Rifles 1914 -1922

11mm single-shot Gras

The French Army in 1914 was equipped with the 8mm Lebel rifle. However by 1914 the Lebel was already an obsolete weapon (it was designed in the 1880s in response to France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War). The rifle had an eight shot magazine housed in a tube under the barrel in the forestock. Normal procedure was to fire the weapon as a single-shot gun, only bringing the magazine into use should battlefield conditions require it. the magazine was slow to reload and if dropped the manner of storage of the rounds was prone to igniting the ammunition in the magazine. This fault resulted in a re-design of the 8mm round.

8mm Lebel Bullets

8mm Lebel Cartridge Cases

8mm Lebel complete Rounds

The 8mm Lebel round was derived from the 11mm single-shot Gras rifle. The conical shape of the round is because the 11mm Gras cartridge was simply re-sized to accept an 8mm bullet. The resulting effect was that the 8mm Lebel round was the most powerful rifle round of its time.

8mm Lebel (top) and sectionalised Lebel with Bayonet

The next development was the Berthier rifle in 1907, originally a three-shot carbine utilising the Mannlicher clip system and later developed into a full-length rifle. From 1916 the gun moved from being a three-shot to a five-shot weapon. The Berthier gradually replaced the Lebel in the ranks until carrying a Lebel was a mark of the veteran poilu.

Three-shot and five-shot Berthier Carbines______Mannlicher Clips for the Berthier