The adoption of the Modèle 1917 can be traced to early attempts by the French Army to replace its Lebel rifles with a more advanced semi-automatic design in the years before the outbreak of the First World War.

Considerable delays were experienced in the final choice for the ammunition, which ended up being a powerful rimless proprietary 7×56.95mm round.

The Mle 1917 RSC was gas-operated, using a long-stroke piston with a rotating bolt; the gas port was located underneath the barrel near the muzzle as in the later American M1 Garand rifle.

The Mle 1917 was widely distributed among French infantrymen during 1918, but the troops did not like it as they found it too heavy, too long and too difficult to maintain in the trenches.

The gas port required frequent cleaning out (every 100 rounds or so) which could be performed after removing the large brass screw under the front end of the barrel.

These conversions are identifiable as they retain the rifle sights and handguard as well as the Mle 1917 style of butt plate.

[citation needed] During the German occupation, the weapons were type classified as Selbstlade-Gewehr 310(f)[3] and used by Vichy and Volksturm elements.

[citation needed] The Musée de l'Armée, Les Invalides, Paris displays both the Mle 1917 RSC and the Meunier rifle as a part of the permanent World War I (1914–1918) arms, uniforms and equipments exhibits.