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Gras M80 Model 1874 rifle Fusil Gras M80 Modèle 1874
Fusil Gras M80 1874
Type	Bolt-action rifle
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1874 onwards (France)
Used by	Chile France Kingdom of Greece Monaco
Wars	French colonial expeditions Sino-French War War of the Pacific Chilean Civil War of 1891 First Italo-Ethiopian War Thousand Days' War Greco-Turkish War (1897) Balkan Wars World War I[1] Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) Spanish Civil War Second Italo-Ethiopian War World War II[1]
Production history
Designed	1874
Manufacturer	Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne and Steyr
Specifications
Mass	4.15 kg (9.15 lb)
Length	1305 mm (51.4 in)
Barrel length	820 mm (32.3 in)
Caliber	11×59mmR Gras[2] & 8×50mmR Lebel
Action	Bolt action
Feed system	Single shot, 10 round gravity hopper
Sights	Iron sights

The Fusil Gras Modèle 1874 M80 or Gras was a French Army service rifle of the 19th century. The Gras was a metallic cartridge adaptation of the Chassepot breech-loading rifle by Colonel Basile Gras.

Description

Converted from the Chassepot, the Gras^[3] was in 11 mm (0.43 in) caliber and used black powder centerfire metallic cartridges with a 385 gr (24.9 g; 0.88 oz) bullet over a 78 gr (5.1 g; 0.18 oz) charge. It was a robust and hard-hitting single-shot weapon. Additionally it had a triangular-shaped Model 1874 "Gras" sword bayonet. By the time the Gras rifle was replaced in 1886 by the Lebel rifle about 400,000 Gras rifles had been manufactured.

The Gras was manufactured in response to the development of the Boxer cartridge in 1866, and the British 1870 Martini–Henry rifle which used it.^[4] Those were soon emulated by the Germans with the 1871 Mauser.^[4] 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,^[5] 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. It was manufactured by Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne, one of several government-owned arms factories in France. However most of the Gras rifles (60,000) used by the Hellenic military were manufactured under licence by Steyr in Austria.

The Gras rifle was partly the inspiration for the development of the Japanese Murata rifle, Japan's first locally-made service rifle.

According to the Vietnamese historian Phạm Văn Sơn, a Vietnamese general in the Cần Vương movement, Cao Văn Thắng, managed to copy the design of "an 1874 type fast-firing rifle of French". However, the Vietnamese version did not have a rifled barrel, and the range was limited.^[6]

Modifications during World War I

Modified rifle

In 1914, the French Army modified 146,000 rifles to fire 8 mm Lebel in 1914, by using the barrel of a Lebel or Berthier rifle. They were used by second-line troops. In 1940, after the French defeat, most of these rifles were destroyed by the German occupants.^[1]

Grenade Launcher

Gras rifles and the 11x59mmR cartridges were also widely used by front line troops as converted grenade launchers, known as Bombardes DR (grenade throwers) these conversions had cut down barrels and butts of varying workmanship and fired blank cartridges to propel the grenade, and were used as a crude form of trench mortar.^{[citation needed]}

Users

• 
   Canada  Quebec: In use by the Quebec Home Guard and Papal Zouaves (Both 11mm and later 8mm Lebel Mle 1914 Gras)


• 
   Belgian Congo: 15,000 rifles bought by the Force Publique during World War I,^[7] still in service with second line units during World War 2.^[8]


• 
   Chile during the War of the Pacific
  


• 
   Colombia against the Panamanian rebels^[9]


• 
   Ethiopian Empire: the Gras was used by the Ethiopian Army^[10][11]


• 
   France
  


• 
   Greece: the Gras was used by the Hellenic Army as late as 1941 in the Battle of Crete
  


• 
   Monaco
  


• 
   Russian Empire: due to firearm shortages in World War I, the Russian Empire received Gras rifles from France^[12][13] France sent 450,000 Gras rifles to Russia.^[14]


• 
   Spanish Republic^[15]


• 
   Vietnam Vietnamese insurgent of the Hương Khê uprising managed to produce the copy version of Fusil Gras mle 1874. The Vietnamese version did not have rifled barrel, though.


• 
   Yemen: still used in Yemen in 2002^[16]

Comparison with contemporary rifles

Gallery

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  Fusil Gras M80 1874 breech portion
  

  
  

  
  


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  Fusil Gras M80 Mle 1874 metallic cartridge
  

  
  

  
  


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  Fusil Gras modified in 1883 with 10-cartridge gravity hopper
  

  
  

  
  


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  R: 11×59.5 mm R metallic cartridge for Fusil Gras mle 1874
  

  
  

  
  


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  1875 Gras bayonet
  

  
  

  
  


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  Bombardes DR
  

  
  

  
  

See also

• Berthier Mle 07-15


• Lebel Model 1886 rifle


• Table of handgun and rifle cartridges

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fusil Gras M80 Modèle 1874.

• A History of Greek Military Equipment (1821–today): Gras rifle