Puteaux APX Machine Gun

The Puteaux Model APX 1905 Machine Gun was a disastrous attempt to create a feasible machine gun for the French Army. Designed by officers at the Altellier de Puteaux, it turned out to be an unsuccessful design. Completely radical to the Hotchkiss guns, the Puteaux failed in reliability, simplicity, and the general ability to perform credibly. With an adjustable firing rate of thirty to six hundred rounds per minute, it fired the 8mm Lebel round, the same used in the Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun (Mle 1900). The feed system consisted of several strips of ammunition fed in, also the same as the Hotchkiss, but not without several modifications. Very few M1905s were delivered. The gun was such a failure that it was immediately redesigned as the St. Étienne Mle 1907 machine gun. The Model 1907 was only marginally better, and the design soon fell apart. The Puteaux was scarcely used in battle. This was the start of a trend for the French, who continued to developed poor designs of machine guns, for example, the St. Etienne which was mentioned previously, and the Chautchat.