Meunier A6 mle. 1916

the development of the rifle Meunierbyl quite long and failure was not so much because of the bullets, rather a number of small problems non-technical nature. France at the end of the 19. century was looking for a replacement for the then newly established rifle "Lebel", a replacement was sought, and between then not very usual systems of semi-automatic weapons. It has been examined around 20 different prototypes of semi-automatic weapons. From the tests but did not emerge the winner, the reason of course was also a somewhat meaningless award that did not address the charge that should be applied, was admitted 7 different rounds between 6 - 7 mm, oddly enough the charge 8x50 between them included was not, so they probably didn't count that should be used. Just rifle Meunier was but between the best and with her I have been around the year 1910, assessed only two other weapons, one from the Ateliere Puteaux system Chauchat and the other from ENT system Rossignol. Meunier was probably the best, because even the test the commission reported that the rifle shot 3000 rounds without any serious problems. The weapon was taken in 1910, but by far has not yet been decided what will be the charge which has a weapon to shoot, deciding on the hub is pulled up to the year 1913 when he was finally charge 7x59 accepted and rifle on him adjusted. The charge was more powerful than used 8x57. An order for the production of the first series get the company of the MASSES and was on 5000 units every month. This order was soon cancelled because of conflict with germany seemed inevitable and rearm at the time did not seem appropriate. It is not entirely clear how much is produced a gun and where, for sure is the production at the company MAT which gave the 1013 pieces, but had to be made even further, because after testing the first rifles in the trenches (supposedly 843 pieces) Some sources mention that in the trenches there were mechanical problems and also to the rapid heating of the barrel. It was made of a series of approximately 4000 pieces of which were delivered to the trenches and issued to the best shooters. There was also a version of a shortened (carbine) that has been used the removable trays for 5, 10 and 15 rounds of ammunition. this gun wasn't produced in the series.
The reason for this failure was not the ammo (even one as minor moment probably involved) but much easier to manufacture rifles RSC, which from a part of the use of standard components rifles Lebel (need the barrel, the butt, lučíky...) the biggest role apparently played the price, which was at the RSC lower. So, unfortunately, unclear entering the extended development to the moment when the orders were due to an imminent conflict cancelled and apparently the quality of the gun so in the end it was made only in small numbers. Automatic weapons worked on the principle of a long zákluzu (like Browningův system from the year 1900)

source: French Autoloading Rifles 1898-1979, author Jean Huon, ISBN 0-88935-186-4, published by the canadian publishing house Collector Grade Publications in 1995
www.forgottenweapons.com.