Lebel Model 1886 rifle
Lebel Model 1886 rifle Fusil Modèle 1886/M93 | |
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tube magazine +1 in the elevator +1 in the chamber (unsafe) | |
Sights | U-notch and front post |
The Lebel Model 1886 rifle (French: Fusil Modèle 1886 dit "Fusil Lebel") also known as the "Fusil Mle 1886 M93", after a bolt modification was added in 1893, is an 8 mm
Operation, features, and accessories
In operation, the bolt is turned up to the vertical position until the two opposed 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 fore-end. 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.[3] The Mle 1886 Lebel rifle has a 10-round capacity (eight in the under barrel tube magazine, one in the elevator, 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.[3]
The Mle 1886 Lebel rifle was issued with a long needle-like quadrangular épée bayonet, the Épée-Baïonnette Modèle 1886, with a length of 52 cm. (20 in.). With its X-shaped cross section, the épée 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.[3]
Origins and development
Historically, the Mle 1886 Lebel rifle was the first military firearm to use smokeless powder ammunition. This new propellant powder, made of stabilized nitrocellulose, was called "Poudre B" ("Powder B") and had just been invented in 1884 by
The French military initially planned to adopt a wholly new rifle design and spent the year 1885 on determining an optimal caliber as well as testing
However shortly thereafter, in January 1886, a new
Firstly the 11mm Gras cartridge case was necked-down into an 8mm case (similarly to how 8×60mmR Guedes was created by Portuguese a few years earlier, except that cartridge used black powder and therefore was longer), a transformation carried out by Gras and Lt. Colonel Desaleux, which necessitated a double taper handicapping French firearms design for decades to come. The repeating mechanism, derived from the French Mle 1884 Gras-Kropatschek repeating rifle, was implemented by Albert Close and Louis Verdin at the Chatellerault arsenal. The bolt's two opposed front locking lugs, inspired from the two rear locking lugs on the bolt of the earlier Swiss
The Lebel was designed to be backwards compatible so it could use up existing stores of parts. It used the straight trigger and horizontal
Boulanger ordered to produce a million rifles by May 1, 1887, but his proposal how to achieve that was entirely unrealistic[8] and the overall speed was clearly impossible (he was sacked the same year for provoking a war with Germany). The Lebel rifle was manufactured by three government arsenals: Châtellerault, St-Etienne and Tulle, mostly during late 1880s and early 1890s. It featured a two-piece stock and a massive receiver designed to withstand the higher pressures developed by the new smokeless powder-based cartridges.
In 1893, an improved version of the M1886 Lebel was designated Fusil Mle 1886 M 93.[note 4] The most useful improvement was a modification of the bolt head so it would divert away from the shooter's face any hot gases escaping from a ruptured cartridge case. The firing pin and its rear knob had already been modified in 1887 while the stacking rod remained unchanged.[3] Lastly, the fixation of the rear sight onto the barrel was substantially improved during that 1893 modification.[9]
Between 1937 and 1940, a carbine-length (17.7 inch [45 cm] barrel) version of the Lebel was issued to mounted colonial troops in North Africa. This short carbine version of the Lebel, called the Mle 1886 M93-R35[note 5]., was assembled in large numbers (about 50,000) at Manufacture d'Armes de Tulle (MAT), beginning in 1937. It used all of the Lebel's parts except for a newly-manufactured shorter barrel of carbine length.[citation needed] It used new sights based on that of the Berthier carbine and had a shortened version of the Lebel bayonet. Since the new carbine's tube magazine had to be shortened as well, its magazine capacity was only three rounds.
While being up to its time, the Lebel rifle design was not without any shortcomings and became outdated much faster than any of the magazine rifles of other European militaries that followed French example during late 1880s and 1890s. While ammunition had to be loaded into the design one at a time, other country's service rifles were being loaded with stripper clips at a much faster rate. The tube fed magazine also greatly affected the rifle's balance when being fired, which could have been another shortcoming.[10]
Competitors and successors
Upon its introduction, the Lebel rifle proved to be vastly superior to the
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 Army's Rifle Testing Commission had introduced in response a completely new turnbolt magazine rifle with a spring-loaded box magazine: the
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
8mm Lebel cartridge
When it first appeared, the Lebel's
A new 197 gr (12.8 g) solid brass (90% copper-10% zinc) pointed (spitzer) and boat-tail bullet ("Balle D")—historically the very first boat-tailed plus spitzer rifle bullet to be invented and then widely manufactured—was adopted for the Lebel rifle in 1898 and placed in generalized service after 1901. Desaleux's own Balle D provided a flatter trajectory and increased the 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, due to the bullet's flatter trajectory, the realistic effective range of the 8mm Lebel was increased to approximately 457 yards (418 m) using open sights. The altered ballistic trajectory of the new cartridge necessitated a replacement of the Lebel's rear sights.[3]
Firstly, in order to avoid accidental percussion inside the Lebel tube magazine and in order to receive the pointed bullet tip of the cartridge that followed, all the French-manufactured military Balle D and Balle N ammunition had a circular groove etched around each primer pocket. Moreover, the Berdan primer on each French-made military Balle D round was further protected against accidental percussion by a thick, convex primer cover which was crimped in after 1915, the "Balle D a.m."[12]
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 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge. The chief negative characteristic of 8mm Lebel ammunition was the geometry of its rimmed bottlenecked case, due to the will to reuse 11mm Gras case set of tools. 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 8×57mm Mauser could easily be loaded in straight vertical magazines.[3]
M1886 in service
This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2018) |
Following the adoption of the Lebel rifle by the French Army, most other nations switched to small-bore infantry rifles using smokeless ammunition.
In the early years of the twentieth century, the Lebel rifle was sold in the French overseas colonies for the protection of civilians or for hunting purposes.[citation needed] Brand new Lebels could be purchased by authorized civilians[13][14] and were featured in catalogs of the French mail-order firm Manufrance printed until 1939.[citation needed] Those "civilian market" Lebels sold by Manufrance were strictly identical in fit and finish to the military issue Lebels, except for the lack of a bayonet lug and no stacking rod.[14] Furthermore, a large game hunting version of the Lebel called the "Lebel-Africain" was also offered for sale by Manufrance during the pre-World War II years. This particular version featured a shorter barrel, a turned-down bolt handle and a slimmer, better finished stock. However, it had to compete as a hunting weapon against the bolt-action Mauser and Mannlicher–Schönauer hunting rifles that became available on the French marketplace, in the early 1900s.[citation needed]
World War I
The Lebel rifle was a hard-hitting and solidly built weapon with a reputation for reliability in adverse environments including those of trench warfare.[citation needed] The Lebel rifle was quite accurate up to 300 yards and still deadly at three times that distance, thanks to the spitzer and boat tail "Balle D" bullet. Nevertheless, the Lebel rifle was not without its flaws:
- The slow-to-reload tube magazine was the Lebel's worst handicap when compared to other military rifles of that period.
- The Lebel's diminutive sights, while accurate, were low and small thus not easy to align and unprotected against shocks.
- The lack of a wooden handguard on top of the barrel led to burned hands after prolonged firings.
Nevertheless, the Lebel rifle was preferred by French infantrymen over the M1907-15 Berthier rifle with its limited three-round magazine capacity. The difference was the Lebel's larger magazine capacity in an emergency (eight rounds plus two extra rounds). 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 infantry whereas the Berthier rifle—a lengthened version of the
During World War I, Lebels were supplied to various Allied armies, such as Serbia, Russia,[15] Belgium[16] or United States.[17]
The German Empire captured many Lebels, especially after the fall of Lille during the Race to the Sea. The rifles were marked Deutsches Reich and issued to rear units.[14]
Post-World War I use
Because of negative factors during the late 1920s and 1930s—a depressed economy, reduced war budgets under the
Users
- Algeria[26]
- Belgium[16]
- Fascist Italy in 1943.[27]
- Republic of China: Used by Yunnan Clique forces
- Czechoslovakia[28]
- Democratic Republic of Georgia[29]
- Ethiopian Empire: Some Ethiopian Lebels have been hand-shortened into 5-round carbines. Most likely were obtained after WW1 as surplus. [30] [31]
- France
- German Empire[14]
- Nazi Germany: issued to Volkssturm units.[22]
- Kingdom of Greece: bought during the 1919-1922 Greco-Turkish War[32]
- Kingdom of Hejaz
- Kingdom of Italy: Supplied to the Italian Army in World War I after the Battle of Caporetto and issued to second-line units. About 9,000 were inventoried in 1942, and Italian firms produced new ammunition for them in the 1930s and 1940s.[33]
- Iraqi insurgents[25]
- Lebanon[34]
- Monaco: Compagnie des Carabiniers du Prince[35]
- Second Polish Republic[13]
- Kingdom of Romania
- Russian Empire[15]
- Kingdom of Serbia[15]
- Somalia
- Soviet Union[13]
- Second Spanish Republic[36]
- Thailand
- Turkey[32][37]
- United Kingdom: issued to Home Guard units after Dunkirk.[citation needed]
- United States: used during WWI[17]
- Vietnam : used by Vietnamese National Army[38] and Viet Minh/Viet Cong[39]
See also
- Chauchat
- List of infantry weapons of World War I
- Hotchkiss M1914machine gun
Notes
- ^ Fusil de Marine Modele 1878 (French > "Navy Rifle Model 1878")
- ^ The rifle was designed by an Austrian, Alfred von Kropatschek. Affiliated with the Steyr factory, he invented the tubular magazine design.
- ^ Fusil d'Infanterie Modele 1884 (French > "Infantry Rifle Model 1884")
- ^ Fusil Modele 1886 Modifié 93 (French > "Rifle Model 1886 / Modified 1893"). A product-improved version of the Mle 1886.
- ^ Fusil Modele 1886 Modifié 93 - Raccourci 35 (French > "Rifle Model 1886 / Modified 1893 - Shortened 1935"). On converted rifles the M93 marking was ground out and the R35 mark etched in its place.
References
- ^ Mackie, Brendan (June 22, 2012). "ABP lead successful operation in southern Afghanistan". U.S. Army.
- ^ [1]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l James 2014, pp. 67–71&108–109
- ^ Guillou 2012, p. 26.
- ^ "The First Modern Military Rifle: The Modele 1886 Lebel". 5 December 2017.
- ^ "Le Lebel".
- ^ Guillou 2012, p. 27.
- ^ https://www.agglo-tulle.fr/file/1194/download?token=SJn-d7eu [bare URL]
- ^ Lombard 1987, p. [page needed].
- ^ Searson, Mike (20 June 2018). "What Went Wrong with the 1886 Lebel Rifle?". Breach Bang Clear.
- ISBN 978-0-19-517945-3.
- ^ Huon 1988, p. [page needed].
- ^ a b c d Guillou 2012, p. 30.
- ^ a b c d Guillou 2012, p. 31.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84176-194-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84603-448-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78096-011-1.
- ^ Gander 2000, p. 50.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-86126-354-4.
- ISBN 978-8-88590-999-1.
- ^ "Italiano Armi di Fanteria della prima guerra mondiale from Vetterli to Villar Perosa: Part I. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
- ^ ISBN 0889353727.
- ISBN 978-1-85532-789-4.
- from the original on 8 October 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-19714-4. Archived from the original(PDF) on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-85532-658-3.
- ISBN 9780764345838.
- ISSN 0767-869X. Archived from the originalon 17 June 2019.
- ^ "საქართველოს სამხედრო ისტორია: მსუბუქი შეიარაღება" [Military History of Georgia: Light Weapons]. Ministry of Defense of Georgia (in Georgian).
- ISBN 978-1-84908-457-4.
- ^ "Uniquely Ethiopian Shortened Lebel Rifles". 16 December 2020.
- ^ ISBN 9781472806840.
- ISBN 9780764345838.
- ^ "Post-WWII use of the MAS-36 rifle: Part II (export users)". WWII After WWII. 2015-08-23. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
- ISBN 2 912976-04-9.
- ISBN 978-1-78200-785-2.
- ISSN 1954-653X.
- ISBN 978-1-85532-789-4.
- ISBN 978-1-84603-371-1.
Bibliography
- "France's Wonderful Rifle; Great Performances of the New Small Arm for Infantry". The New York Times. October 15, 1889. p. 3.
- Bull, Stephen; et al. (Illustrations by Adam Hook, design by Alan Hamp) (27 May 2021). "Chapter 3: Infantry weapons in 1914". In Windrow, Martin (ed.). World War I Trench Warfare (1): 1914–16. ISBN 978-1-47285-254-0 – via Google Books.
- Guillou, Luc (1 March 2012). Sorlot, C.; Sorlot, Bertrand; Dugroleau, Stéphanie; Dupont, Régis; Barbier, Elodie; Poggioli, Antoine (eds.). "Quelques fusils Lebel atypiques". ISSN 0767-869X. Archived from the originalon 18 November 2013.
- de Haas, Frank; Van Zwoll, Wayne (2003). Bolt Action Rifles. Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87349-660-4. An illustrated chapter in this volume reviews in depth the Lebel and Berthier rifles (and carbines).
- Huon, Jean (1988). Military rifle and machine gun cartridges. Alexandria, Virginia: Ironside International Publishers. 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.
- Huon, Jean (1995). Proud Promise: French Autoloading Rifles 1898–1979. Collector Grade Publications. ISBN 0-88935-186-4. This volume (in English) contains a highly detailed technical "Introduction" 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.
- James, Gary (October 2014). "France's Great War Masterpiece. The 1886/93 Lebel". American Rifleman. Vol. 162, no. 10. National Rifle Association.
- Krause, Keith; German, Eric G.; LeBrun, Emile; McDonald, Glenn; Jones, Richard; et al. (Illustrated by Jillian Luff, photography by Frank Benno Junghanns) (1 August 2012). Allen, Alessandra; Inowlocki, Tania; Strachan, Donald (eds.). Small Arms Survey 2012: Moving Targets. ISBN 978-0-521-19714-4. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2021 – via Cambridge University Press(printer).
- Lombard, Claude (1987). La Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Châtellerault (1819–1968) (in French). 162 Grand Rue, Poitiers, 86000, France: Librairie Brissaud. Kropatschek and Berthierweapons 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 Châtellerault and had full access to all the archives and the prototypes.
- Malingue, Bruce (2006). "Fusil Lebel". Le Tir Sportif au Fusil Reglementaire (in French). Crepin-Leblond. pp. 332–334. ISBN 2-7030-0265-3. The author is justifiably critical of the Lebel's sights.
- Schwing, Ned, ed. (2003). Standard Catalog of Military Firearms. Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87349-525-X. Contains an informative and detailed page dedicated to the Lebel rifle (by David Fortier).