They had a transferable M73 and M85 at Knob Creek a few years ago. <6 on registry. As a 19K, I still hated seeing them. Even with TLC, they are as reliable as a Chautchaut.
I have been an 11 Echo enlisted loader and gunner [first hitch] while the M73 was in service, and I have owned three French CSRG *Chauchat* 8mm machine rifles. The Chauchat, if fed good ammunition and not the crappy French service rifle ammo meant for bolt action rifles that do not depend on consistant recoil or gas pressure to function, is actually pretty reliable, if uncomfortable to shoot. This is aso the reason that when the French built their 7.5mm Mle 1924 *French Bren* to replace the CSRG and for use in fortifications, they went with the new, rimless cartridge...with more consistant powder charge metering during manufacture.
It's true that in the WWI trenches, the open side of the magazine allowed mud and dirt to get in and plug the mags up, but that is why leather pouches that fully enclosed the magazine were issued, and why multiple magazines came in a metal box not unlike a current-day .50 M2A1 ammo can.
Yes the springs in a Chaychat could be better. And in mine, they were, replaced. The flat zigzag magazine springs were also not exactly state of the art, but those of the US M1918A1 BAR were made the same way.
One word of warning: my positive experiences with the CSRG do NOT include the Model 1918 version in .30-06, as issued to US forces serving with the A.E.F in 1917-1918 before the BARs arrived. Those things had out-of-tolerance barrels, and though some have claimed that a new barrel turned down from a M1919A4 Browning MG barrel can be used to get one up and running, I've not tried it and my experiences with as-issued .30 Chauchats have been gloom, despair, and agony on me. But I'm actually reasonably fond of the original 8mm CSRG versions, so long as their use is confined to well-mowed ranges on sunshiny days.