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The Famas History FRENCH "CLAIRON" (Buggle) France chose the 5.56mm caliber in 1970. By the same time, other weapons as the Belgian CAL, German HK33 and M16 are tested. But the final result linked to politic and economic reasons lead to the development of a national weapon. The Blue Prints of the weapon describes it as being able to replace the rifle, the submachine gun, be precise up to 300m and to be able to launch a 500 grams grenade. The project is given to the Manufacture d'Armes de St Etienne hence its name FAMAS (Fusil Automatique Manufacture d'Armes de St Etienne) where the team leaded by Paul Tellier and Alain Coubes will design it within 2 years as in march 1971 ten prototypes of FAMAS A1 are presented and tested against CAL and HK's. Throught the experimentation models A2 through A5 are tested. Technical matters delay the development from 1974 to 1976. The A6 prototype still presents slight failures which are corrected throught model A7 officialy adopted by french Amry the 8th of August 1977 under the name FAMAS F1. Two more years are necessary to have the 3 rounds burst mode validated.During this time the industrialisation process was set-up and serial weapons are delivered by 1979. Around 300.000 FAMAS have been delivered to French Army to equip the infantry and some other troups as the Air Commandos. The weapon is compact using the Bull-up design like the english A80 and later on the Steyr AUG and is easily recognised by the long carrying handle above most of the body. The French designer team have incorporated the ability to be converted to fire from either shoulder. The FAMAS has been designed to be fired from either shoulder by a few simple adjustments. There are two positions on the bolt face for the extractor claw (called by french infantry men the "Mickey Heads"). By removing the extractor and fitting it in the alternate position the rifle can eject empty cases in either direction as there are left and right ejector ports, covered by a detachable cheek piece to protect the firer. A Famas G2 (2nd Generation) The short barrel and bullpup shape, combined with the long carrying handle, has given rise to the rifle's nickname: Le Clairon (Bugle). In the Bugle French soldiers have an accurate and reliable weapon which seems to have overcome most of the problems inherent in a bullpup design. The FAMAS has also been successfully exported and has entered service with some African and Middle Eastern armies. Text and some Images courtesy of Remtek© Website