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French Army to replace marksman rifle

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This post will be unrelated too, but talking about calibers: The US armed forces are adopting a new caliber, the 6.5mm Creedmoor. The caliber will be used in some sniper weapons, as its capabilities are much better than for example the 7,62x51mm in both recoil, distance, flat-shooting and precision.

While the 30-06 proved to be too powerful in recoil back in the days, the 7,62x51mm were adopted. That cartridge too can have significant recoil in personal automatic weapons, making the 5,56 a good cartridge for personal weapons.

I would not be surprised if we in the future will see much more use with the Creedmoor, both in snipers, MGs and personal rifles.
 

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Yep, the 6.5CM is quite a round, it has genuine 1500m possibility,the trajectory is on a par with the 300WM , it also taking over in the target shooting world , I think it`ll be a long while before the UK Armed Forces adopts it , long range and sniping seems to be done with 7.62x51 and 338 Lap here.
 

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6.5 CM is a brilliant round, a true intermediate cartridge. Its funny how the wheel turns, the Brits originally wanted to adopt the 280 British in their SLRs and GPMGs which is extremely close ballistic wise to the 6.5 CM. However yanks wanted 7.62 as the NATO round and later 5.56. Brits should have stuck to their guns in the 50s and kept the 280. Would've stopped 60 years of debate.
 

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The 280 had great potential, too bad the Americans pushed hard for the 7,62, even tough the 280 most likely would have been the better cartridge.

I have to be a little patriotic on this issue as im Norwegian: the 6,5x55 cartridge was constructed in 1891 in Norway and Sweden, and approved for use by the Norwegian-Swedish rifle commission of 1893, and used in Norway in our Krag-Jørgensen (Which the US also used until 1904) rifles from 1894 and forward, and the Swedes used it in their Mauser M/1896.

Considering that this cartridge is almost 130 years old, its still a fantastic cartridge with ballistics thats quite close to the 6.5CM. Comparing the 6,5x55 to other cartridges from this era..the 6,5x55 wins in my opinion.

The cartridge is still used by the Volunteer Rifle Association with Sauer 200 STR´s, and a good shooter is usually capable of shooting with acceptable accuracy out to 1200m.

During the American-Philippine war the US slogan was: civilize them with a Krag

By the way, Snafu; if im right i believe the Boers was supplied with some Krag-Jørgensens during the Boer War. Interesting story.
 
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SnafuSmite

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The 280 had great potential, too bad the Americans pushed hard for the 7,62, even tough the 280 most likely would have been the better cartridge.

I have to be a little patriotic on this issue as im Norwegian: the 6,5x55 cartridge was constructed in 1891 in Norway and Sweden, and approved for use by the Norwegian-Swedish rifle commission of 1893, and used in Norway in our Krag-Jørgensen (Which the US also used until 1904) rifles from 1894 and forward, and the Swedes used it in their Mauser M/1896.

Considering that this cartridge is almost 130 years old, its still a fantastic cartridge with ballistics thats quite close to the 6.5CM. Comparing the 6,5x55 to other cartridges from this era..the 6,5x55 wins in my opinion.

The cartridge is still used by the Volunteer Rifle Association with Sauer 200 STR´s, and a good shooter is usually capable of shooting with acceptable accuracy out to 1200m.

During the American-Philippine war the US slogan was: civilize them with a Krag

By the way, Snafu; if im right i believe the Boers was supplied with some Krag-Jørgensens during the Boer War. Interesting story.
The Boers used whatever they could get their hands on, but the favourite was the 7.5mm Mauser, the 6.5 Mauser is actually quite a popular hunting round in some circles down here.
 

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The Boers used whatever they could get their hands on, but the favourite was the 7.5mm Mauser, the 6.5 Mauser is actually quite a popular hunting round in some circles down here.

Mausers are awesome. There is a reason many modern bolt rifles still are made with Mauser-style mechanism, and not other mechanisms, like the Lee-Enfield. I got both Mausers and Lee-Enfields, the Enfield was used in the battle of Norway in 1940 by British troops, and while it's a interesting rifle, the Mauser is the better option 😎
 

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The Lee Enfield has a fantastic action, I'm a bit biased though, I love the Mauser, especially in 8x57:love:
 

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The LE is for sure a quick shooter!

Im sure you know about the Mad Minute drill used by the Brits with their Enfields. The Volunteer shooting association in Norway as i talked about actually sometimes arrange competitions in this drill even today. The record here in Norway is 36 hits on a 40cm diameter target at 200m distance. This target is actually smaller than the official Mad Minute drill used by the Brits, which was a 24 inch target on 300m.

You can see a video on the "world record" here:
The guy that set the record is the guy that starts shooting at about 6:30 laying in front with white earprotection and ammobox with red plastic around.

Wonder how fast he would have been shooting with a LE, as the LE for sure is faster than the Sauer 200STR used in the video chambered in 6,5x55, even tough its more accurate than the LE in .303

Have also a look at the use of the Krag 6,5 with a speedloader. Quite fast..


The 8x57..such a versatile and classic round!
 
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French small fire arms company Verney-Carron eventually qualified to take part in the bid to replace the precision rifle FR-F2.
To meet the minimum turnover criteria (€50M per annum), Verney-Carron, based in Saint-Étienne, formed a JV with a Scandinavian ammo manufacturer, Nammo, and a German company which will provide the optics. They will propose a semi-auto rifle.
Other contenders are FN Herstal from Belgium, Beretta (Italy) and H&K (Germany).
 

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French small fire arms company Verney-Carron eventually qualified to take part in the bid to replace the precision rifle FR-F2.
To meet the minimum turnaround criteria (€50M per annum), Verney-Carron, based in Saint-Étienne, formed a JV with a Scandinavian ammo manufacturer, Nammo, and a German company which will provide the optics. They will propose a semi-auto rifle.
Other contenders are FN Herstal from Belgium, Beretta (Italy) and H&K (Germany).
Very interested to see what the offerings from Beretta and Verney-Carron will be. As far as I'm aware the Italians' only potential semi-auto offering would be the ARX 200, a 7.62 NATO version of their ARX 160 service rifle chambered in 5.56.
arx-200-collapsed.png
ARX 200

As for FN it's most likely going to be a SCAR variant, either a SCAR-17 or SCAR 20 SSL (an accurised marksman variant of the SCAR-17)
images (4).jpeg
SCAR 17

images (5).jpeg
SCAR 20 SSL
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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We should get the lady on the right to test fire these weapons. I don't know if any of you are familiar apart sexpert, Chas, Scouse, Mark and a few others, but the old SLR his a pretty good kick to it. And it's one of those old fashion rifles where you still have to look through the sights. :ROFLMAO:

1539146569073.png
 

scouse arley

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We should get the lady on the right to test fire these weapons. I don't know if any of you are familiar apart sexpert, Chas, Scouse, Mark and a few others, but the old SLR his a pretty good kick to it. And it's one of those old fashion rifles where you still have to look through the sights. :ROFLMAO:

View attachment 4031
Oh yeah mate superb weapon, it could handle all the weather you could throw at it. Very accurate well depending on the Muppet holding it 🤣🤣
 

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An article I found on Verney-Carron:

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/07/09/france-adopts-new-precission-rifle/

With a contract to replace the French Army’s bolt-action FR-F2 sniper rifle expected in the near future, Verney-Carron, one of France’s premier sporting gun makers is positioning itself to win the contract.

Verney-Carron was established in 1820 and has a successful line of sporting guns and security equipment including the Flash Ball, a rubber ball launcher, and they were also a subcontractor for the FAMAS before production ended. The company’s military division, Verney-Carron Défense, was launched in 2017. They currently offer two weapons: a 5.56×45 mm assault rifle, the VCD-15 and the 7.62×51mm VCD-10, a semi-automatic precision rifle. It is the VCD-10 that Verney-Carron Défense hopes will win the upcoming precision rifle tender. The FR-F2 entered service in 1986, alongside the FAMAS, based on the MAS-36, the FR-F2 is due for replacement. The company displayed the VCD-15 and VCD-10 for the first time at the 2018 Eurosatory defence and security fair.
The French Army adopted Heckler & Koch’s HK-416 to replace the FAMAS in 2016, this was a contract that Verney-Carron were blocked from bidding for due to them not making 80 million euros ($93 million) turnover a year. This paved the way for the adoption of the HK-416F.
Verney-Carron’s chief executive, Guillaume Verney-Carron, feels his company is ideally placed to meet the future precision rifle tender. He told BFM Business TV channel that his company was ready, “This is to provide about 2,500 units over three or four years, and that we know how to do.” He told l’Essor that “over the past two years we have invested more than one million euros to complete our production tool in machining centers and to develop a precision rifle and an assault rifle inspired by the AR10 and the AR15.”
Guillaume Verney-Carron explained that he sees Heckler & Koch as the primary rival for the FR-F2 replacement contract, saying: “since the closure of the MAS (Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne), there are no more French companies on this range of products, we come back to show that the French industry can compete with large foreign companies.”

verney-carron-vcd10-660x211.jpg
 

SnafuSmite

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We should get the lady on the right to test fire these weapons. I don't know if any of you are familiar apart sexpert, Chas, Scouse, Mark and a few others, but the old SLR his a pretty good kick to it. And it's one of those old fashion rifles where you still have to look through the sights. :ROFLMAO:

View attachment 4031
In South Africa we had our own version of the FAL, called the R1, fantastic rifle. I've been fortunate enough to shoot one on more than one occasion, one of my favourites to shoot.
 

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I still think that the government will go for the easier solution, off the shelf, Amazon style!
Pdt. Macron is a banker after all
 

Rapace

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I still think that the government will go for the easier solution, off the shelf, Amazon style!
Pdt. Macron is a banker after all
Whatever weapon is eventually chosen (be it the one from Verney-Carron, the one from Beretta, FN Herstal or H&K), it will be an ‘off the shelf’ purchase. It has never been the intention of the French Army to develop a new weapon from scratch.
 

SnafuSmite

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Regardless of who wins (my money is on HK) it's good to see some homegrown French companies bringing in the capacity to build small arms again. Obviously its not a massive consignment, but the French have a unique history with firearms and always bring something different to the table.
 

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Whatever weapon is eventually chosen (be it the one from Verney-Carron, the one from Beretta, FN Herstal or H&K), it will be an ‘off the shelf’ purchase. It has never been the intention of the French Army to develop a new weapon from scratch.
The HK416 is an excellent weapon , derived from the M16 with very few differences (gas piston /direct impingement is about it) .
Its worth noting the US is changing calibre soon to 6.8mm , I wonder what the Ministère des Armées think of that.
The HK417 is really just a variant of the AR10 , another excellent proven rifle , it seems rifle design has plateaued .
 
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dusaboss

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The HK416 is an excellent weapon , derived from the M16 with very few differences (gas piston /direct impingement is about it) .

Where did you find that info? Can you share?
 
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