* Ammunition:7.5mm 1929C
* Total length:1.08m
* Barrel length:0.5 m
* Mass of empty weapon:9.1 kg
* Range:600m
* rate of fire:500 rounds/minute
* magazine:25 rounds
FM Mythic of the French army during its post-war overseas campaigns
The MAC 24/29 is a French submachine gun dating from the early/mid-20th century.
The Chauchat submachine gun will give way around 1924 to the brand new FM MAC 1924 which fires the brand new 7.5mm 1924C bullet. In 1929, the MAC 1924 was adapted to the 7.5mm 1929C ammunition after a few modifications (change of magazine, barrel) to become the MAC 1924/29. This model will be called FM 24/29 by the French infantrymen. It was gradually replaced in the early 1960s by the Automatic Weapon Model 1952.
A prototype:the MAC 1924
This model comes from the MAC 1923 prototype of the Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault, winner of several test campaigns having opposed it to the FM MAS 1922, the Hotchkiss Model 1922, the Lewis Mark I and Browning BAR M1918. The new model was manufactured from 1925 and entered service in 1926. It was the only weapon to have used the short-lived 7.5mm 1924C cartridge
Description of FM 24/29
It has common characteristics with many FMs of its time. It fires either single shot or in bursts (two triggers) Its butt, pistol grip and barrel are made of wood. Its rectangular magazine is placed on top of the weapon, shifting the rise and front sight to the left, which is imperative for right-handers. It also has a laterally folding front bipod and can accommodate a crutch under the stock. It could be mounted on a sidecar.
Only one variant:the FM 24/29D
The FM 24/29D fired a heavy bullet variant (7.5mm 1933D cartridge) of its original ammunition. It was intended for the Maginot Line where it was quickly replaced in this role by the Reibel Mitrailleuse.
Campaigns
This weapon was very appreciated by the men of the French army who will use it during the Second World War then the Indochina War and the Algerian War. Withdrawn from service around 1965, the FM 24/29 became a collective reserve weapon for the national police (mainly the CRS) and the National Gendarmerie all the departmental gendarmerie brigades (definitively withdrawn in 2006 the entire generation 7.5 MAS ) and reserves of the mobile gendarmerie squadrons]. It should be noted that the weapons seized in June 1940 by the occupying army were used even on the Russian front (ESTONIA) for the auxiliary units of the German army partially equipped French and other (notably Russian) taken weapons for "semi- or automatic firing" weapons
But most MAC 24/29 are donated to former French colonies in Africa.