“A poorly reputed machine gun brought back into the battlefield: and with two of them, nonetheless!”
General Information
The French Chauchat (Fusil Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG) or DB Chauchat was the French Army's standard light machine gun during World War I and while one of the first inexpensive and portable fully-automatic rifles, is generally thought of as being the worst machine gun ever put into service. Despite its poor public reputation, the weapon is functional outside of conditions where its faulty magazine design would cause jams and malfunctions. Notably, the weapon as it is represented in Arsenal is a fusion of two Chauchats.
In-game Information
In-game, the DB Chauchat is a double-barreled LMG. When using the weapon's AA sights, the DB Chauchat will deliver a 2-round burst, which will instantly kill a target upon a headshot if 2 shots connect. At longer ranges, it will take 5 shots to the body to kill an enemy.
Even with the special burst fire, the Chauchat has a low rate of fire and moderately high spread, so the possibility of landing a burst may be at a low percentage. Although it has a notably quicker reload than other machine guns, it still has a very slow reload. Firing in automatic mode will give the weapon high spread and somewhat moderate recoil, along with a very low rate of fire.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- High headshot damage.
- ADS allows for greater aim and a 2-burst mode.
- Fast reload for a machine gun.
- Low ammo consumption rate.
Cons:
- Slow rate of fire.
- Low first-shot accuracy.
- High spread penalty unless using ADS.
- Long burst delay when using ADS.
- Slow movement speed.
- Moderate recoil.
- Lowest 40-round magazine capacity in-class.
- Long pullout time.
Gallery
Trivia
- The main reason for the weapon's poor reputation is its many flaws.
- The Chauchat's open-faced magazine allowed debris to enter the weapon and cause clogging.
- Its poor component quality lowered reliability drastically. Parts of differing qualities were often mixed together.
- Overuse of the weapon to the point of overheating caused a lack of function.
- The Chauchat utilizes a muzzle booster/gas assist and a long recoil system (often seen in shotguns, and the only use of it in an automatic weapon).
- The poor design of the Chauchat is not entirely the fault of the weapon or its designers; the French had to reinvent the wheel in order to get around existing patents on gas-operated machine gun mechanisms. France's resulting creation was overcomplex and unreliable but got the job done.
- The Chauchat was one of the first light, automatic rifle-caliber weapons designed to be carried and fired by a single operator and an assistant, without a heavy tripod or a team of gunners.
- The DB Chauchat is one of the weapons that has the ability to ADS. The others are MK18, the M14 EBR, the Falkor, the Vector, the Pulse Musket, and the DBS.
- The DB Chauchat is the fourth weapon with burst fire capability added to Arsenal.
- The DB Chauchat is also the second 2-round burst weapon added into Arsenal, the other is the XR15.
- Due to a glitch, players cannot use the burst fire ability on mobile.
Audio (Outdated)
Weapon History
- 03/20/20: Added into the Showtime! Update of Arsenal.
- 10/26/20: Mobile users can now aim the down sights of the weapon.
- 10/31/21: Added new firing and reloading sounds.
