Photo Of The Day: Today we have a few pictures of the old French FAMAS and their new Heckler & Koch HK416F. The FAMAS above seems to have the controls of the FÉLIN system (Fantassin à Équipement et Liaisons Intégrés or Integrated Infantryman Equipment and [Read More…]
Today we’re looking at some monkey business with the French FAMAS rifle deep down in the Amazon rainforest. This picture is from 2020, but the FAMAS is soon history, for good and bad. The FAMAS replacement, which is the Heckler & Koch HK416, is still being [Read More…]
The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (“Special Military School of Saint-Cyr”) is the foremost French military academy. In our Photo Of The Day, we’ll follow some of the soldiers in this military school and their FAMAS bullpup rifles. As [Read More…]
VHS could be short for Video Home System, but in this Photo Of The Day, we’re looking at the Višenamjenska Hrvatska Strojnica (“multifunctional Croatian machine gun”). On this occasion, the HS Produkt VHS and some other firearms are used by Croatian [Read More…]
Since the late 1990s, the Heckler & Koch G36 is the standard rifle of the German Bundeswehr. Already in the 2nd quarter of 2017 it was made official that the Bundeswehr were going to procure roughly 120 000 assault rifles with accessories, to replace the G36. In [Read More…]
I know from previous Photo’s Of The Day that any French FAMAS action is appreciated. Here we have a bunch together with the Heckler & Koch HK416Fs (well at least one visible) that are being phased into the French Army. 300 soldiers, 13 Personal Carriers and 4 [Read More…]
Recently, a Redditor named Jordan bought a Keltec RDB bullpup rifle, which is chambered in 5.56 NATO. After the RDB’s 2 month birthday, Jordan found some FAMAS airsoft parts for sale and wondered if they could be mated to his RDB. One of his goals was to not [Read More…]
Long Range Shooting up to 1,800 meters is the subject of this Photo Of The Day. The 2nd Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment (In French: 2e Régiment étranger de parachutistes) posted these pictures from a very nice, long shooting range. The French have some strange [Read More…]
The “Edelweiss Raid 2019” is an international, military special competition for mountain fighters from 12 nations. The competition teams come from Austria, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and the USA. [Read More…]
According to this report from the French Armed Forces, they seem very happy with their new Heckler & Koch HK416Fs in the deserts of Sahel. They have used the HK416 out to 600 meters, with good results. It may sound silly, but if you previously had to hand-carry your [Read More…]
French steelmaker Aubert & Duval have announced a new high purity steel alloy that could allow future firearms barrels to be stronger, be tougher, and last longer. The steel, called “ARMAD”, is a 3% chromoly steel made with a similar composition [Read More…]
You all know the story about the French Army switching the FAMAS to the Heckler & Koch 416F by now. The first HKs have recently been delivered, and the changing process will continue for several years. It takes time to produce almost 100 000 rifles, and the Heckler [Read More…]
Recently, I wrote an article about one negative aspect of bullpups which is caused by their much-touted rearward balance. Even though its scope was extremely limited, this article caused a lot of discontent in my comments section, and many of my readers expressed a [Read More…]
As previously reported, the French Army’s new service rifle will be the Heckler & Koch HK416F. The HK416F replaces the rather old FAMAS, and you can sense the depression in the air as this happens, they are letting go of an old friend. 5 000 units are supposed [Read More…]
Even though the French government has adopted the Heckler & Koch HK416F assault rifle to replace the aging FAMAS, it seems “Le Clairon” will remain in service for at least the next decade. The reason for this is the recent re-establishment of the French [Read More…]
As TFB has reported before France will phase out the FAMAS rifle, of which they have about 400,000 pieces of in the F1 and upgraded G1 variant. The FAMAS has been in service for over 30 years. For a period of over 10 years France will phase in the Heckler & Koch [Read More…]
Multiple French news outlets are confirming the victory of Heckler & Koch’s HK416 rifle in the French Army’s AIF (Arme Individuelle du Futur – Future Individual Weapon) program to replace the FAMAS, in which it has evidently unseated the FN SCAR, its [Read More…]
The French Foreign Legion Facebook page posted his video on their page. It shows some Légionnaires practicing with M249 Paras, modified FAMAS, and what looks like a Beretta M9.
The French next generation rifle competition is coming to an end, the two finalists, one from Belgium and the other from Germany, and the incumbent is set for replacement over the next few years. Before either the SCAR or the HK416 are inducted as the new arm of France, [Read More…]
France, one the world’s first adopters of the bullpup rifle, will officially be abandoning the stockless rifle concept for good, it seems. The competition to replace the venerable FAMAS bullpup rifle has moved forward, and the only competing bullpup design, HS [Read More…]
At the 2016 Eurosatory defense trade show, Czech gunmaker CZ debuted for the first time its improved 806 Bren 2 rifle on the international market. The Bren 2 was announced in October of 2015, and improves on the 805 Bren by being lighter, having an improved selector [Read More…]
The concept of a stockless – or “bullpup” – rifle has been around since the very dawn of the 20th Century. It was invented in the United Kingdom, the country with which it still is most closely associated. After World War II, the concept began [Read More…]
Soldier of Fortune has a post that links to a recent video montage of French forces in Afghanistan. The country’s forces have all since left the country but the video shows an interesting portrayal of how the 1970s technology FAMAS has entered the 21st century [Read More…]
It has now been confirmed that Sunday night the French Foreign Legion conducted an air assault in Mali, parachuting into the northern suburbs of Timbuktu. Other French forces control the south, while indigenous troops native to Mali attempt to hold the east and west. [Read More…]
[ This guest post was written by Julien, a French TFB reader and gun enthusiast, in order to give us insight into the French Army rifle upgrade program. ] First of all, forgive my quite miserable english, I’ll try to explain with my own words. I am a French [Read More…]
There is nothing quite like a military coup to bring dusty rifles from the depths of secret armories and into the light of day. The attempted coup in support of one of the pretenders to the Prime Ministership of Papua New Guinea ended just days after is began. The [Read More…]
I first reported rumors that the French would be replacing the FAMAS rifle back in 2009. During a recent meeting with the Commission of Defense, the French CEMAT (Chef d’Etat Major de l’Armée de Terre / Chief of Staff of the Army), General Ract Madoux, [Read More…]
Rumors that the French military are considering dropping the FAMAS rifle have been spreading fast across the internet. The speculation arose from a post [English translation] at The Mammoth, a French milblog. I asked Aurelien, an authority on the French military, what [Read More…]
Famous Guns has nice write up a about the french assault rifle, the FAMAS (Fusil Automatique, Manufacture d’Armes de St. Etienne), and it’s history. Development of this rifle began in 1967, under the leadership of the Paul Tellie, a French arms designer. [Read More…]