This Old Gun: French RSC 1917 Rifle
Early in World War I, the French fielded troops of cavalry dressed in breastplates and plumed helmets that would not have been out of place back in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. Three years later they introduced a revolutionary arm that would prove to be a harbinger of infantry rifles to come—the gas-operated RSC Fusile Automatique Modele 1917.