French Firearms Information

The country that avoids war and the country that fights but has a hard time winning have been combined. The Swiss made some excellent firearms and the French made some unique and occasionally inspiring ones. We have added the Belgian and Dutch since they are neighbors.

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1886lebel
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Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 8:57 pm

Post by 1886lebel » Wed Feb 28, 2007 5:44 pm

Receiver

On the left side of the receiver you will see who manufactured that particular receiver in cursive script and in block letters or cursive script the different model designation for that weapon. The model designation particularly on Berthiers does not always correspond to the type of weapon it may actually be at its present time, sometimes these were scubbed out and a new designation was added. The different model designations you will see on the receivers are as follows:

Mle.1886

Mle.1886 M93

Mle.1886 R35

Mle.1886 M93 M.27

Mle.1890

Mle.1892

Mle.1902

Mle.1907

Mle.1907-15

Mle.M.16

Mle.1907-15 M.34

You will also sometimes see on the left side of the receiver on some Berthier Fusils, Carabines et Mousquetons right at the end of the model designation the following letters ... MD Modifié Desaleux which signified that the weapons sights were modified to the Cartouche à Balle Mle.1898 D commonly called Balle D.

You also might encounter some various letters such as PK on these weapons and at this time we have no clue as to thier meaning.

Note: At this time there is no way to date the receiver of a weapon other than what is encountered on the barrel.

Stock

On the right side of the butt-stock you will find the stock cartouche, which is enclosed in a circle and if still visable it is read in the following manner:

At the 12 a clock position is the month that the weapon was accepted by the Comité de la Réception, at 4 a clock is the Contrôleur Généraux Principaux code, at 6 clock position is the year the weapon was accepted by the Comité de la Réception, at the 8 a clock position is the Directeur de Manufacture, at the 9 a clock position is the letter perfix of the arsenal that completed the weapon. In the center of the cartouche are the letters MA which meant Manufacture d'Armes

Other Various Letters and Codes

You might encounter the following after the barrel date in the form of either an N Nouveau or a T Transformé which meant that the barrel was replaced during WW1 or after. Basically what they did was they made a large amount of new barrels during the Great War stamped them on the right side with MA then either a C, S or T, left the date blank and the N or T. Serial numbers and the Contrôleur Poinçons were also left blank but the pourvoyeur de acier was marked. When a weapon was re-built they then stamped the correct information into the blank areas ... this is why we see weapons that have dates out of the production run. You will encounter this alot on weapons dated 1916 and up.

Sometimes on the top of the receiver ring and barrel you will see a capital N stamped on the top of them which meant that the weapon was converted to fire the later Cartouche Mle.1932 or commonly called Balle N.

Numbering

On Lebels the bolt, carrier plate, stock, and forearm were numbered to the serial number on the barrel while the bolthead had the last two numbers of the serial number of the weapon on it.

On Berthiers the bolt, triggerguard, cleaning rod (if they had one) and stock were numbered to the serial number on the barrel while the bolthead had the last two numbers of the serial number of the weapon on it.

I have tried to give a little information on how to read your Lebels and Berthiers but more research is needed in the different codes and such, as most of this information was destroyed during WW2. I hope this helps a bit though but if you still need help on what your particular weapons codes mean please ask and we will be glad to help.
Vive la République Française, le Lebel et le poilu
Verdun 1916: "Ils ne Passeront pas" "On les aura!"
Fusil d'Infanterie Modèle 1886 Modifié 1893 dit "Lebel"

Vive le Pinard !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axfM1sFqIK0
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