Lebel Model 1886 Rifle - Origins and Development

Origins and Development

The Lebel rifle was developed as a result of the first successful smokeless gunpowder, invented by French chemist Paul Vieille (1854–1934) 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 (1846–1920) 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 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 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 Châtellerault 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 Kropatschek rifle 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 chambered for the 11mm Gras black powder cartridge, followed the Mle 1878 rifle: the Mle 1884 and the Mle 1885 rifles. The latter had a two-piece stock and a massive steel receiver and closely resembles the 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 (modifié) 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: Châtellerault, 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 arsenal continued to produce Lebel rifles during World War I and closed the last assembly line in May 1920. Tulle continued to carry out re-barrelings and other repairs on the Lebel until the late 1930s. Between 1935 and 1940, a carbine-length (17.7 inch 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 .

The total number of Lebel rifles produced between 1887 and 1920 exceeds 2.8 million units. The Châtellerault 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 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.