Shortround6
Major General
You seem to have a real fixation on the P-14 rifle. The only real advantage it had over most of it's WW I contemporaries is a better back sight. That isn't enough to elevate to the "fantastic" catagory. Most everything else is quality control of the rifles or ammo.
The other issues with the Chauchat are 1. if it jams with the barrel in the rearward position (or close to it) the ejection and feed ports are blocked off making working on stuck cases or double feeds rather difficult. 2. you have several pounds of barrel bouncing back and forth with every shot over a distance of nearly 3 inches (if not over on some versions) making for a LOT of vibration. Which combines with a rather spindly bipod to make long distance shooting difficult.
To be fair the Chauchat was NOT a light machinegun. It was an automatic rifle which is a different and often misunderstood catagory.
And what works on commercial hunting weapons firing 2-5 rounds may not be the type of action you really want to use on a combat automatic weapon.
The other issues with the Chauchat are 1. if it jams with the barrel in the rearward position (or close to it) the ejection and feed ports are blocked off making working on stuck cases or double feeds rather difficult. 2. you have several pounds of barrel bouncing back and forth with every shot over a distance of nearly 3 inches (if not over on some versions) making for a LOT of vibration. Which combines with a rather spindly bipod to make long distance shooting difficult.
To be fair the Chauchat was NOT a light machinegun. It was an automatic rifle which is a different and often misunderstood catagory.
And what works on commercial hunting weapons firing 2-5 rounds may not be the type of action you really want to use on a combat automatic weapon.