Lebel Model 1886

Lebel Model 1886 Rifle

Introduction

The Lebel Model 1886 rifle (in French, Fusil Modele 1886 dit “Fusil Lebel”), or the Fusil Mle 1886 M93 (after a bolt modification added in 1893), is an 8mm bolt-action infantry rifle that entered service with the French Army in April of 1887. It is a repeating rifle which is capable of holding eight rounds in its tube magazine, plus another round in the transporter and another in the chamber. The Lebel has the distinction of being the first military rifle to make use of smokeless powder ammunition. It also was the first to introduce the ‘boat-tail’ bullet as standard ammunition in 1901. The rifle has an oversized bolt with front locking lugs, and a massive receiver. It is a durable design, and capable of effective long-range performance. Despite its obsolete features, such as a tube magazine, and the sharply tapered case of 8mm ammunition, it still remained as the standard French infantry weapon during all of World War I. Altogether, 2,880,000 Lebel’s were produced by three French manufacturers between 1887 and 1920.

Operation, Features, and Accessories

The Lebel Model 1886 has a turn-bolt action with a two-piece bolt that has dual opposed front locking lugs. In operation, the bolt is turned up into the vertical until the two locking lugs are released from the receiver. A mechanical lift introduces a new cartridge in line with the chamber, and the closing of the bolt moves it into the firing chamber, while another cartridge is introduced onto the lift mechanism via the magazine spring.

Lebel Model 1886 Breech

The Lebel features a two-piece wood stock, and has a spring-loaded tube magazine in the fore end. Aiming at intermediate distances is done with a ramp sight, which graduates between 400 and 800 meters (1312-2624.5 feet). When brought up, the ladder rear sight is adjustable from 850-2400 meters (2788.75-7874 feet). Flipping forward, it reveals the more commonly used sight, which goes up to 400 meters (1312 feet).

The Lebel has no safety. The tube magazine is found under the barrel, and holds eight cartridges, charged rearwards via a pressure spring. Another cartridge can be held in the transporter, and another in the chamber, giving the Lebel a total capacity of 10 rounds. The rifle features a magazine cutoff on the right side of the receiver, and when activated it prevents the magazine from feeding cartridges.

The Mle 1886 was first developed at MAC (Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault), and was also manufactured at State MAS and MAT until 1920. A private concern, Manufacture d’Armes de Paris also contributed smaller parts during World War I. The number manufactured until 1920 numbers some 2,880,000. The rifle was a sturdy and accurate weapon, and was the basic French infantry rifle during WWI. It remained in partial service throughout 1940, though it was outclassed in many cases.

An add-on to the Lebel Model 1886 was a long needle-like epee bayonet, the Épée-Baïonnette Modèle 1886. With a v-shaped cross section, this weapon was optimized for thrusting, and designed to penetrate thick clothing and leather. It was dubbed “Rosalie” by French soldiers during WWI. It proved to be very effective for both stabbing and thrusting, and was frequently cut down by individuals and ordnance sections into a stiletto-type thrusting knife for use in trench warfare during WWI.

Origins and Development

The Lebel was developed as a direct result of the invention of smokeless gunpowder. French chemist Paul Vielle’s nitrocellulose-based Poudre B (Powder B) was three times more powerful than the same amount of black powder, and left very little combustion residues after firing. Also, Switzerlands Major Eduard Rubin invented a copper jacketed, lead core, small bore bullet in 1883, which could be fired at tremendous velocities without melting inside of a rifles barrel.

Shortly after these developments, the French War Minister, General Boulanger, requested in January of 1886 for an urgent application of these designs into a new infantry rifle. He appointed General Tramond to take charge of the project within less than a year. It was decided to redesign the Gras cartridge case into a new 8mm case, and this transformation was carried out by Captain Desaleux. Most of the new mechanical details were designed by Controllers Albert Close and Louis Verdin at the Chatellerault arsenal. The 8mm full metal jacket flat nosed projectile (Balle M) was responsible for the formulation and construction of the new rifle. Colonel Lebel protested during his lifetime that Colonel Gras had more of the responsibility for creating the rifle, but despite his efforts, Lebel’s name went to the Balle M as Balle Lebel, and eventually stuck to the entire weapon system.

The Lebel Model 1886 followed the bolt action 11mm Mle 1874 Gras and Mle 1878 French Naval Kropatschek rifle designed by the Austrian Alfred von Kropatschek. It shared the latters tubeular magazine in the fore end. Two other rifles had followed these designs, still using the 11mm Gras cartridge – the Mle 1884 and Mle 1885. Over 20,000 Mle 1884’s had been issued when it was decided to adopt the Lebel.

In 1893, an improved version of the Lebel, designated Fusil Mle 1886 M (modifie) 93, was produced. The main changes included the bolt head being modified for a better venting of the gasses that could escape accidentally from a ruptured cartridge head, while the fixation of the rear sight onto the barrel was improved. The firing pin and rear knob were not improved, since they had already been modified earlier in 1888.

The Lebel Model 1886 was manufactured by three government arsenals: Chatellerault, St-Etienne and Tulle. The Tulle arsenal continued producing Lebel’s during World War I, and closed the last assembly line in May of 1920. They did continue to re-barrel and repair Lebel’s until the late 1930’s.

Between 1935 and 1940, a carbine-length version was issued, designated Mle 1886 M93-R35. It was designed mainly for use by mounted troops and support personnel. This was built in large numbers at Tulle, beginning in 1935. It was made up entirely of Lebel parts, with the exception of the shorter barrel. However, the magazine had to be shortened due to a shorter fore end, and the resulting rifle only held three rounds in the magazine, one in the transporter, and one in the chamber.

The total number of Lebel’s built between 1887 and 1920 exceeds 2.8 million. Chatellerault alone manufactured 906,760. The machinery used to produce Lebel’s was purchased from the British firm of Greenwood and Batley, while other specialized machinery was purchased from the United States in 1886 to accelerate and make standard mass production. All Lebel parts are fully interchangeable regardless of the place and time of manufacture. All of the key parts have the same serial number, with the exception of the many Lebel’s that underwent arsenal repairs or rebuildings during World War I and into the 1930’s.

The Lebel Model 1886 proved to be a reliable and sturdy rifle, and easily serviceable. However, it became outdated very quickly by the leaps and bounds in rifle and ammunition design. As early as 1888, the Germans had introduced a turn-bolt magazine rifle with a spring-loaded box magazine – the Gewehr 88 or “Commission” rifle. It was designed around the first rimless military cartridges using smokeless powder. It was followed ten years later by the Gewehr 98.

In response to being left behind in military rifle designs, the French decided to replace the Lebel and its cartridge with more efficient and modern designs. While the Berthier rifle was introduced in 1907 as a stop-gap, the French secretly planned to get far ahead in technology by introducing a semi-automatic rifle. Thus came the Meunier rifle, or Fusil A6, which utilized a 7x59mm rimless cartridge. It was adopted in 1912, but its manufacture, scheduled to begin in 1913, was postponed because of rumors of war with Germany. To re-equip the entire army with these rifles would have required a change in ammunition type, and at least 500,000 rifles. Instead, during World War I, the French chose an easier solution of adopting a gas-operated semi-automatic rifle which used Lebel parts – the Fusil Model 1917 RSC, which was of 8mm caliber. It was manufactured in large numbers during 1918, and issued to select soldiers of frontline infantry regiments. However, it required constant attention in the muddy trenches, and was criticized by the infantry as being too heavy, too long, and too difficult to maintain. It also needed a special five-round clip for operation. In the end, the Lebel remained in service with the French Army until 1940.

8mm Lebel Cartridge

Balle D 8mm Lebel ammunition

The Lebel 8x50R smokeless powder cartridge combined with the longer and flatter trajectory of the advances in infantry armament made a deadly combination. A soldier with a Lebel could outrange anyone armed with a black powder, large-caliber rifle. At longer ranges, he could be virtually invisible with his smokeless ammunition. Also, more cartridges could be carried for the same standard weight as those with black-powder, large caliber ammunition. The early 15 gram jacketed, flat-nosed, lead-cored Balle M’s had an extreme range of 3,500 yards, and a muzzle velocity of 2,000 feet per second. The effective range was about 438 yards.

A new 12.8 gram solid brass spitzer (pointed, as opposed to flat-nose), boat-tailed bullet called Balle D was adopted for the Lebel in 1898, and was in generalized service after 1901. This improved ballistic trajectory required a replacement of the rear sights on the Lebel Model 1886. Also, the spring-loaded follower inside of the magazine was redesigned in 1898 for use with the Balle D. The Balle D was the first boat-tailed spitzer bullet adopted by any infantry force in the world. With an even flatter trajectory and an extreme range of 4,000 yards, its maximum effective wounding distance was 1,800 yards (fired at massed targets). However, the realistic effective range of the Lebel was increased to about 457 yards with open sights.

However, the Balle D did introduce new problems – accidental ignition inside of a tubular magazine. To work around this, a circular groove was formed on each case head, around the primer pocket, so as to receive the tip of the cartridge that followed. Also, the Berdan primer on each cartridge was protected by a thick convex primer cover, which, in effect, gave a double primer cup. Because of this standard protection, French military issue Balle D and Balle N ammunition is safe inside of the magazine.

The last type of military issue Lebel ammunition was the Cartouche Model 1932N, which used steel and cupro-nickel jacketed spitzer, boat-tail bullet. This ammunition was only suitable for Lebel and Berthier rifles marked N on the top of the receiver and barrel. This ammunition was originally designed to increase the range of the Hotchkiss machine gun, and production was ended in France during the late 1960’s.

Lebel ammunition was powerful for its time. It ranked slightly higher in muzzle energy than British .303in ammunition, but slightly lower than the German 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge.

Operational History

After the Lebel’s adoption into the French army, many other nations also switched over to small-bore rifles using smokeless ammunition. Germany and Austria adopted their new infantry rifles in 1888, Italy and Russia in 1891, and the United States in 1892. In 1895, the British altered their .303in Lee-Metford to use smokeless powder ammunition, which resulted their .303in Lee-Enfield.

In the early 20^th century, the Lebel was sold in French overseas colonies for the protection of civilians and/or hunting. Brand new military-issue 1886 and 1893 Lebel rifles could be purchased by authorized civilians, and were in catalogues of French mail-order firm Manufrance until 1939. A sporting version called the “Lebel-Africain” was offered by Manufrance during the pre-WWII years. It featured a shorter barrel, a turned-down bolt handle, and a slimmer, better finished stock. But when compared to the Mauser and Mannlicher-Schoenauer hunting rifles of the time, it was not as competitive as a hunting weapon.

World War I

During World War I, when the Lebel was used in combat against the Mauser and other more modern rifle designs, its main weakness was its slow-reloading magazine. Also the upper barrel section was unprotected, which could result in burned fingers during rapid firing. Finally, the sights were rather small, which left much to be desired for a rapid-fire emergency situation. Despite these handicaps, the Lebel was still preferred over Berthier’s.

During WWI, the Lebel was the standard infantry rifle, while the Berthier rifle, a lengthened version of the Berthier carbine, was issued to colonial troops, allied contingents within the French army, and the Foreign Legion. Berthier carbines had been issued to cavalry, artillery, machine gun, and engineering troops before the war began.

Both Lebel’s and Berthier’s could be equipped with a removable VB (Viven-Bessieres) rifle grenade launcher. APX Model 1916 and Model 1917 telescopic sights were used with Lebel’s during the later part of World War I, and scoped Lebel’s and Berthier’s were also used during the outbreak of World War II, but they were no longer competitive as sniper rifles in 1940.

The Foreign Legion, after being equipped with Berthier’s during WWI, insisted on being re-equipped with Lebel’s after the end of the war. The difference between the Lebel and Berthier was the Lebel’s stronger construction, better accuracy, and larger magazine.

Post-World War I

Several factors during the late 1920’s and 1930’s, including the depressed economy and reduced war budget, the French Army neglected the modernization of infantry weapons after World War I ended. It took seven years after the official 1929 swap to rimless 7.5mm ammunition to introduce the 7.5x54mm MAS-36 rifle into the French army, and even then its manufacture was not enough to equip all French troops. A thoroughly tested semi-automatic rifle, the MAS 1938/39, was ready to be produced just before World War II broke out, but it did not appear in large numbers until ten years after the fact as the MAS-49. Finally, the standard heavy machine-gun was the Hotchkiss 1914, which was leftover from World War I and used obsolete Lebel ammunition. The failure of the French to modernize their infantry weapons is also shown in the fact that many French second-line troops still used Lebel’s, many of which were modified to carbines, during World War II. The neglect to modernize infantry armament after World War I was yet another contributing factor to the French defeat in June, 1940.

Specifications

Weight: 9.22 lbs empty; 9.7 lbs with 10 rounds

Length: 4.3 feet (51.34 inches)

Barrel Length: 2.6 feet (31.42 inches)

Caliber: 8mm
Cartridge: 8mm Lebel

Rifling: 4 grooves with a right to left twist

Action: Bolt Action
Feed System: 8 round tube magazine

Muzzle Velocity: 2,000 to 2,300 feet per second

Effective Range: 438 yards, individual targets

Maximum Effective Range: 1,644 yards, volley fire

Sights: Iron Sights

Sources:

www.guns.wikia.com

www.militaryfactory.com

www.wikipedia.org