Berthier rifle

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Berthier rifle
A Berthier M1916 Carbine on display at the Swedish Army Museum
Type	Bolt-action rifle Sniper rifles
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1890–1960s
Used by	See Users
Wars	World War I Polish-Soviet War Greco-Turkish War Rif War (1920) Second Italo-Ethiopian War Spanish Civil War[1] World War II First Indochina War[2] Algerian War[3]
Production history
Designer	André Virgile Paul Marie Berthier
No. built	2,000,000+
Specifications
Mass	3.1 kg (6.8 lb) (Mle 1892 Carbine) 3.6 kg (7.9 lb) (Mle 1902) 3.81 kg (8.4 lb) (Mle 1907/15) 3.25 kg (7.2 lb) (Mle 1892/M16) 4.195 kg (9.25 lb) (Mle 1907/15-M16) 3.7 kg (8.2 lb) (Mle 1907/15-M34)
Length	1,306 mm (51.4 in) 945 mm (37.2 in) (Carbines) 1,125 mm (44.3 in) (Mle 1902) 1,075 mm (42.3 in) (Mle 1907/15-M34)
Barrel length	803 mm (31.6 in) 450 mm (18 in) (Carbines) 635 mm (25.0 in) (Mle 1902) 570 mm (22 in) (Mle 1907/15-M34)
Cartridge	8×50R mm 7.5×54mm French (Mle 1907/15-M34)
Caliber	8mm 7.5mm
Action	Bolt action
Muzzle velocity	701 m/s (2,300 ft/s) 637 m/s (2,090 ft/s) (Carbine) 850 m/s (2,800 ft/s) (Mle 1907/15-M34)
Feed system	3-or 5-round Mannlicher-type en bloc magazine, clip fed (Mle 1907/15-M34)

The Berthier rifles and carbines were a family of bolt-action small arms in 8mm Lebel, used in the French Army, and French Colonial Forces, from the 1890s to the beginning of World War II (1940). After the introduction of the Lebel rifle in 1886, the French Army wanted a repeating carbine using the same ammunition as the Lebel to replace their single shot carbine based on the Gras rifle. At the time, many armies based their carbines on their standard rifle model, however the Lebel rifle's tube magazine made it difficult to follow this approach. The Modele 1890 Berthier Cavalry Carbine addressed this issue by combining a modified Lebel action with an en-bloc clip magazine.^[4] With its successful cavalry introduction, the Berthier would go on to be produced in many different carbine and full-length rifle versions.^[5]