Enjoying Black Powder Episode 2: The Modele 1874 Gras

Tom - your grandfather is John F. Hasey? He was the first American in WW2 to shed his blood for Free France and was awarded a Companion of the Order of the Liberation by De Gaulle. That is an extremely rare and prestigious honor, with just over 1,000 given. John F. Hasey worked for Cartier in Paris before the war, selling luxury items. When the war broke out and he saw France falling apart, he escaped and decided he needed to do something. He was fighting in East Africa and the Middle East with the Free French a year before the US entered the war and was seriously wounded by a Vichy French machine gun in the Syrian campaign. The book he wrote about his service is a great read for anyone interested.

Seeing Ian as a Legionnaire is something I didn't know I desperately needed

3:26 "With the baïonnette on you are halfway to the target already!" :)

"Merde" cracks me up, hearing Ian utter some profanities in my language

A lot of these where converted to 32 gauge shotguns for hunting in Greece. Due to the long barrel it can really reach out to birds flying.

Ngl this series is a breath of fresh air along with “weapons of xyz war” new stuff is cool but I think a lot of us are here for the older weapons

It never gets old watching Ian working a bolt action rifle left handed. Impressive

And when the smoke did clear, gun Jesus was still there 🇺🇸

The Hellenic Army adopted the Gras in 1877, and it was used in all conflicts until the Second World War. It became the favourite weapon of Greek guerrilla fighters, from the various revolts against the Ottoman Empire to the resistance against the Axis, acquiring legendary status. The name entered the Greek language, and grades (γκράδες) was a term colloquially applied to all rifles during the first half of the 20th century. 1877 - Greece purchases about 60,000 Gras rifles from Steyr. 22 March 1886 - Last recorded order (1,000 Gras rifles). In total 129,000 have been bought since 1877 (118,000 infantry rifles, 6,000 artillery musketoons and 4,800 cavalry carbines). 24 Jul. 1923 - At the time of the Treaty of Lausanne, the Greeks have 77,000 Gras rifles & carbines, which corresponds to about 25% of the total number of rifles. 28 Oct. 1940 - At the time of the Italian invasion, the Greeks have 60,000 Gras rifles, which corresponds to about 13% of the total number of rifles.

When I was a kid, we moved into a new house and I found that specific bayonet in the basement. It was dated around that time and the writing on it was in French.

Really interesting when you have to make your own ammo. Converting cartridge cases to another caliber, fun! Just for fun i played with converting 9×19 to 9x18 Russian, used minimum loads that would still cycle and melted battery lead for projectiles. Here comes the "cant use battery lead cause its corrosive " comments. Really, by the time you wash and remelt battery lead it is not corrosive, just soft.

Are your children texting about Forgotten Weapons? ROFL: Respect our Foreign Legion LOL: Love our Legion STFU: Send the French Up BOGO: Bayonet on Gras, Obviously YMMV: Yes, minimal muzzle velocity ISTG: Ian Shoots the Gras WTF: Watch Tom Fire IMHO: Ian Makes Hits Ontarget

I liked the points in the side-by-side shoot-off where they basically fired in sync.

We’ve got a gras that has been converted to 28 gauge with a 2.5” chamber. I make my own black powder for it. Very cool gun.

Black powder is where it's at. I've been shooting muzzleloaders since the 70's and I only like them more as time goes by. My first was an H+R huntsman, which was just an Handi-Rifle break action that they converted to black powder by plugging the breach with a stainless plug sealed with 2 O rings. In the intervening decades I've discovered more of the historical and modern models available and I love them all. In recent decades I've also discovered air power. It's more expensive to get into than BP because of the specialized pumps, carbon fiber bottles and compressors one needs to create and store high pressure air, and they're not as powerful as some of the more powerful BP guns, but you get multi shot capability not available in most BP guns. What would make me happiest would be for a major manufacturer to make modern big bore airguns....at least a few...look more like a traditional muzzleloader, but that's me, I don't know how well they would sell in a market saturated with the "black rifle" look. By the way, your uniforms are magnifique. Excellent video as always.

So that's what rifle that bayonet goes to. My dad had picked one up at an estate sale some 15 or 20 years ago when i was a kid because he knew I would like it. I only ever knew it was French because it is engraved on the spine of the blade with a phrase and in that phrase it has the date 1877.

I hope the Martini-Henry gets a run in this series!

Episode 3? A truly ambidextrous contemporary of the Springfield and the Gras - the Martini-Henry .577/450.

we have precedents that with enough pestering from gun Jesus, some manufacturer will soon be producing 11mm Gras ammo...

shooting black powder is the second most fun i've had with my pants on.