The Chauchat was a French Light Machine Gun that went into service in 1908 for use by the French Army primarily during the First World War. The machine gun would later be known as one of the most ineffective machine guns ever produced. During the beginning of their involvement in World War I, the US Army had no light machine gun and thus purchased several from the French, which were then converted to .30-06. It was soon found that virtually all of them jammed after firing a few shots. This was due to several factors including the poorly designed open face magazine, which tended to trap debris inside and the poorly manufactured parts, with which none were interchangeable with other Chauchat guns.
