the quality of French Police Marksmen!

[Aragorn243]

I was thinking the same thing. But on another note, if he was a marksman, he may have been in an elevated position with the rifle trained on the crowd the entire time.

[CINDERS]

Design
The FR-F2 is an upgrade from the earlier FR F1 sniper rifle. It was manufactured by MAS (an abbreviation of Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne - one of several government-owned arms factories in France). MAS now belongs to GIAT Industries, now NEXTER.

The rifle barrel is thermally shielded along a considerable part of the barrel by a polymer shroud. It uses a different bipod-stock configuration from its predecessor, which is built just ahead of the receiver. It uses 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition, and is equipped with a scope, French army standard issue is either an APX L806 or SCROME J8 (Army) or Nightforce NXS (Air force) or Schmidt & Bender 6×42 mil-dot (Navy). The rifle is also issued as part of the FÉLIN infantry combat system outfitted with a Sagem Sword Sniper 3-in-1 optic, which serves as a telescopic sight, thermal weapon sight, and laser rangefinder. The FR F2 utilizes the same bolt design as the older, outdated MAS-36 infantry rifle.

[Surpmil]

Edward Fox would have done better.

[capt14k]

French Bolt rifles do not have a safety. Oddly enough they were carried unloaded even during war. They were loaded when engaging the enemy.

A sniper does not have the time to load when ready to fire. I wouldn't think they would have the time in the jungles of Indochina either.

This was a case of careless handling, but certainly not the first of its kind. NYPD ESU had a bad run of accidental discharges about 5 years or so ago. Including a sniper squeezing off a round that ricocheted off of buildings in Manhattan and was found a few blocks away.

[Flying10uk]

Someone was telling me last year, that I happened to meet, that they had gone to a Clay Pigeon shoot in order to try it out and see if it was something that they may like to take up as a sport. The chap was telling me that this was his first experience of the sport and that he and others were alarmed that another shooter present thought it perfectly acceptable to wave a loaded shot gun around which included pointing it at people. The chap went on to tell me that the individual concerned was challenged about his gun handling/gun safety by others present and basically the response that they got was "What's the problem? The safety is on!".


While there may be some instances where it may be necessary to point a loaded firearm at persons such as in a warzone, clearly a clay pigeon shoot isn't one of them.

[mrclark303]

---------- Post added at 06:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:19 PM ----------

[/COLOR]

We were taught in the Army Cadets that a firearm should always be pointing in a safe direction, regardless of whether or not you think that it is loaded, and that the only time that a firearm should be pointed at a person is if you intend to kill that person.

Blimey F10, your Army Cadet Unit must have been based in a rough area ...

---------- Post added at 06:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:27 PM ----------

Current French Sniper system

Design
The FR-F2 is an upgrade from the earlier FR F1 sniper rifle. It was manufactured by MAS (an abbreviation of Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne - one of several government-owned arms factories in France). MAS now belongs to GIAT Industries, now NEXTER.

The rifle barrel is thermally shielded along a considerable part of the barrel by a polymer shroud. It uses a different bipod-stock configuration from its predecessor, which is built just ahead of the receiver. It uses 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition, and is equipped with a scope, French army standard issue is either an APX L806 or SCROME J8 (Army) or Nightforce NXS (Air force) or Schmidt & Bender 6×42 mil-dot (Navy). The rifle is also issued as part of the FÉLIN infantry combat system outfitted with a Sagem Sword Sniper 3-in-1 optic, which serves as a telescopic sight, thermal weapon sight, and laser rangefinder. The FR F2 utilizes the same bolt design as the older, outdated MAS-36 infantry rifle.

That Cinders is NOT a handsome rifle, it really does look like a MAS36 that's been modified by committee

[Sentryduty]

It looks very much built on a price point.

Or someone had the requirement to only use current weapon stocks for the conversion.

The MAT49 proving unsuitable, perhaps it was either that or a St. Etienne Revolver with an optic rail in the selection trials.

[capt14k]

I wouldn't mind owning a FR-F1 or FR-F2. The MAS-36 is built like a tank so I could see why they re-used the receiver. The effective range is 800m so a modern sniper it is not.

[Flying10uk]

Blimey F10, your Army Cadet Unit must have been based in a rough area ...

No, but you got "all sorts of individuals" joining the Army Cadets and the instructors had to be strict about weapon safety, for obvious reasons. Most of the adult instructors that I came into contact with were ex military and so I assumed that they knew what they were talking about.

[oldpaul]

The MAS-36 is built like a tank so I could see why they re-used the receiver.

Although they appear the same at first glance the FR-F1 receiver is not the same as the MAS-36 as it has thicker walls, is longer and the top of the left side is shaped differently. If you see a picture of them side by side the difference is striking. Tom