the mechanism though. On an exercise, where we shot a lot without cleaning, the bolt must have opened to early, because the hammer was then burried deeply into the plastic over the hammer spring, making the rifle useless and non repairable in the field. Maybe it was faulty ammunition or the age of the rifle. But since then, I do not trust it anymore. I want a bullpup G36!
The G36 is from 1997, making it barely 2 decades old, and is FAR fro outdated. The HK416 is basically a G36 retrofitted into an AR platform. Funny how you talk about the Masada/ACR/XCR, because it's the rifle that basically lost to the 416 in the US trials for a replacement for the M16/M4 in 2007.
***** 2decades old and 3decades technically outdated. Im not saying at all its a bad Rifle compared to other. Im just saying a bullpup G36 wouldnt be worth at all to adopt. In a few years new ammonition types come in cylindrical polymer cartridge with sicnificant higher performance, in completly diffrent weapon mechanic. So waisting a shitton of money, material, logistic burden, for a G36 bullpup is just stupid.
Johannes von' Strauch \Liandri_Development_Group/ "2decades old and 3decades technically outdated." So you're saying that the short-stroke gas piston system is outdated... Makes total sense since there's been a lot of "updating" on the rifles and carbines that featured direct gas impingement system to short stroke pistons, especially now that there are so many new ammunition types coming. I'm looking forward to seeing these new and innovative systems you're talking of. Oh wait... They're probably just going to change the bolt and barrel on these "new" systems, and keep using gas piston system in the future... ;)
Christ, I'm not too fond of guns, but I'll be damned if these videos aren't really interesting. I really love how in-depth you go with these guns. Keep it up, dude.
I love these rifles, mostly because of how they looks. I like the aesthetic. This willingness to be distracted by appearance has caused me no end of problems with women.
"Huh?!? What was that noise?" Oh.. it was just Ian explaining the $#&! outta this French bullpup masterpiece. Best military rifle used in a video game EVER!!!! !
This is such a pure and wholesome comment section, don't wanna jinx it but you really have to admire the fact that there really isn't much, if any, negativity going on.
FYI: In the military version, the barel has a mobile piece so you can set the range for the barel grenade launcher. You aim with the little plastic thing in front of the arming lever (you rotate it). There is also another grenade launcher aming sight on the kind of square stuff on the above. The pistol grip is empty so you can put an oil bottle and cleaning tools in. To switch between semi-auto and automatic fire, you rotate the safety lever to the left (semi) or to the right (auto or 3 rds burst is you rotate a button underneath the stock). I writing it at the start of the video so Ian might say it during the video
At least it ain’t a bullpup There are good Bullpup rifles and it definitely has its upsides but it’s so awkward and unnatural to handle especially in a battle field that the fact they were so widely adopted by different military’s is a little shocking
+Forgotten Weapons yes, I've seen the video, but I mean with the EM1, EM2, XL64 and SA80, or if you can't get your hands on most of the weapons, just go over one and talk about the rest?
+Scott7891 then how did he get a video of one before and firing it? civilians in the UK can't own fully or semi automatic firearms (apart from .22 which we can have in semi automatic and all types of shotguns)
Desantos123 UK EM2 was imported before the 1968 Gun Control Act banning imports of machineguns. Not many were imported since they were not very popular, expensive, and the amount of bureaucratic red tape to acquire one. My comment was directed more towards post-1968 British bullpups particularly SA-80 which none at least for civilians were ever imported for.
Couple of points - the serial number has a B suffix because it's the B model, there is an A model. If memory serves (and I may be wrong), the A model is the FA MAS Civil, which has a 570mm barrel and is chambered in .222 Remington for the French market. Prior to 1992 you could buy one in France with just a hunting licence or FFTir licence because it was Category 5 (the EFD put it into Category 4, thus requiring you to join a gun club and get a licence). Second point - you don't need a super fast twist to stabilize SS109, iirc FN designed it to work out of 1/12 because that's all there was at the time. Mathematically, a 1/11 twist is ideal for a bullet that long, the super fast twists were intended for the much longer L110 tracer bullet.
+Forgotten Weapons Hi from France. I'm going to join the french army reserve (mountain troops) and I wanted to find a video about the FAMAS to familiarize a little with the weapon before my formation this spring . Let me tell you that your presentation video is very instructive and complete. It is probably the best one I found. You got yourself a new subscriber ;)
One oft neglected advantage of bullpups is how handy they are in ...one hand. Your forearm braces the receiver and you can still aim and fire one handed if needs be
As a shooter of FAMAS, i would say...nyoes. Because i can't guarantee that after the first ammo shoot the slide will stay straight forward. When I clean it it easily go left and right. So yes but you could have to manually adjust it after the first round fired.
I've been interested in the famas for a very long time, it's a very unique and iconic rifle. However something I would like to point out, at 13:30 you stated the famas has a 300 yard, 400 yard, and 500 yard zeroing. This confuses me - would it not be meters instead of yards? France uses the metric system. Perhaps I'm wrong so please correct me if I am.
@ Forgotten Weapons . French Army adopt a new Assault Rifle , the HK 416 F . The HK 416 F will start operating from 2017 onwards. Thank you for your videos. Merci beaucoup !
23:10 I can also see the shock absorber is missing in the plastic stock. In the military version, there's a shock absorber in the stock to lower the level of recoil.
In the French army in 1994 I was given a MAT49 and as the base idiot (the tallest of the section), a AA52 machine gun. But I was allowed to shoot the FAMAS once, man it was a great gun, I loved the x3 shooting that would not let me go loose on the magazine and waste it in 10 seconds. Accuracy nothing to see with the MAT49, and sooo light! Really great gun!
18:35 you can force all you want, it wont come off unless you pull the arming trigger a bit back and let it rest on the thingy. It's the trigger is locked, you can't take the pin out. Same for putting it back.
for us guys just getting into firearms when you reference a gun not in the video, can you briefly show a picture of the gun somewhere on screen. thank you love the videos.
Hey Ian! French here, glad to have subscribed! So yeah, this rifle is a VERY rare bird indeed. It is not very common in FIRING condition. A bunch have been neutralised and will never fire again. It's also a rare bird because the M.A.S no longer exist, unfortunatly... Not a lot have been MADE at all, it was never a hudge success. We no longer have a restriction on the caliber, and a .223 is now available. It is quite recent, only 3 years since the legislation changed. The restriction even concerned calibers as the 30-40 krag, which was still considered a military caliber ^^ Glad you could make us have a look at the inside of one of these! Since conscription is no longer a thing, I never had the opportunity to have one of those in my hands... So THANKS for the great work, please continue to make us explore the world of the forgotten or rare weapons, you have an awesome channel!
Was in the french army for a bit. The famas is a good sturdy, uncomfy rifle and accurate (as long as the ammo is adequate,..............). The night sights were removed because radioactive. The letter after the serial number is for "updates", B(removal of the tritium on the night sight in this update if I recall properly and the whole night sight later) is an update of the A, and so on up to F for the F1. Fun fact about the buffer in the buttstock: It can wear down up to the point that the spring of the buffer shoots forward through the big plastic screw.
This gun is replaced only for economical contract with germany and by peoples who never handed a firearm, this is just politics, not because it’s needed or because bullpup is bad (a lot of country go to bullpup now, because this is probably the future). Just for the clarification.
Yeah, keep telling that to yourself. The HK 416 is just a better rifle than the Famas. It's more modular, more reliable and more accurate. I know a lot of people got upset because the military adopted a gun that's not made in France, but is there even a French company that still makes military firearms?
@@blarfroer8066 all french weapons manufacturers went bankrupt because of politics. (EU bullshit) The 416 is not adapted to our military, and the Famas has defaults and qualities that the 416 does not have. And it does not worth to abandon that firearm, the Famas does it's job really well, but it's not up to french military to decide. And now we lose our autonomy on small caliber rifles.
@@sentinel8534 the EU definitely is not a particularly good thing for firearm manufacturers, but please elaborate on those qualities the Famas supposedly has over the 416? I'm not trying to offend you, I'm just curious. Apart from the obvious bullpup perk, which is barrel length compared to overall length.
@@blarfroer8066 Bullpup, a good choice for modern combat (urban). The rifle can be used by left handed and right handed people, you only need to change some pieces. It's versatile and have a good maniability, good in CQB and in mid range. 4.2 kilogramms when loaded with 31 rounds. Ability to have a rifle grenades. (Alidades de tir courbe). It's pretty easy to learn how to use it. Very accurate at 200 - 400. But have a few defaults : You must clean it more often that a conventional rifle (ar/ak type). Different mags than other 5.56 mags. It can jams under shitty conditions (desert). It's a bit to tricky on how to clean it and change pieces. And a little tricky when you must reload it when it jams. That's approximately everything on the Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Arme de Saint étienne. And as far as I know, the VHS-1 & VHS-2 from croatian military are based on the Famas. I admit that HK 416 is good, but not adapted for our military (They don't know how to properly use it, lel).
I mean, the 416 is good but even it’s probably not the best. That shit is far too weighty for what it is. If anything, I think they should have just went with the C7/C8 it they wanted an AR-esq rifle. That or just try and update the Famas again. I mean really, it doesn’t have THAT many problems.
Little detail, as said this rifle is easy to convert from left to right handed shooter, but the safety is not. If you're right handed, when you put your finger on the trigger it's "automatically" pushing the safety lever toward full-auto/burst mode. If you're left handed, it's going to semi-auto mode instead. That's for the military version. We were told that's this way because more people are right-handed, and when you have to fire the rifle fast you simply put your finger on the trigger and it's in full-auto and you can spray bullets all around the quickest possible. (Source : Conscript in the french army quite some time ago )
Given that the handguard is inches away from the trigger guard, what is mostly done is using the weak hand to use the selector, takes no time really (I might add that I'm currently in service in the French army)
5 лет назад+5
22,27 We used to call the ejector "la tete de Mickey", Mickey's head, and after cleaning the gun, I never remembered which side ejects the brass left or right!
Its called a "lever de amplificator de inertie". And the cheek piece is called "apui joue". If you loose the cheek piece, which is not hard to do, you wont have to shave the next day because you wont have any hair and or skin on that side of your face. Also, When I was there, we were using brass cased and it looked like 55 grain ball. Of course this is before 62 grain and fast twist rates. But the "brass" was actual brass. The lever was also prone to picking up dirt as the ejection side was exposed. They were really susceptible to dirt and grit. The rifle grenades were shot either standing or like a mortar bracing the butt with the toe of your boot (Ranger). Shooting a grenade from the standing position was probably the hardest kick I ever got from a rifle. The accuracy of the grenade at about 100 meters was o.k. But it dropped like a stone Used grenade blanks. Training blanks had a particular star pattern on the crimp and the grenade blanks had a different number of points on the crimp.There was a little gas port that you had to turn off too. The grenade sights were flip up and they reminded me of a M-79. It had a "dial a yardage" button on the barrel. Like he said it was ribbed and the button had a button (ha!) and you moved it to what ever yardage you were going to shoot. In the standing position you maxed it out. At the range i shoot a 2.5 inch group at 200 meters. What is that? Like 8cm. Anyway, its been a long time and watching this video brought back a lot of memories from my younger, stronger and dumber days....I mean who goes and does that stuff?!!
Ah ah, and this explains why only 4 countries in the world have not adopted the metric system, including USA. A vast hypocrisy since scientists and searchers, NASA, aviation, doctors, engineers...pretty much any industry that uses mathematics is using the metric system.
@C-Bomb smart enough to use both? rarely you see an american who can use both so please get out of your bubble and come into the real world. you're just a bunch of uneducated hillbillies
I bought a air-soft version of this as a kid. It really is ergonomic and the way they fit the barrel is ingenious. Hopefully one day I can buy a real one.
I remember a change of command ceremony in Germany in 1985 where the French contingent had their Famas. I was the NCO in charge of the setup detail so I got to watch from the sidelines. The French troops carried their weapons slung diagonally across their chests. It made for interesting ceremonial drill variation when the order was given to "present arms." The French would simply slap their hands on the weapon while the Americans and Germans did the lift and twist maneuver we were trained to do.
It's the last for a reason. The FAMAS is incredibly unreliable, and it shreds brass casings so it can't share NATO ammo. Also the carry handle is just so stupid. Whoever thought it'd be a good idea to put your sight plane further from the barrel needs to be shot. Oh wait, they can't, 'cause the guns keep missing due to their terrible sight planes.
Just to say, the rotating trigger arcade was really useful with the rifle grenades, to avoid destroying your fingers. Because you could shoot them like a mortar, with the stock on the ground.
You obviously have an appropriate level of respect for the FAMAS. I don't know anything about guns, but it's always one of my favourites in games. I would like to think it's well represented, and a great gun.
I love the Famas :3 if the G2 made as many improvements as stated in the video then it probably would make a pretty decent civilian rifle in everyone's fantasy zombie Apocalypse.
Interesting video, thank you. I had read about the FAMAS in some late 1980's gun rag and they generally described the lever delay on the action. I always pictured some sort of 4-6" lever with a heavy spring, based upon what I read. surprised to see what the actual lever delay system looks like... I love this stuff!
About the steel cases, they were used until the end of 90s. They were perfect for the FAMAS (because made in France and therefore designed fot the FAMAS). Then, our government had the "great" idea to buy ammunitions with brass cases (from the UAE I think) to save money, closed the steel case ammunition factory and then, the problems started. They tried to do something with the FAMAS "revalorisé" (upgraded), to be used with the FELIN system. The barrel can now use NATO bullets and they bought better ammunitions.
If on the FAMAS the trigger gard can rotate it's because when you shoot a grenade in curve shot the trigger gard can cut the shooter's finger , but yes some guys use it for shoot with gloves too (forgot my bad english)
if any Metal Gear fans are still confused by Solid Snakes line "Their carrying Five-five-sixers and pineapples..." the Pineapples are obviously referencing the gag name for classic style fragmentation grenades but the other refers to rifles firing 5.56 NATO ammunition.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Only a bloody Frenchman would make a rifle with three round burst, but has a magazine capacity that isn't divisible by three.
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus sounds French all right
Ce n’est pas faux...
french magic means the last bullet divides itself into three before all three pieces get launched together
@@wiryantirta french magic is best magic 😂
Patria Nostra
Haven't heard of that yet.
I know that some rifle magazines were not filled to capacity to deal with feeding isuses, like the Bren gun (I think the loaded only 28 rounds). But I assumed this was only because the Bren originaly fired a rimmed cartrige.
I thought that rimmless cartriges don't cause those issues and so there would be no need to not fill up the magazines.
Can you expand on why combat troops suposedly - I say "suposedly" because right now your word is the only information I have on this - do this?
One of the things I really enjoy about Ian is he doesn't pretend to "know everything" about the firearm. He does say I don't know, when he doesn't know.
But he usually knows lol
That is exactly what I love about him and this channel. I wish more youtubers could use the words "I don't know"
@@hoppityhares2597 I wish more people in general would say "I dont know" more often. A lot of people just pretend knowing something they dont and talk a lot of bullshit just because they cant admit not knowing something
Yeah. He is a modest guy just explaining guns and doesn`t try to boss around with his knowledge. Some people have knowledge or experience but are too bossy and that keeps me from regularly watching their posts.
I know what you mean!! 😆
I'm going to answer a question that's everybody keeps asking: why are the French not making magazines that hold a multiple of 3 rounds ?
Question: WHY NOT HOLD A MULTIPLE OF 3 ROUNDS ?
Answer: on the last burst, you will not get the usual 3 rounds, indicating that this is the last burst.
It is waaaaaay more prudent to have the last burst different so that the soldiers know it's the last burst, that having no difference.
If the last burst is the same, a soldier can potentially miscount his bursts and have an empty weapon thinking he can still shoot, very dangerous assumption in the heat of combat !
This is why the last burst, being different, will indicate "this is your last burst soldier, please reload !".
The French military have thoug it through be assured.
Man I feel like an idiot for not thinking of that reason earlier. Smart stuff!
Stupid and clever at the same time really
Anthony J. That’s the exact reason why semi auto rifle mags aren’t divisible by one
@@zadotterazo690 What?
or to indicate that its time to retreat
Forgetten Weapons video on a Russian/american/german rifle: 10min long
Forgotten Weapons video on a French Rifle: Half an hour
And?
@@leviops4244 isajoke
Our love for french weapons
French Bias Confirmed?
french weapons are a mess in every way, they’re most complex (usually in a bad way) thats maybe why
You forgot to mention another major adopter of the FAMAS, the Genome Army
Pineapples
You havent take the safety off rookie!
I was just searching, and searching.. for the first Metal Gear reference ( ! )
Thank you.
They were using G2’s with F1 magazines
"Five-five-sixers and pineapples..."
Love watching Ian. He's the Bob Ross of firearms hostory.
Excuse me? he's gun Jesus.
Paul Harrell is the Bob Ross of guns
hickock45 is
Perhaps, but Bob Ross would have never survived much less signed up for Finnish Brutality.
When you mentioned the EM2 I went on google to look up what it looks like (never seen one) and of course the first photo is you holding one.
Haha Pro move
That’s googles targeted media for you
does this guy live in rock island auction house?
For small portions of the year preceding a regional or premier auction, Yes. And we are all better for it.
xD
awesome idea :D
He bathes in gun lubricant everyday.
He lives in Arizona so he volunteers to be cryogenically frozen. French guns automatically reawaken him from his phoney war hibernation whlile Karl cackles and warms his hands around a Kar 98 :o
I learnt more about the famas in this video than I did in over 3 and half years of being issued with it! But then again I did all my basic training without understanding a single word of French.
French foreign legion ?
@@hapdf most probably
What regiment since you only used it for 3½ year, must be 13th since they were the first getting the 416F.
I never had any problems learning about my FAMAS even if I did not know any French either, my point is that you pick it up later.
Hold up, the FFL accept people who doesn't speak french?!
Now, where do i put my passport....
@@thesturm8686 it's honestly kind of their stick. They'll take non Frenchie's and turn them into fire spitting french speaking warriors.
And then zey send them to do all the military missions no one else wants to.
Thank's for taking an unbiased look at the FAMAS as this truly was a marvel of engineering for the time and while bullpup has its cons the FAMAS is exceptionally well balanced and actually quickly grows on you !
Once you get all the plastic off that gun really is tiny and so "simple"-looking.
Amazing engineering.
No kidding, pretty neat.
it would be quite nice if they trimmed it down a bit wouldn't it. I believe delayed blowback rifles are sub par compared to gas guns, but there's something about the simplicity of them that I really like.
the only thing i dont like about it is the carry handle and the bipod... i find it obnoxiously huge if they got rid of that added a rail on top level with the charging handle and changed the charging handle to be a bit smaller with a better profile id love it
I'm not much of a gun nut but man, something about the general bulpup design gets me. It's so sleek and looks so futuristic. I'm not sure how practical it is, but damn does it look awesome.
Bullpups are meh.
Not true bullputs are awesome, it's the future of assault rifles
There is a significant potential drawback/risk with bullpup weapons. Though they are rare, if you have a catastrophic failure with the gun (aka it goes from gun to grenade), that explosion literally happens right in your face. Maybe I'm being a bit timid, but I know better than taunt Murphy.
Bullpup design is useful for Urban and Jungle combat, where the length of barrel may get in the way of movement in confine space. Many countries are using bullpup - Austria, France, China, Israel, India, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore etc. And some of those countries which adopted them are going back to conventional rifle platforms. New Zealand is replacing its Austeyr AUGs with an AR variant. France is replacing the FAMAS with the HK416. Chinese Marines found the QB-95 lacking, so the conventional platform QBZ-03 was developed for their use. Even the British were ready to abandon the L85. There are advantage to bullpup rifles over conventional platforms, and there are disadvantages. Each country weighs and measures their requirements for a service rifle, and selects the one they feel suits their needs the best overall. I have used the bullpup and M16-A1 during my national service. The real advantage is the shorter length but I found that changing magazines in the dark is slow.
French army is going to replace it with hk416s
This is one of the best channels I've ever seen.
I love your calmness, the technicality and the time you take to explain things.
Also your content is very different from the others. Not blowing things up all the time.
Thanks for your effort and dedication
You're great Ian!!
Ancien Fusilier Marin, j'ai eu plaisir à utiliser cet arme formidable. Vive la France! 🇨🇵
Memories... I remember not thinking much of it when I got #83991 handed to me at Saint-Cyr, mostly because of all the plastic parts. And then we went to the shooting range, prone position, five rounds, 100, 200, 300 meters... looking at the result I turned to full respect for my rifle.
The bayonet on a bullpup never looks right to me.
yeah kinda defeats the purpose of the whole shorter build
how? you don't have to have it on it permanently...
+Hunter Rodrigez defeats the purpose until you're out of ammo and they're closing in lol
Uryendel the extra length of the blade defeats the purpose of the short build... And the short build means you have a lot less range with the bayonet and longer range than a knife is the whole point of a bayonet
I mean yeah it might come in handy at some point but overall it's probably more trouble than its worth
+Hunter Rodrigez I'm talking last ditch effort to save your life :P
Glad you chose to do the FAMAS. There is too little video about these gun.
The gun is extremely rare outside the french army, that's why
Theres somewhere between 100-300 of them in the country total
About 1,000 FAMAS in 222 and 223 Remington were built for civilians before the french state's ban.
Yeah noone has done a full auto mag dump with it as far as I can tell. And I so wanna see that.
i think that when french army will use the hk 416, they will sell all their weapons to the usa like they did for the mas 49/56, or sell it to another country
Ian: The first bullpup weapon adopted by a major military power was, obviously-
Me: The AUG!
Ian: -the EM2
Me: Shit.
adopted by a "Major Military Power" also
@@mercantile1803
...yeah, for the blink of an eye. Adopted and unadopted quickly to stay friendly with the US by adopting 7.62 NATO cartridge...
@@onpsxmember Which when all the WWII generals died/retired everyone and their mother realized 'Oh fuck the M14 ain't it' to the surprise of nobody in NATO except the US
first bullpup made, not adopted.
The AK47 and its variants such as RPK is quite widely used!
I remember the FAMAS being my favorite weapon in Counter-Strike when I was younger because of the burst fire. Finding out it was a crutch for noobs both in game and in real life is somehow both cutting and reassuring.
The early to mid 1980's was a great period for firearms and collectors per se. When I was in college, my mother got me a FAMAS for my 25th birthday. She knew I wanted one so bad, but as a college student I was rich in knowledge and very poor financially. I was quite lucky, since roughly 250 to 300 were subsequently imported. I believe my Mom paid roughly $1,050.00. I had an idea these would be collectible, hence I rarely fired it. I figured my FMAS was worth approximately $5k. I saw that the example in the video sold for $21,850.00. I never imagined this bullpup would go for that much. I have a pretty extensive collection. I've been collective/buying since circa 1982. I also have two FN-FNC. When I got one to fire a lot...still one of my favorite rifles to shoot. And shortly after that purchase, I bought another one...which has been fired only 200 rounds. During the 80's got a HK 93&94 and a bunch of other stuff. It's an addiction I can live with.
@Fagot Reich And im pretty sure a famas cost the same as a decent down payment on a car
You should be thanking your lucky stars your mom bought you a 1.5 million dollar anything
That’s so awesome. You’re mom is absolutely cool as hell!! I’m jealous, but very happy for you lol
Please adopt me! Haha
Sure. This is really believable.
Gėnial! Merci Monsieur Ian. I've never heard an in-depth overview in English of this unusual weapon. It's pretty iconic, in France at least.
Is it only used by Military in France? Or has Law enforcement agencies started to use it?
@@johnbacon4997 I doubt it. Cool as it would be to see SWAT teams using the FAMAS, there's much better options these days. I could be wrong, but if you had to choose between an HK416 or a quirky, aging bullpup rifle like this, you'd probably go with the newer, lighter and more reliable gun with parts in regular production.
@@AdamBorseti thanks for the response dude!
@@AdamBorseti now were you speaking as a Frenchman or for the Frenchmen? Because I'll tell you one thing, if we, the people and most importantly soldiers really had the choice, the Germans would have been told to fuck right off with their AR15.
I was always curious about this gun, ever since I saw it in MGS1.
"Five, five, sixers and pineapples".
MGS is one of the reasons I got a HK.
haha yes !
I want nothing more than a gigantic, Desert Eagle sized handgun in .45 ACP with an outdated Light/Laser and suppressor.
+akavich19 You mean a Mark 23? They are massive... and as awesome as you think.
***** Ok.
15:38 This is not only for the glove size, but also when you use the grenade launcher, you might want to remove the trigger guard to use the FAMAS sideway and without your finger getting caught in anything because of the higher recoil.
Thanks for confirming that the grenade launcher is fired sideways. This shows that RARE got the mechanics right in Perfect Dark.
@bobhill3941 as a die hard Perfect Dark lover (literally use the screen-name dark2023 everywhere else for decades) I honestly have to say, the rotating to the right on the super dragon is... bizarre. In real life you'd usually rotate to the left, or just brace the rifle against the ground.
@@dark2023-1lovesoni thanks for the insight. As a 13 year old, I just thought it looked cool.
No jokes on French army's surrender, my faith in humanity is restored :)
I delete them all.
Forgotten Weapons Then thank you, make the comment section a better place to exange :)
Because I find them un-funny.
Poichigeon The French have a proud fighting history and that's coming from a Brit. Of course, their Navy never got the better of ours despite being gallant and we never fought the entire might of Napoleon's grande armee. When we did fight the French on land, we tended to do so at a time and place of our choosing. And it was the Navy that let us do that, so I tend to regard derogatory comments about the French as being ill informed.
George Morley Pre ww2 jokes perhaps. But presence of France during Germany surrender signing as "victor" was an insult to brits, Americans and soviets.
Absolutely loved this weapon. I've also had the pleasure of watching soldiers from other countries Nato/US and the looks on their faces said everything. Absolute joy to fire almost no recoil - almost like a toy.
The only small issue was that you could swap everything around from left to right (I was left eye dominant) HOWEVER the switch for automatic next to the trigger could not be converted which meant that for automatic you had to pull it towards you which made it slower to arm in Automatic
Very well explained
10:19 I like you video, but as a former French military Officer, I have to disagree on that part. One main reason Americans think you need more "training" to be just as efficient with a bullpup is mainly because most of them do learn on guns like the AR-15. So as soon as they have to practice on a different gun (with different ergonomics), the whole muscle memory need to be adjusted. Most of French military learn guns with the FAMAS and therefore become efficient just as fast as Americans with an AR-15. It's just a matter of muscle memory and if the FAMAS would be the first and only gun you would learn and practice, the whole "learning curve" debate doesn't apply. We can of course discuss on what could be more practical, more efficient, etc... but the whole "learning curve" argument between one platform or the other doesn't exist when you do learn first on one platform from the beginning. And this is not particular to the FAMAS, it could also be true for Israeli military with the Tavor, or Austrian and Australian militaries with the AUG, etc...
Absolutamente! I have been on both training and deployment together with French troops since 1982, last time in 2016 in Mali, as well as several times with British troops (Para/RM), cross training on both their FAMAS as well as L85 bullpups.
It's all a matter how you are trained, and if you are properly trained, you are just as fast on reloading as with a "standard" rifle. And if properly trained to operate in the first place (and not just American "spray and pray", the time to change a magazine becomes even less of an issue.
@@TheRealRedRooster True unless you are reloading like lucas botkin. Fasted dude I've watched
Sorry, I was talking about real world scenario, in a situation where it seriously counts, not some gun range stunt...
@@TheRealRedRooster Idk.His reloads are applicable. If you are that used to something you will be faster. Of course you will most likely be slower because of stress of a real situation but you should be training with your gun to be faster and more accurate. Doesnt matter if it's a combat situation, you should train to be more than proficient with your gun. No use going to a range that only let's you shoot after every 10 seconds.
I had to look him up and all I see is him running around in (T)short and pants. Try that in a combat zone, with body armor and a full webbing, in rough terrain, while someone's shooting at you. That is the real world, and he will fail miserably with his gimmicks
17:45 The initial idea was to use the first pin (and that's why it's removable) to be sure you can completely disassembly the FAMAS even if you don't have anything else (including no ammo).
I have a soft spot for Famas. My very first airsoft rifle was a Famas. I think that is one beautiful gun.
Used this rifle quite extensively, it’s a darn good rifle, none of my comrades ever really complained about it (soldiers always complain a bit but not that much) it’s precise, sturdy, and easy to field strip, the size of it makes it perfect for paratroopers. It’s quite comfortable to shoot too.
I’ve used both the F1, the G2, and the last iteration with the félin system (the g2 truly is the best..)
I am so angry our politicians made us change for the 416, this is only about economic interests, we could have improved the Famas, not only would it have been great for the Mas (manufacture d’armes de saint etienne) and conserve French jobs, but our whole army is used to function and train with the bullpup styled gun, everything needs to be learned again ..
the 416 is honnestly good but not better that the G2 tbh
Je suis entièrement d'accord avec vous, le Famas devrait être amélioré, pas abandonné! C'est une décision ridicule !
ive been thinking about this for a long time now... soldiers from other armies find bullpups awkward because they are trained on traditional rifles. austrians and french for example, or anyone who has spent time with bullpups will perform well. but now that theres HK416 and FAMAS is on second duty roles, whole mass of active servicemen will basically need to learn how to shoot well and reload fast again.
The concern is that these weapons were thirty or even forty years old for some and that the stock of spare parts was running out. It would have been very expensive to do it again. And then the FAMAS F1 was built around 480,000 units plus subsequent constructions. The French army is no longer a conscription army and we no longer need so many rifles. Ask yourself the question: Which is the most profitable? Buy a rifle off the shelf for around 100,000 pieces? or spend years and millions of dollars in R&D for just 100,000 parts?
Although annoying the choice seems rational to me.
Never shot it but that rifle has some really cool features; a true ambidextrous option, bipod, semi, 3rnd burst & full auto. light and compact. I like it!
@@olivierpuyou3621 I'd prefer not bending the knee to the Germans
I was part of the French army while it was still in service and I can't lie I love it light short and whit the right training you can fix any miss fire
Wait, if it's got a 3-round burst, why not use 27 round magazines so one can fire 9 3 round bursts instead of 8 bursts and 1 round?
Stealthgato Good point.
Or how about a 30 round mag for 10 three round bursts?
+Stealthgato Even numbers makes things easier!!!
you arent exactly up on how 3rd burst works.
The original mecanism doesn't allow 3 rounds burst, only full auto. that's probably why they didn't care about à 3x factor :)
27:31 In France, .223/5.56x45 is considered as one of the 5 "war calibers" (as well as 5.45x39, 7.62x39, .50BMG and 14.5 Russian). To own a firearms in this caliber, it does require now to be part of a shooting club and request an authorisation with some paperwork (similar to NFA). It's mainly to avoid that civilians could use military ammo in time of war. For the same reason regarding guns and gun parts, a lot of .223 guns (not only FAMAS but also AR-15) are often converted into .222 Rem which is classified as a Hunting caliber.
Is 7.62x51 NATO (.308 winchester) a war caliber in France? In some countries that can't use 7.62 nato/ .308, the "necked-down" .243 is popular. The .243 round was also popular with some US Police SWAT Snipers for a little while.
308 is not a war caliber anymore. Since september 2013 you can use 308 (7,62x51), 30-06, 7,5MAS , 8mm Lebel, and other similar ordnance calibers for hunting as long as you use a hunt adapted bullet (no FMJ)
thepezfeo As François already mentioned above, since the new 2013 gun law, some of the "war calibers" previously restricted are now available, including for hunting. It does include the .308 Win, as well as 7.62x54R, .303 Brits, 7.5x55 Swiss, 7.5 French, .30-06, .243 Win, 8x57 an many of other calibers that were already classified as "Hunting" calibers. That's also open the door now to allow purchase of milsurp such Mosin, K31, Lee Enfield, Mauser, MAS, etc... (but no FMJ for hunting purpose of course). .243 Win is very popular in Europe too, as well as other neck-down .308 such .260 Rem or 7-08 Rem. In Europe the 8x57 Mauser and 6.5x55 Swedish are also two very popular calibers, including for Hunting. I know, sometimes those gun laws don't make sense and look quite complicated (and they surely are), so I hope our comments could help to understand them better. If you have any question, feel free to ask :)
To be honest that sounds pretty smart why allow civilians to be eating the military’s potential ammo in time of war
remember seeing it as a kid in mgs 1 as the primary assault rifle in that game and I loved it ever since and got one as an adult
I love the FAMAS. Simply my favorite rifle.
Tremendously sturdy and reliable piece of gun. It was the first assault rifle I’ve fired back in 93’ and it worked flawlessly , paired with Hirtenberger ammo it never Jammed in burst nor at full auto ( which is quite quick cycle about 1200 rpm) . It feels solid and well made at the time , very compact and comfortable , small to carry around . I ve then tried others and will always prefer the bull pup to the regular ones , even the G36 which is quite a piece . At the time I was astonished how well worked this rifle . Good review Ian!
No you don't prefer the bullpup over the others. You just don't. Unless you want to die
Literally just wanted a video on this gun yesterday.
Haha me too actually :)
You're not the only one :)
I was so happy when the notification showed up
I was so happy when the notification showed up
Hey, nice avatar ;D
Thank you, Ian, for a very interesting video. I remember firing this weapon when I did my military service in 1991/1992. I fired it in the firing range, where it was a nice weapon to fire with. I was not a great shooter with the MAS 49/56, but, I managed to put repeatedly 10 out of 10 bullets in a kneed man target at 200 meters (220 yards.) Recoil was OK, and I don't remember any misfiring problem. I found it very interesting to learn about the principle of the mechanism (delayed blowback.)
I remember seeing also some improvements in the last years of this weapon in France (thanks to plan Vigipirate.) Many FAMAS had Picatinny rails installed and a sort of all-around grip (a bit like the Marine version, not the same exactly.)
For speaking in French, A for effort and good job at trying but you need to improve your accent. Keep trying, French is such a beautiful language.
I have used both the G36 and FAMAS as service rifles. And without the crappy magazines it is not that bad of a rifle. It is very accurate and super handy and balanced. I have never had any problems with the trigger. Sure it was not as good as on the G36, but good enough to shoot very accurately at 300 - 400 m.
The military version also does not have the quick adjustable rear sight. It was fixed to 300 m, which worked fine due to low trajectory of 5,56.
I dont trust the locking of the mechanism though. On an exercise, where we shot a lot without cleaning, the bolt must have opened to early, because the hammer was then burried deeply into the plastic over the hammer spring, making the rifle useless and non repairable in the field. Maybe it was faulty ammunition or the age of the rifle. But since then, I do not trust it anymore.
I want a bullpup G36!
Thanks for sharing this. Always good to hear about military rifles from those who've actually used them in military service.
A G36 bullpup? Completly outdated in every way since atleast 3decades. Just look upt the Stoner ACR and Steyr ACR ...
The G36 is from 1997, making it barely 2 decades old, and is FAR fro outdated.
The HK416 is basically a G36 retrofitted into an AR platform.
Funny how you talk about the Masada/ACR/XCR, because it's the rifle that basically lost to the 416 in the US trials for a replacement for the M16/M4 in 2007.
***** 2decades old and 3decades technically outdated. Im not saying at all its a bad Rifle compared to other. Im just saying a bullpup G36 wouldnt be worth at all to adopt.
In a few years new ammonition types come in cylindrical polymer cartridge with sicnificant higher performance, in completly diffrent weapon mechanic. So waisting a shitton of money, material, logistic burden, for a G36 bullpup is just stupid.
Johannes von' Strauch \Liandri_Development_Group/ "2decades old and 3decades technically outdated."
So you're saying that the short-stroke gas piston system is outdated...
Makes total sense since there's been a lot of "updating" on the rifles and carbines that featured direct gas impingement system to short stroke pistons, especially now that there are so many new ammunition types coming.
I'm looking forward to seeing these new and innovative systems you're talking of.
Oh wait...
They're probably just going to change the bolt and barrel on these "new" systems, and keep using gas piston system in the future... ;)
Christ, I'm not too fond of guns, but I'll be damned if these videos aren't really interesting. I really love how in-depth you go with these guns. Keep it up, dude.
I love these rifles, mostly because of how they looks. I like the aesthetic.
This willingness to be distracted by appearance has caused me no end of problems with women.
Great video. Thank you.
I was surprised, a lot of clever yet ingeniously simple engineering in the Famas.
Only the French would make such a sexy rifle.
Oh lala
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, Amigo. Personally, I don't see beauty when I look at this rifle as I do with the A.U.G. To each his own ... ^v^
And how they got FAMAS so right when British Army cannot get SA85 for twice as long time?
"Huh?!? What was that noise?"
Oh.. it was just Ian explaining the $#&! outta this French bullpup masterpiece.
Best military rifle used in a video game EVER!!!!
!
This is such a pure and wholesome comment section, don't wanna jinx it but you really have to admire the fact that there really isn't much, if any, negativity going on.
FYI: In the military version, the barel has a mobile piece so you can set the range for the barel grenade launcher. You aim with the little plastic thing in front of the arming lever (you rotate it). There is also another grenade launcher aming sight on the kind of square stuff on the above. The pistol grip is empty so you can put an oil bottle and cleaning tools in. To switch between semi-auto and automatic fire, you rotate the safety lever to the left (semi) or to the right (auto or 3 rds burst is you rotate a button underneath the stock). I writing it at the start of the video so Ian might say it during the video
The saddest part about the famas is the fact that it is replaced by the HK416
will be replaced next year
While 416 is a great rifle, it is indeed a shame that the replacement wasn't a new Famas model or at least something French.
@@Mixu. HK is now owned by a french investor.
@@mikepreamp6053 but it's a german gun and they said that they chose this gun only for international diplomacy.
At least it ain’t a bullpup There are good Bullpup rifles and it definitely has its upsides but it’s so awkward and unnatural to handle especially in a battle field that the fact they were so widely adopted by different military’s is a little shocking
Could you do a British Bullpup weapons history video?
ruclips.net/video/_wdhN5_RpX4/видео.html
+Forgotten Weapons yes, I've seen the video, but I mean with the EM1, EM2, XL64 and SA80, or if you can't get your hands on most of the weapons, just go over one and talk about the rest?
They don't exist in the U.S. They were never exported here.
+Scott7891 then how did he get a video of one before and firing it? civilians in the UK can't own fully or semi automatic firearms (apart from .22 which we can have in semi automatic and all types of shotguns)
Desantos123 UK EM2 was imported before the 1968 Gun Control Act banning imports of machineguns. Not many were imported since they were not very popular, expensive, and the amount of bureaucratic red tape to acquire one.
My comment was directed more towards post-1968 British bullpups particularly SA-80 which none at least for civilians were ever imported for.
18:40 tip from french military: pull the charging handle back to remove the bolt pin
Couple of points - the serial number has a B suffix because it's the B model, there is an A model. If memory serves (and I may be wrong), the A model is the FA MAS Civil, which has a 570mm barrel and is chambered in .222 Remington for the French market. Prior to 1992 you could buy one in France with just a hunting licence or FFTir licence because it was Category 5 (the EFD put it into Category 4, thus requiring you to join a gun club and get a licence). Second point - you don't need a super fast twist to stabilize SS109, iirc FN designed it to work out of 1/12 because that's all there was at the time. Mathematically, a 1/11 twist is ideal for a bullet that long, the super fast twists were intended for the much longer L110 tracer bullet.
+Forgotten Weapons Hi from France. I'm going to join the french army reserve (mountain troops) and I wanted to find a video about the FAMAS to familiarize a little with the weapon before my formation this spring . Let me tell you that your presentation video is very instructive and complete. It is probably the best one I found. You got yourself a new subscriber ;)
As used by Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid.
So theoretically could you operate the rifle without the carry handle attached?
Theoretically, yes.
Maybe, if you can get some parts of the Nexter's FELIN upgrade system for FAMAS F1/G2.
One oft neglected advantage of bullpups is how handy they are in ...one hand. Your forearm braces the receiver and you can still aim and fire one handed if needs be
As a shooter of FAMAS, i would say...nyoes.
Because i can't guarantee that after the first ammo shoot the slide will stay straight forward. When I clean it it easily go left and right. So yes but you could have to manually adjust it after the first round fired.
@@romainlapie6362 I think you mean the charging handle, and I agree that it's often occurring
Merci Ian! Ton français est très bon.
Almost three years later, someone has been writing a book about French guns from 1866-2016. Bless him!
Praise gun jesus
I don't much care about Guns, but this dude is pleasant to listen to.
I've been interested in the famas for a very long time, it's a very unique and iconic rifle. However something I would like to point out, at 13:30 you stated the famas has a 300 yard, 400 yard, and 500 yard zeroing. This confuses me - would it not be meters instead of yards? France uses the metric system. Perhaps I'm wrong so please correct me if I am.
Yes it is in meters, mistake from Ian, it is obvious for the reasons you mentioned above, that it is not in yards.
Gun jesus doesn't make mistakes. France has since adopted the imperial system
@@Kickthelighter lol hahaha
Ellie Clarke You are correct, it would be meters, but meters and yards are similar enough in distance so that it would function about the same
Jay's right, it's now illégal to use mètres. I could get in trouble for even typing that.
the french legion uses it,and that tells me much even if i never shoot one of those.great weapon very versatily.good job on it
Ian I'm sure you gonna love the name of the grenade sight, it's called an "alidate de tir courbe".
alidade de tir tendu et alidade de tir vertical
@@Gatto751 Courbe*
@ Forgotten Weapons .
French Army adopt a new Assault Rifle , the HK 416 F . The HK 416 F will start operating from 2017 onwards.
Thank you for your videos.
Merci beaucoup !
I was a conscript in the french army in 1994, the FAMAS I used had single, burst and full-auto modes.
23:10 I can also see the shock absorber is missing in the plastic stock. In the military version, there's a shock absorber in the stock to lower the level of recoil.
Il manque aussi l alidade de tir tendu et courbe :'). C'est un point hyper important sur ce Fusil, pas beaucoup de fusil tir des grenades à fusils :)
It's the civilian sporting version : No Full auto/burst mecanism , no grenade ring on the barrel
nothing like having a snack and watching some forgotten weapons
In the French army in 1994 I was given a MAT49 and as the base idiot (the tallest of the section), a AA52 machine gun. But I was allowed to shoot the FAMAS once, man it was a great gun, I loved the x3 shooting that would not let me go loose on the magazine and waste it in 10 seconds. Accuracy nothing to see with the MAT49, and sooo light! Really great gun!
18:35 you can force all you want, it wont come off unless you pull the arming trigger a bit back and let it rest on the thingy. It's the trigger is locked, you can't take the pin out. Same for putting it back.
for us guys just getting into firearms when you reference a gun not in the video, can you briefly show a picture of the gun somewhere on screen. thank you love the videos.
School time! Its called notes.
@@MatchBookNotes I'd rather not have to pause the video and look up a gun just to see what it looks like
Hey Ian! French here, glad to have subscribed!
So yeah, this rifle is a VERY rare bird indeed. It is not very common in FIRING condition. A bunch have been neutralised and will never fire again. It's also a rare bird because the M.A.S no longer exist, unfortunatly...
Not a lot have been MADE at all, it was never a hudge success.
We no longer have a restriction on the caliber, and a .223 is now available. It is quite recent, only 3 years since the legislation changed.
The restriction even concerned calibers as the 30-40 krag, which was still considered a military caliber ^^
Glad you could make us have a look at the inside of one of these!
Since conscription is no longer a thing, I never had the opportunity to have one of those in my hands...
So THANKS for the great work, please continue to make us explore the world of the forgotten or rare weapons, you have an awesome channel!
Woah.. is that a FAMAS?
No, it's a trapdoor Springfield
No it's a 40 watt phased plasma rifle
Tbh its an Ulan lance
guys u know nothing its actually a double rifle 600 ne
Nah man it's a tub of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
A very unique rifle, that is pretty well liked by those that used them for what they were made for.
Was in the french army for a bit. The famas is a good sturdy, uncomfy rifle and accurate (as long as the ammo is adequate,..............).
The night sights were removed because radioactive.
The letter after the serial number is for "updates", B(removal of the tritium on the night sight in this update if I recall properly and the whole night sight later) is an update of the A, and so on up to F for the F1.
Fun fact about the buffer in the buttstock: It can wear down up to the point that the spring of the buffer shoots forward through the big plastic screw.
This gun is replaced only for economical contract with germany and by peoples who never handed a firearm, this is just politics, not because it’s needed or because bullpup is bad (a lot of country go to bullpup now, because this is probably the future). Just for the clarification.
Yeah, keep telling that to yourself. The HK 416 is just a better rifle than the Famas. It's more modular, more reliable and more accurate.
I know a lot of people got upset because the military adopted a gun that's not made in France, but is there even a French company that still makes military firearms?
@@blarfroer8066 all french weapons manufacturers went bankrupt because of politics. (EU bullshit)
The 416 is not adapted to our military, and the Famas has defaults and qualities that the 416 does not have.
And it does not worth to abandon that firearm, the Famas does it's job really well, but it's not up to french military to decide. And now we lose our autonomy on small caliber rifles.
@@sentinel8534 the EU definitely is not a particularly good thing for firearm manufacturers, but please elaborate on those qualities the Famas supposedly has over the 416? I'm not trying to offend you, I'm just curious. Apart from the obvious bullpup perk, which is barrel length compared to overall length.
@@blarfroer8066 Bullpup, a good choice for modern combat (urban). The rifle can be used by left handed and right handed people, you only need to change some pieces.
It's versatile and have a good maniability, good in CQB and in mid range.
4.2 kilogramms when loaded with 31 rounds.
Ability to have a rifle grenades. (Alidades de tir courbe).
It's pretty easy to learn how to use it.
Very accurate at 200 - 400.
But have a few defaults :
You must clean it more often that a conventional rifle (ar/ak type).
Different mags than other 5.56 mags.
It can jams under shitty conditions (desert).
It's a bit to tricky on how to clean it and change pieces.
And a little tricky when you must reload it when it jams.
That's approximately everything on the Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Arme de Saint étienne.
And as far as I know, the VHS-1 & VHS-2 from croatian military are based on the Famas.
I admit that HK 416 is good, but not adapted for our military (They don't know how to properly use it, lel).
I mean, the 416 is good but even it’s probably not the best. That shit is far too weighty for what it is. If anything, I think they should have just went with the C7/C8 it they wanted an AR-esq rifle. That or just try and update the Famas again. I mean really, it doesn’t have THAT many problems.
Little detail, as said this rifle is easy to convert from left to right handed shooter, but the safety is not. If you're right handed, when you put your finger on the trigger it's "automatically" pushing the safety lever toward full-auto/burst mode. If you're left handed, it's going to semi-auto mode instead. That's for the military version. We were told that's this way because more people are right-handed, and when you have to fire the rifle fast you simply put your finger on the trigger and it's in full-auto and you can spray bullets all around the quickest possible. (Source : Conscript in the french army quite some time ago )
Given that the handguard is inches away from the trigger guard, what is mostly done is using the weak hand to use the selector, takes no time really
(I might add that I'm currently in service in the French army)
22,27 We used to call the ejector "la tete de Mickey", Mickey's head, and after cleaning the gun, I never remembered which side ejects the brass left or right!
Tu as du en péter, des appuie-joue.
Uncommon reviews on this weapon. It is one that I had blittle knowledge about. I appreciate your attention to detail. Thanks for the video.
Its called a "lever de amplificator de inertie". And the cheek piece is called "apui joue". If you loose the cheek piece, which is not hard to do, you wont have to shave the next day because you wont have any hair and or skin on that side of your face. Also, When I was there, we were using brass cased and it looked like 55 grain ball. Of course this is before 62 grain and fast twist rates. But the "brass" was actual brass. The lever was also prone to picking up dirt as the ejection side was exposed. They were really susceptible to dirt and grit. The rifle grenades were shot either standing or like a mortar bracing the butt with the toe of your boot (Ranger). Shooting a grenade from the standing position was probably the hardest kick I ever got from a rifle. The accuracy of the grenade at about 100 meters was o.k. But it dropped like a stone Used grenade blanks. Training blanks had a particular star pattern on the crimp and the grenade blanks had a different number of points on the crimp.There was a little gas port that you had to turn off too. The grenade sights were flip up and they reminded me of a M-79. It had a "dial a yardage" button on the barrel. Like he said it was ribbed and the button had a button (ha!) and you moved it to what ever yardage you were going to shoot. In the standing position you maxed it out. At the range i shoot a 2.5 inch group at 200 meters. What is that? Like 8cm. Anyway, its been a long time and watching this video brought back a lot of memories from my younger, stronger and dumber days....I mean who goes and does that stuff?!!
" levier amplificateur d'inertie" "appuie-joue".
For all the smack people talk about Century, there sure are a lot of cool guns that wouldn't be here if it weren't for them.
27dcx the ones they build suck, imported from a military arsenal is different.
My Dad's a Lefty; he'd effing LOVE this convertible gun!!!
Heck yea, mother lover
"at the time, France had to be different, they always had to be different" Fahrenheit, miles, inches:let us introduce ourselves
Ah ah, and this explains why only 4 countries in the world have not adopted the metric system, including USA. A vast hypocrisy since scientists and searchers, NASA, aviation, doctors, engineers...pretty much any industry that uses mathematics is using the metric system.
@C-Bomb Why would you not want to use a system where every next step is just * 10. Not only for length but also for weight and every other unit.
@C-Bomb smart enough to use both? rarely you see an american who can use both so please get out of your bubble and come into the real world. you're just a bunch of uneducated hillbillies
@C-Bomb hahahaha ! Qui donc a besoin de deux fourchettes pour manger ?
@@lp.shakur pas très gentil.....mais assez juste , finalement !!!
I bought a air-soft version of this as a kid.
It really is ergonomic and the way they fit the barrel is ingenious.
Hopefully one day I can buy a real one.
I remember a change of command ceremony in Germany in 1985 where the French contingent had their Famas. I was the NCO in charge of the setup detail so I got to watch from the sidelines. The French troops carried their weapons slung diagonally across their chests. It made for interesting ceremonial drill variation when the order was given to "present arms." The French would simply slap their hands on the weapon while the Americans and Germans did the lift and twist maneuver we were trained to do.
The LAST French Rifle :( ...
Il n'y a plus que PGM précision qui fait des armes pour notre Armée. snif
frf2 is very efficient too
canicheenrage FRF1 and FRF2 are very différents to the MAS36. Not the same action (much beefy on FRF)
It's the last for a reason.
The FAMAS is incredibly unreliable, and it shreds brass casings so it can't share NATO ammo.
Also the carry handle is just so stupid. Whoever thought it'd be a good idea to put your sight plane further from the barrel needs to be shot.
Oh wait, they can't, 'cause the guns keep missing due to their terrible sight planes.
@@GeorgeCowsert hahaha
Very ingenious weapon.
Thanks a lot for this review
12:18 And the same group of people then complained that it was “too easy to accidentally hit the release” and drop the magazine.
Just to say, the rotating trigger arcade was really useful with the rifle grenades, to avoid destroying your fingers. Because you could shoot them like a mortar, with the stock on the ground.
You obviously have an appropriate level of respect for the FAMAS. I don't know anything about guns, but it's always one of my favourites in games. I would like to think it's well represented, and a great gun.
22:21 The round area of the fire pin with the 2 extractors is nicely called "la tête de Mickey" (Mickey's head) in french army :-)
I love the Famas :3 if the G2 made as many improvements as stated in the video then it probably would make a pretty decent civilian rifle in everyone's fantasy zombie Apocalypse.
Ian is this your own chanel or do you Co own it with someone or a company
It's all mine.
My gosh, that changing cheek piece and extractor hit me hard. As an engineer, I love this gun.
Interesting video, thank you. I had read about the FAMAS in some late 1980's gun rag and they generally described the lever delay on the action. I always pictured some sort of 4-6" lever with a heavy spring, based upon what I read. surprised to see what the actual lever delay system looks like... I love this stuff!
i always liked the famas.
people say its odd or ugly, but i always thought it was quite pretty, like an MP5.
Because im form Europe, i've always loved this rifle. Thank you Metal Gear Solid, i miss you. Good review though!
Sooner or later you will hear in today´s France a sound of Famas. And not just once.
11:30 Disassembly.
21:00 Firing system.
About the steel cases, they were used until the end of 90s. They were perfect for the FAMAS (because made in France and therefore designed fot the FAMAS). Then, our government had the "great" idea to buy ammunitions with brass cases (from the UAE I think) to save money, closed the steel case ammunition factory and then, the problems started.
They tried to do something with the FAMAS "revalorisé" (upgraded), to be used with the FELIN system. The barrel can now use NATO bullets and they bought better ammunitions.
- Talks abour FAMAS
- Uploaded in "Aug"
Ian's voice and way of speaking always reminds me of Jay Bauman from Red Letter Media :)
Never thought about that but true.
Does that make ian kind of a fraud? lol
If on the FAMAS the trigger gard can rotate it's because when you shoot a grenade in curve shot the trigger gard can cut the shooter's finger , but yes some guys use it for shoot with gloves too (forgot my bad english)
if any Metal Gear fans are still confused by Solid Snakes line "Their carrying Five-five-sixers and pineapples..." the Pineapples are obviously referencing the gag name for classic style fragmentation grenades but the other refers to rifles firing 5.56 NATO ammunition.
Honestly though I try to put some type of drumb or high capacity magazine on the gun that didn't stick down so far, then you got a truly unique gun.