Lebel Model 1886 rifle

Lebel Model 1886 rifle

Lebel Model 1886 rifle Fusil Modle 1886/M93

Lebel M1886 Type Placeoforigin Bolt-action rifle France

Service history
Inservice Usedby Wars 1887 to 1940 See Users Boxer Rebellion, French colonial expeditions, Monegasque Revolution, First World War, PolishSoviet War, Spanish Civil War, Second World War Algerian War (limited)

Production history
Designer Designed Manufacturer Produced Numberbuilt Team led by gen. Tramond (Gras, Lebel, Vieille, Bonnet, Desaleux, Close, Verdin). 1885 French State manufactures (Chatellerault, Saint-Etienne and Tulle) 1887 to 1920 2,880,000

Specifications
Weight 4.41kg (9.7lb) (loaded with 10 rounds) 4.18kg (9.2lb) (unloaded) 130cm (51.2in) 80cm (31.5in) 850mmR Lebel 8mm 4 grooves, right to left twist Bolt-action 610 to 700 m/s (2,000 to 2,300 ft/s) 400 m (438 yards) (individual targets)

Length Barrellength Cartridge Caliber Action Muzzlevelocity Effectiverange

Maximumrange 1,800 m (1,644 yards) (volley fire at massed area targets) Feedsystem 8 round tube magazine

Lebel Model 1886 rifle The Lebel Model 1886 rifle (French: Fusil Modle 1886 dit "Fusil Lebel") is also known as the "Fusil Mle 1886 M93", after a bolt modification was added in 1893. It is an 8mm bolt action infantry rifle which entered service in the French Army in April 1887. It is a repeating rifle that can hold eight rounds in its forestock tube magazine plus one round in the transporter. The Lebel rifle had the distinction of being the first military firearm to use smokeless powder ammunition. The new gunpowder, "Poudre B", was nitrocellulose-based and had been invented in 1884 by French chemist Paul Vieille. . Lt. Colonel Nicolas Lebel contributed the flat nosed 8mm full metal jacket bullet ("Balle M", or "Balle Lebel"). The first practical full metal jacket rifle bullets had just been developed in 1881 by a Lt. Colonel (then Captain) Eduard Rubin (Swiss Army). Somewhat later, in 1898, a ballistically superior pointed (spitzer) and boat-tail bullet was adopted for the Lebel rifle. It was made of solid brass and called "Balle D". Featuring an oversized bolt with front locking lugs and a massive receiver, the Lebel rifle was a durable design capable of effective long range performance . In spite of outdated features, such as its tube magazine and the sharply tapered case of 8mm Lebel ammunition, the Lebel rifle remained the basic weapon of French infantry during World War I (191418). Altogether two million eight hundred and eighty thousand ( 2,880,000 ) Lebel rifles were produced by the three French State manufactures.

Operation, Features, and Accessories

In operation, the bolt is turned up to the vertical position until the two front locking lugs are released from the receiver. At the end of the bolt's opening phase, a ramp on the receiver bridge forces the bolt to the rear thus providing leveraged extraction of the fired case. The rifle is fitted with a two-piece wood stock, and features a spring-loaded tubular magazine in the forend. Taking aim at intermediate distances is done with a ramp sight graduated between 400 and 800 meters. The ladder rear sight is adjustable from 850 to 2,400 meters. Flipping forward that ladder sight reveals the commonly used fixed combat sight up to 400 meters. No rifle safety existed on the Lebel. The Mle 1886 rifle had a 10-round capacity (eight in the forend tube magazine, one in the transporter, and one in the chamber). The Lebel rifle features a magazine cutoff on the right side of the receiver. When activated it prevents feeding cartridges from the magazine. The Mle 1886 rifle was first developed at MAC (Manufacture d'armes de Chtellerault) and also mass manufactured at the State MAS and MAT facilities. The number of Lebel rifles manufactured adds up to two million eight hundred and eighty thousand (2,880,000). The Mle 1886 Lebel was a sturdy and accurate weapon that served as the basic French infantry rifle during WW-1 (19141918). The Lebel rifle remained in partial service until 1940 although its outsized length, its tube magazine and its rimmed ammunition had long become obsolete features. The Mle 1886 Lebel rifle was issued with a long needle-like quadrangular pe bayonet, the pe-Baonnette Modle 1886, with a length of 52 cm. (20 in.). With its X-shaped cross section, the pe bayonet was optimized for thrusting, designed to readily penetrate thick clothing and leather. The bayonet was dubbed Rosalie by French soldiers who were issued it during World War I. An effective stabbing/thrusting weapon, the Mle 1886 bayonet was frequently cut down by individual soldiers and ordnance sections into a stiletto-type thrusting knife (Poignard de tranche) for use in trench warfare.

Origins and Development

The Lebel rifle was developed as a result of the first successful smokeless gunpowder, invented by French chemist Paul Vieille (18541934) in 1884. His nitrocellulose-based Poudre B (Powder B) was three times more powerful than black powder for the same weight and left very little combustion residues after firing. At about the same time, a major Eduard Rubin (18461920) with the Swiss Army had invented in 1883 a copper jacketed lead cored and small bore (7.5mm and 8mm) bullet that could be fired at very high velocities without melting inside a rifle's barrel. Shortly thereafter, in January 1886, the French War Minister, General Boulanger, requested the urgent application of these two technological breakthroughs to the design of a new infantry rifle. He appointed General Tramond in charge of the project which had to be completed within one year. Firstly, it was decided to redesign the Gras cartridge case

Lebel Model 1886 rifle into an 8mm case, a transformation Captain Desaleux carried out. The repeating mechanism was designed and tested by Controllers Albert Close and Louis Verdin at the Chtellerault arsenal. The 8mm full metal jacket flat nosed projectile ("Balle M") was designed by Lt. Colonel Nicolas Lebel after whom the rifle (and the calibre) are named. Contrary to common belief, Col. Lebel did not lead the team responsible for the designing and production of the new rifle. Col. Lebel amicably protested during his lifetime that Col. Gras bore more responsibility than he did, but to no avail. So his name, which was used to designate the "Balle M" bullet as the "Balle Lebel", eventually stuck to the entire weapon. The Lebel followed the bolt action 11mm Mle 1874 Gras and the Mle 1878 French Naval Kropatschekrifle designed by an Austrian, Alfred von Kropatschek, and shared the latter's tubular magazine in the fore-end. Two transitional repeating infantry bolt action rifles, still The 8mm Lebel ammunition, developed in 1886, the first smokeless gunpowder cartridge to be chambered for the 11mm Gras black-powder cartridge, followed the made and adopted by any country. This round Mle 1878 rifle: the Mle 1884 and the Mle 1885 rifles. The latter had a features the solid brass boat-tailed "Balle D" two-piece stock and a massive steel receiver and closely resembles the bullet introduced in 1901. Mle 1886 Lebel. Over 20,000 Mle 1884 rifles had already been issued when the decision to adopt the Mle 1886 Lebel rifle was taken. In 1893, an improved version of the M1886 Lebel was designated Fusil Mle 1886 M (modifi) 93. Primarily, the rifle's bolt head was modified for better venting of gases that could accidentally escape from a ruptured cartridge head. At that same time, the rifle's firing pin and its rear knob were not modified since this had already been performed in 1888. The stacking rod which already existed on the earlier Mlle 1886 rifles remained unchanged. However, the fixation of the rear sight onto the barrel was substantially improved during the 1893 modifications. (See: Claude Lombard, 1987) The Lebel rifle was manufactured by three government arsenals: Chtellerault, St-Etienne and Tulle, and featured a two-piece stock and a massive receiver to withstand the higher pressures developed by the new smokeless powder-based cartridges. Tulle continued to carry out re-barrelings and other repairs on the Lebel rifle until the late 1930s. Between 1935 and 1940, a carbine-length (17.7inch barrel) version of the Lebel was issued mounted colonial troops in North Africa. This short carbine version of the Lebel, called the Mle 1886 M93-R35, was assembled in large numbers (about 50,000) at Manufacture d'Armes de Tulle (MAT), beginning in 1935. It used all of the Lebel's parts except for a newly manufactured shorter barrel of carbine length. Since the new carbine's tube magazine had to be shortened as well, its magazine capacity was only three rounds.

Lebel rifle breech portion.

The total number of Lebel rifles produced between 1887 and 1920 exceeds 2.8 million units. The Schematic. Image #3 and #4 Chtellerault arsenal alone produced 906,760 Lebel rifles. The machinery used for the production of Lebel barrels was purchased from the British firm of Greenwood and Batley. Specialized machinery was also procured in

Lebel Model 1886 rifle the USA in 1886 to accelerate and standardize mass production. All Lebel parts are fully interchangeable regardless of place and time of manufacture. All the key parts on the Lebel, including the wooden stock and forend, bear the same serial number except for the many Lebel rifles that underwent arsenal repairs or rebuildings during WW-1 and into the 1930s. For example, many of the Lebel rifles which were modified to "N" size chambers after 1932. Receiver serial numbers beginning by the letters R, S, T, RS, RT, ST and TS are indicative of Lebel rifles manufactured before and including 1898, and fall into the "antiques" category defined by the ATF. The year found on the upper right side of the barrel, very close to the receiver, can be misleading since hundreds of thousands of Lebel rifles were re-barreled during and after WW-1 (1914-18) and as late as the 1930's.

Competitors and successors

Upon its introduction, the Lebel rifle proved to be vastly superior to the Mauser M-71/84, the German army's repeater replacement of the single-shot Dreyse needle gun. France finished its rearmament program with the Lebel in 1889, just 18 months after the Second Reich had completed its rifle replacement program with 780,000 M-71/84s. The new French rifle alarmed Bismarck. Tests at Spandau in the winter of 1887-1888 found that the Lebel could fire 43 rounds of smokeless powder ammunition per minute compared to just 26 of black-powder ammunition for the M-71/84. The inferiority of the Mauser M71/84 and its 11mm black-powder ammunition was one reason why Bismarck opposed going to war with France that winter, despite being pressed by the War Minister Waldersee (another reason was that the new French De Bange field artillery, now equipped with breech loaders after the lessons of the 1870 war, both outnumbered and outperformed the Krupp C73s in their rate of fire).[] The Mle 1886 rifle proved to be a sturdy and serviceable weapon, but one which became rapidly outdated by advances in military rifle and ammunition designs. As early as 1888, the German Armys Rifle Testing Commission had introduced in response a completely new turnbolt magazine rifle with a spring-loaded box magazine: the Gewehr 88 "Commission" rifle. Above all else, it had been designed around the first ever rimless military cartridge using the new smokeless powder ammunition: the 7.9257mm Mauser cartridge. The early Gewehr 88 was followed 10 years later by the highly successful Gewehr 98 Mauser rifle which still fired the same cartridge but with ballistic improvements. In response to being left behind by Germany's Mauser rifle, the French military decided in 1909 to replace the Lebel and its rimmed cartridge by more advanced designs. Consequently, while the bolt action Berthier rifle was first issued in 1907 as a stop-gap to arm colonial troops, the French defense ministry was planning to leapfrog other military forces with an advanced semi-automatic infantry rifle. This new weapon was the Meunier rifle, also known as the Fusil A6, which chambered a powerful 759mm rimless cartridge. It was adopted in 1912 after an extensive competitive process. However its manufacture, which was to begin in 1913, was suspended because of the imminent risk of war with Germany. Instead, and during World War I, the French Army chose the easier and less expensive solution of adopting a gas-operated semi-automatic rifle which incorporated some Lebel parts: the Fusil Mle 1917 RSC, once again in 8mm Lebel caliber. It was manufactured in large numbers (85,000) during 1918 and issued to select soldiers in line infantry regiments. However, the Mle 1917 RSC was criticized by infantrymen as being too heavy, too long, and too difficult to maintain in the trenches. Furthermore, it also needed a special five-round clip to operate. In the end, the aged M1886 Lebel and variants of the Berthier rifle remained in service until the Armistice of November 11, 1918.

The 8mm Lebel Cartridge

When it first appeared, the Lebel's 850R smokeless ammunition allied to its longer range and flatter trajectory brought a revolution in infantry armament. A soldier equipped with a Lebel could outrange troops carrying rifles chambered for black-powder, large-caliber lead-bullet ammunition. Using smokeless powder, he could remain virtually invisible to an enemy at longer ranges, yet locate an enemy at any range by the smoke from their rifles. He could also carry more cartridges for the same overall weight. In the M1886 Lebel rifle, the early 231 gr (15 g)

Lebel Model 1886 rifle jacketed flat-nosed, lead-cored Balle M flat-nose bullet had an extreme range[1] of 3,500 yards and a muzzle velocity of 2,000ft/s (610m/s), with an effective range[2] of approximately 438 yards (401m). A new 197 gr (12.8 g) solid brass pointed (spitzer) and boat-tail bullet ("Balle D") was adopted for the Lebel rifle in 1898 and placed in generalized service after 1901 - the very first boat-tailed plus spitzer design bullet adopted by any army. Desaleux's "Balle D" provided a flatter trajectory and increased the extreme range of the Mle 1886 rifle to about 4,000 yards and its maximum effective wounding distance (when fired indirectly at massed area targets) to 1,800 yards. More importantly, the realistic effective range of the 8mm Lebel was increased (due to the bullet's flatter trajectory) to approximately 457 yards (418m) using open sights. The altered ballistic trajectory of the new cartridge necessitated a replacement of the Lebel's rear sights. Firstly, in order to avoid accidental percussion of sharply pointed Balle D ammunition inside the Lebel's tubular magazine, a circular groove was formed on each case head, around the primer pocket, in order to receive the pointed bullet tip of the cartridge that followed. Secondly, the Berdan primer itself on each French military Balle D round was protected against accidental percussion by a thick, convex primer cover that was also crimped in after 1912 (Balle D "a.m.", for amorcage modifie (modified primer)). This disposition provided in effect a double primer cup.[3] Because of this double thickness primer cup protection and the groove around the primer cup, the risk of accidental percussion inside the Lebel's magazine was entirely eliminated . However currently manufactured 8mm Lebel commercial ammunition has pointed bullets like "Balle D", yet this modern commercial ammunition shows no groove around the primer cup and only single thickness regular primers. In other words, modern 8mm Lebel commercial ammunition does not provide the safety features found on the old French-made military issue "Balle M", "Balle D" and "Balle N" ammunitions. Those had been purposely designed to be entirely safe inside a Lebel's tube magazine. The last type of Lebel military issue ammunition to be introduced was the Cartouche Mle 1932N, using a cupro-nickel, silver-colored, jacketed spitzer boat-tailed lead-cored bullet which was only suitable for Lebel and Berthier rifles marked "N" on top of the receiver and barrel. This 8mm Lebel heavier Balle "N" ammunition had originally been designed to increase the range of the Hotchkiss machine gun. Its manufacturing ceased in France during the late 1960s. 8mm Lebel ammunition was powerful for its time. It ranked slightly higher in muzzle energy than .303 British and slightly lower than the German 7.9257mm Mauser cartridge. The chief negative characteristic of 8mm Lebel ammunition was the geometry of its rimmed bottlenecked case. This adversely affected the magazine capacity and functioning of firearms, particularly in automatic weapons such as the Chauchat machine rifle. The Lebel cartridge's heavily-tapered case shape and substantial rim forced weapon designers to resort to magazines with extreme curvatures as for the Chauchat machine rifle. In contrast, rimless straight-wall cartridges such as the .30-06 Springfield and the 8x57mm Mauser could easily be loaded in straight vertical magazines.

The M1886 in Service

Following the adoption of the Lebel rifle by the French Army, most other nations switched to small-bore infantry rifles using smokeless ammunition. Germany and Austria adopted new 8mm infantry rifles in 1888; Italy and Russia in 1891; and the U.S. in 1892 with the Krag rifle. The British upgraded their .303 Lee-Metford with smokeless cartridges in 1895, resulting in the .303 Lee-Enfield. In the early years of the twentieth century, the Lebel rifle was sold in the French overseas colonies for the protection of civilians and/or for hunting purposes. Brand new military-issue 1886 and 188693 Lebels could be purchased by authorized civilians and were featured on catalogs of the French mail-order firm Manufrance printed until 1939. A sporting version of the Lebel called the "Lebel-Africain" was also offered for sale by Manufrance during the pre-World War II years. It featured a shorter barrel, a turned-down bolt handle and a slimmer, better finished stock. However, it was not competitive as a hunting weapon, when compared to the bolt action Mauser and Mannlicher-Schoenauer hunting rifles that became widely available for sporting purposes, beginning in the early

Lebel Model 1886 rifle 1900s.

World War I Usage

The Lebel rifle was a sturdy and durable service weapon displaying a high degree of finish. However, the Lebel's sights, while accurate for engaging targets at long distances, were too small and also virtually unprotected against shocks . The slow-to-reload tube magazine was also a distinct handicap . Nevertheless the Lebel rifle was preferred by line infantrymen over the Berthier rifles. The difference was the Lebel's more massive construction and its larger magazine capacity ( 8 rounds plus an extra round in the transporter ) . In the words of David Fortier (in "Standard Catalog of Military Rifles", 2003) : "The rifle shoulders nicely and is comfortable with a 13.5" length of pull. Align the hard to see sights and squeeze. When the hammer drops the Lebel slaps hard on both ends. The bolt handle is a bit out of reach due to its forward placement, but the action is fairly smooth and easy to run from the shoulder. You just have to give it a bit of a tug at the end to snap the shell carrier up...With quality ammunition and a good bore these rifles are capable of fine accuracy.... A rugged and reliable design,the Lebel soldiered on far longer than it should have." During World War I ( 1914-1918 ), the Lebel remained the standard rifle of French line infantry whereas the Berthier rifle - a lengthened version of the Berthier carbine - featuring a Mannlicher-style 3-round magazine was issued to colonial troops, to allied contingents with the French army and to the French Foreign Legion. Regarding the latter however, the French Foreign Legion demanded and obtained in 1920 to be re-equipped with the Lebel rifle . The Lebel and Berthier rifles could also be used with a removable VB (Viven-Bessieres) rifle grenade launcher. While the Lebel rifle was quite effective at up to 400 meters with the standard Balle D boat-tail bullet ammunition, accuracy at longer distances was impaired by the rifle's diminutive sights. Consequently, fully adjustable telescopic sights ( the APX Mle 1916 and APX Mle 1917 models) were issued in numbers for the Lebel rifle, beginning in late 1916.

Post-World War I Use

Because of various factors during the late 1920s and 1930s, including the depressed economy, reduced war budgets under the Popular Front government and neglect at high army levels, notably so by then War Minister Marshall Philippe Ptain, the slow pace of the French Army to modernize persisted long after the end of World War I. For instance the bolt-action 7.554 French MAS-36 rifle was placed in production too late, after more than 7 years of waiting, since its modern and rimless 7.5X54mm ammunition already existed in 1929 . As a result, manufacturing of the MAS-36 rifle, between 1936 and the outbreak of the war in September 1939, had been insufficient to equip all French infantry . Furthermore, a thoroughly tested French semi-automatic infantry rifle (the MAS 1938/39) was ready to be placed into production just before World War II but did not reappear in numbers until ten years later, as the MAS 49. Yet another result of these delays and other failures to modernize, is that outdated Lebel rifles - many of which had since been modified into a carbine-length version, the "Mle 1886 M93R35" - were still in the hands of second line troops at the outbreak of World War II. Near the end of WW-2 in 1944, the German Wehrmacht had issued to some of their occupation troops in France and in very limited numbers some captured M1886 rifles, renamed as the Gewehr 301(f). Some 10 years later, Lebel rifles were still issued in quantities by the French Army to the local civilian populations in Algeria, for the purpose of self-defense, during the Algerian War. Lebel rifles that are still functional have been brought back in recent years from the mountains of Afghanistan.

Lebel Model 1886 rifle

Military Users
Belgium France Kingdom of Greece Monaco: Compagnie des Carabiniers du Prince[4] Second Polish Republic Russia Second Spanish Republic Switzerland

Notes
[1] The extreme range is the maximum distance a bullet will carry when fired from any small arm, normally, this is accomplished by firing the weapon at a 45-degree angle. [2] The effective range of any infantry rifle is typically the range at which a soldier of average ability and schooled in a particular weapon's operation may be reasonably expected to consistently hit the chest area of a man-size target. [3] Huon, 1988.

References
French autoloading rifles. 18981979 (Proud promise), by Jean Huon, 1995, Collector Grade Publications. ISBN 0-88935-186-4. This volume (in English) contains a detailed technical chapter describing the Lebel rifle and its ammunition. This volume primarily describes all French semi-automatic rifles since 1898, notably the Mle 1917 and Mle 1918 semi-automatic rifles, the Meunier (A6) rifle as well as the MAS 38-39 to MAS49 and 49/56 series. La Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Chtellerault (18191968), by Claude Lombard, 1987, Editor: Librairie Brissaud, 162 Grand Rue, Poitiers, 86000, France, ISBN 2-902170-55-6. This large illustrated volume (in French) contains the detailed technical history and production statistics for the Lebel rifle as well as detailed technical accounts on the Chassepot, Gras, Kropatschek and Berthier weapons and how they came to be designed and manufactured. This is regarded as the fundamental research volume on the subject. The author is a retired armament engineer who spent most of his career at Chtellerault and had full access to all the archives and the prototypes. Military rifle and machine gun cartridges, Jean Huon, 1988, Ironside International Publishers, Alexandria, Virginia, ISBN 0-935554-05-X. This volume (in English) provides a detailed description of all the types of 8mm Lebel ammunition, including Balle M, Balle D (a.m.) and Balle N. The 7x59mm Meunier cartridge (for the semi-automatic A6 Meunier rifle) is also illustrated and described in detail. Standard Catalog of Military Firearms, Ned Schwing, 2003, Krause Publications, ISBN 0-87349-525-X. Contains an informative and detailed page dedicated to the Lebel rifle (by David Fortier). Bolt Action Rifles, Frank de Haas and Wayne Van Zwoll, 2003, Krause Publications, ISBN 0-87349-660-4. An illustrated chapter in this volume reviews in depth the Lebel and Berthier rifles (and carbines). France's Wonderful Rifle; Great Performances of the New Small Arm for Infantry, New York Times, October 15, 1889, page 3. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract. html?res=9404E3DA1130E633A25756C1A9669D94689FD7CF)

Lebel Model 1886 rifle

External links
Precededby Fusil Gras Modle 1874 French Army rifle 18861936 Succeededby Berthier rifle MAS-36 rifle

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Lebel Model 1886 rifle Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=550072253 Contributors: A Werewolf, Aldis90, AliveFreeHappy, Amoxum, Antique Military Rifles, Armandeh, Atirador, Avoided, B-watchmework, Bobblewik, Bobrayner, BonesBrigade, Boris Barowski, Breversa, Capt Jim, Carl Logan, Chris the speller, Colonies Chris, Commander Zulu, CommonsDelinker, DOHC Holiday, Dellant, DocWatson42, Dominick1283, EWikist, EX STAB, Echuck215, EdEColbert, Edward, Ekotkie, Erebus555, Everyking, Fabien1309, Faceless Enemy, Felis domestica, FuFoFuEd, Gaius Cornelius, GraemeLeggett, Grahamboat, Ground Zero, Groundsquirrel13, Gunnai, Hebrides, Hmains, Hutcher, Iridescent, Italia2006, J04n, Ja 62, Jab843, Jeff G., Jll, Jniles, Josh Woolstenhulme, Joshbaumgartner, Kevin Murray, Kintaro, Koalorka, Kross, Kvn8907, L1A1 FAL, LWF, Lebel1886, Lightmouse, MCTales, Magus732, Marc Venot, MatthewVanitas, Maury Markowitz, Megapixie, Nemo5576, Nicolaslebel, Nukes4Tots, Oberiko, Outlook, Pearle, Per Honor et Gloria, Philip Trueman, Pol098, Puddhe, Quickload, Qwe, Rama, Rcbutcher, Redlock, Richman271, Riddley, Rjwilmsi, Roger Davies, Roughbeak, Scott Paeth, Srice13, Stanislao Avogadro, Surv1v4l1st, Sus scrofa, TheOldJacobite, Tom harrison, Trekphiler, Twalls, Twinxor, TwoGunChuck, TwoOneTwo, UnneededAplomb, Ve3, Wavehunter, Wiki Raja, WorldWarTwoEditor, Xiahou, Yellow Evan, , 3887 anonymous edits

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