FAMAS The FAMAS is a French bullpup assault rifle built in 1967 by the Manufacture d ' Armes de ST - Etienne . Description . FAMAS stands for Fusil d ' Assaut de la Manufacture d ' Armes de St - Etienne ( Assault Rifle by St - Etienne Arms Factory - a member of the French govt . owned GIAT Industries concern ) . Development of this rifle began in 1967 , under the leadership of the Paul Tellie , a French arms designer . This new rifle was intended to replace in service the MAS Mle . 49 / 56 semi - automatic rifles , MAT - 49 submachine guns and some MAC Mle . 1929 light machine guns . First FAMAS prototype had been built in 1971 . French military began to test this rifle in 1972 - 73 , but , in the meantime , France adopted a Swiss - designed SIG SG - 540 5 . 56mm assault rifle as an intermediate solution . FAMAS rifle was adopted by the French in 1978 and since then became a standard French Army shoulder fired small arm , known among the French soldiers as " Le Clairon " ( the bugle ) . According to the Janes Infantry Weapons 2000 , the total number of FAMAS F1 rifles built is estimated at 400 000 , and the production of the F1 variant is now completed . It is still used by the French army , and was exported in small numbers to some countries like the Senegal or United Arab Emirates . Since then , the GIAT Industries developed an improved version of the F1 , known as the G1 . This rifle featured an enlarged trigger guard , that covered a whole hand , and a slightly improved plastic handguards . G1 was an intermediate design , and was consequently replaced by the latest production model , the FAMAS G2 , which appeared circa 1994 . This rifle has the G1 - style enlarged trigger guard but can accept only STANAG type ( M16 - compatible ) magazines . It was adopted and purchased by the French Navy in the 1995 , with the French Army soon following the suit , and also offered for export . At the present time the slightly upgraded FAMAS G2 rifle is used as a platform for the future FELIN system ( a French counterpart to the US " Land Warrior " programme ) , which incorporates a various electronic sights and sensors , connected to the soldier carried equipment , like the helmet mounted displays , ballistic and tactical computers etc . GIAT also now offers some variations of the basic FAMAS G2 rifle , such as " Submachine gun " with shortened receiver and barrel of 320 mm long , " Commando " with the standard receiver and the 405 mm barrel , and the " Sniper " , with longer and heavier 620 mm barrel and an integral scope mount instead of the carrying handle . The FAMAS rifles seen some action during the operation " Desert Storm " in Kuwait in 1991 , as well as in some peace - keeping operations in the mid and late 1990s , and proved itself as a reliable and trustworthy weapons . Technical description . The FAMAS assault rifles are built using the bullpup layout , with the magazine housing behind the pistol grip and trigger . The gun is built around the compact receiver , which is enclosed in the plastic housing . FAMAS is one of the relatively rare systems that uses a lever delayed blowback action , borrowed from the French AAT - 52 machine gun , but originally invented by the Hungarian designer Paul de Kiraly prior to the Second World War , and improved by the Paul Tellie for the FAMAS rifle . This system consists of the two - part bolt ( breech block ) with the delay lever interposed between the light forward part ( the bolt itself ) , which has a bolt face and the provisions for extractor mountings , and the heavier rear part ( the bolt carrier ) . The lever is pivotally mounted on the front part of the breech block ( bolt ) , with its lower legs resting against the cross pin in the receiver and the upper legs resting against the face on the bolt carrier ( assuming that the bolt group is in its forward position ) . Gun is fired from the closed bolt . When cartridge is ignited and fired , the gas pressure against the cartridge base pushes the cartridge case back in the fluted chamber , against the bolt face . The bolt begin to move back under the pressure , but at initial stages of the movement , when the pressure is still high , the delay lever transforms the short movement of the bolt into the longer movement of the heavier bolt carrier , thus delaying the opening of the bolt . As soon as the pressure in the chamber is dropped down to reasonable level , the lever is completely withdrawn from the contact with the cross pin , and from this moment on both bolt and its carrier begin to move back with the same speed , compressing the return spring and extracting and ejecting the spent case . The bolt face has extractor mounting points on both sides , so user can mount the extractor claw on the left or the right side of the bolt , which will result in the left - side or right - side extraction of the spent cartridge cases through the ejection ports on both sides of the gun . One of the ejection ports , which is not used at the moment , is always covered with detachable cheek piece , which can be installed on either side of the gun , as required . This allows to solve the problem of the left - hand use , which is essential for most bullpup rifles . The charging handle is located above the receiver , under the carrying handle , is shaped like trigger and completely ambidextrous . The charging handle does not reciprocate when gun is fired . The firing mechanism unit is contained in the detachable plastic housing just behind the magazine port . The unit is linked to the trigger by the long trigger rod , and the safety / fire selector is located within the triggerguard , just ahead of the trigger . The selector has 3 positions for safe , single shots , and automatic fire . Additional three - rounds bursts module is built into the firing mechanism housing , with the additional selector under the housing , behind the magazine , that allows for the unlimited full automatic fire or 3 rounds burst modes to be selected ( when the main selector is in the full auto mode ) . The sighting system of the FAMAS consists of the blade front and the diopter rear sight , adjustable for range and with two flip - up apertures , for good visibility and low light conditions . Both sights are mounted on the pillars , that are in turn mounted on the receiver , and concealed by the large plastic carrying handle . The carrying handle has the provisions for mounting a Weaver or Picatinny - style sight bases . A special receivers also available with the integral sights base instead of the carrying handle . The standard FAMAS barrel is 488 mm long and has a NATO - standard 22mm diameter flash hider , which also is used to launch rifle grenades from the muzzle . Current FAMAS barrels are rifled with 1 : 9 twist ( 1 turn in 228 mm , right hand ) , so both older M193 and newer 5 . 56mm NATO / SS109 / M855 ammunition can be fired with good results . Another interesting fact about FAMAS barrels is that it has only 3 groves ( while most other rifles have 4 to 6 grooves ) . The " Commando " variant has the shorter barrel which cannot be used to launch grenades . Both standard and the Commando versions can be fitted with the 40mm M203 underbarrel grenade launcher , if required . Every FAMAS rifle ( except for the shortest " Submachine gun " version ) can be fitted with folding , non - adjustable lightweight bipods that can be folded along the gun body when not in use . On most rifles these bipods are fitted as a standard . Every FAMAS rifle is equipped with the carrying sling and with detachable bayonet .