how do you translate ready, aim, fire into french?

[al sprinkle]

How do you translate the phrase "ready, aim, fire" into correct french?

[Erwan]

I think it's : Présentez armes, en joue, feu.

[Neil Coffey]

Erwan -- could it be "apprêtez armes ..."?

[Erwan]

I've never heard it. When I googled this expression, it always occured in 1700/1800-texts.

After thinking about my previous proposition, I probably made a mistake : "Présentez armes" is said in parades or things like that.

But I think you can have  "paré, en joue, feu" and "armez, en joue, feu" (I guess this last one is the best)

[Neil Coffey]

Ah, good point about 17/18C, seems my classical French training may be accidentally showing through ;-)

 

I don't do that many military translations as it's a bit outside my specialisation, but when I do I usually collaborate with a member of French-speaking military, so next time I'll try and remember to ask about this.

 

[al sprinkle]

I appreciate the help.  I am part of a civil war reenacting group that is being asked to represent a french speaking unit in an upcoming event so the phrase that would have been used in 1862 would be even better, but it would be interesting to see how it has changed in 100 years.