French Lebel M1886 and 1886/93
(Uses 8mm Lebel cartridges)
General Specifications
Type . . . . . . . . .Turnbolt repeater.
Receiver . . . . . .One-piece machined steel forging with integral upper tang. Slotted bridge. Lower tang/trigger guard separate part fastened to receiver with screw. Made for two-piece stock.
Bolt . . . . . . . . . .Two-piece with dual-opposed locking lugs on separate bolt head. Base of bolt handle is safety lug.
Ignition . . . . . . .One-piece firing pin powered by coil mainspring. Cocks on opening bolt.
Magazine . . . . .Tubular magazine in fore-end loaded through opened acton. Eight-shot capacity for rifle.
Trigger . . . . . . .Non-adjustable, double-stage military pull.
Safety . . . . . . . .None provided.
Extractor . . . . . .One-piece spring type mortised into the bolt head.
Magazine cutoff Lever type positioned at rear right side of receiver.
Bolt-stop . . . . . .No separate bolt stop; see text.
Ejector . . . . . . .Stud screw threaded into the left receiver wall.
Lebel rifles, as well as the Berthier and MAS rifles described later, have two types of screws. The main screws that are removed for field-stripping (bolt head, trigger guard, magazine housing and carrier plate screws) are slotted so they can be removed with a screwdriver or similar tool. Practically all other screws are unslotted and require special two-pronged screwdrivers to remove them.
The Berthier Rifle
The Lebel design was soon superseded by another, and similar, turnbolt system. M. Berthier, a Frenchman and an officer of the Algerian Railway Company, adapted a Mannlicher-type magazine to the Lebel 8mm rifle, eliminating the unsatisfactory tubular magazine. The main changes were as follows: 1) the “housing” type receiver was made more like a conventional receiver; 2) cartridge-carrier mechanism and tubular magazine were replaced by a single-column magazine under the receiver, making it largely a separate part of the action; 3) the two-piece stock was replaced by a one-piece design; 4) relocating the dual-opposed locking lugs on the bolt head so that they are vertical when the bolt is locked, and the receiver machined accordingly.
French Berthier action with five-shot magazine.
A carbine form of the new design was adopted in 1890, chambered for the 8mm Lebel cartridge. In time, various rifles and carbines were developed around the Berthier action, these becoming the standard French shoulder weapon in both World Wars. By far the most common French military rifle, it is one of the few foreign arms that appeared on the surplus market after both wars. Remington made several thousand “Lebels” for France during WW I which were never delivered; these were the first ones offered on the U.S. market.
The Berthier rifles and carbines have long been known as “8mm Lebel” rifles, perhaps because they’re chambered for the 8mm Lebel cartridge, but the correct designation is the “Berthier.” In any case, the French rifle discussed here has a single-column Mannlicher-type magazine.
In the 1920s and ’30s many of these rifles were imported and sold at very low prices and they became the first French rifles to be sporterized. In the 1930s Stoeger offered a sporter stock for it, and other commercial stockmaking firms followed suit. Although most firearms experts and gun writers dismiss this action as being wholly unsatisfactory for a hunting rifle, the fact is that many of them have been remodeled in years past.
The Berthier Action
The receiver is machined from a one-piece steel forging. The barrel is securely threaded into the receiver. The V-type threads are right hand. The barrel breech is slightly coned and part of its circumference is beveled for the extractor. The receiver bridge is slotted to allow passage of the bolt handle. The right wall of the receiver is partially cut away for loading and allows the bolt to be turned down to the locked position. Raceways are milled inside the left and right walls of the receiver for passage of the locking lugs. The raceways end abruptly inside the bridge. The magazine well opening is milled from the bottom of the receiver to allow insertion of the clip and cartridges. The cartridge loading ramp begins at a point about midway in this opening, narrowing toward the front and sloping upward to guide the cartridges into the chamber.
Bolt head of the Berthier bolt showing: (A) dual-opposed locking lugs, (B) ejector slot, (C) extractor and (D) bolt guide lug and screw.
Berthier action, open.
There is no recoil lug as such, but a slotted lug under the receiver ring is fitted with a cross pin to engage the front end of the magazine wall. Two flat surfaces at the rear tang junction take up most of the recoil, but other parts of the receiver and trigger guard also absorb some recoil and prevent the action from moving back in the stock.
The magazine shell is attached to the trigger guard by two screws. The follower assembly (follower arm, follower plate, two flat springs and a screw) is positioned by and pivots on, a screw in the front of the shell. The front part of the trigger guard provides a housing in which the clip latch and trigger are fastened—a single V-spring tensions both parts. The top of this housing extends into the bottom of the receiver and is attached by a screw passing through the receiver and the housing. The receiver and the magazine/trigger guard are held together in the stock by this screw, the hook on the front of the magazine shell engaging the receiver and the two guard screws which connect the rear of the trigger guard to the receiver.
The trigger let-off is the usual double-stage type. The Berthier trigger, like that of most other French military rifles, is practically straight and extends into the guard bow like a peg or stick.
There were several variations in the Berthier magazines—all required a clip. The cartridges are first placed in the clip, then the clip and cartridges are inserted into the magazine through the top of the open action. When fully inserted, the clip latch holds the clip and cartridges down against the pressure of the follower. After the last cartridge is fed from the clip, the clip drops free from the bottom of the magazine.
Left side of the French Berthier action.
Most early Berthier rifles had a three-shot magazine capacity, with the rear bottom part of the magazine open for the empty clip to drop free. Later, the magazine was modified to hold a clip of five cartridges. This extended the magazine well below the trigger guard. The bottom shell or cover of this magazine has a hinged cover plate to block the clip opening and retain the clip within the action after the last cartridge is fed from it. The cover plate can be opened, allowing the clip to fall
