{"id":8353,"date":"2017-08-07T12:01:34","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T12:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/07\/french-rifle-ammunition-8mm-lebel-and-7-5mm-french\/"},"modified":"2020-07-22T16:16:26","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T21:16:26","slug":"french-rifle-ammunition-8mm-lebel-and-7-5mm-french","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/07\/french-rifle-ammunition-8mm-lebel-and-7-5mm-french\/","title":{"rendered":"French Rifle Ammunition: 8mm Lebel and 7.5mm French"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"youtubomatic-video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"580\" height=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MvpKdE6TA90?controls=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.patreon.com\/ForgottenWeapons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.patreon.com\/ForgottenWeapons<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Cool Forgotten Weapons merchandise! <a href=\"http:\/\/shop.bbtv.com\/collections\/forgotten-weapons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/shop.bbtv.com\/collections\/forgotten-weapons<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Today we are going through the French rifle ammunition used in the Lebel, Berthier, and MAS series rifles &#8211; 8mm Lebel and 7.5mm French.<\/p>\n<p>The 8mm Lebel cartridge began as simply a necked-down version of the 11mm Gras cartridge, because that cartridge was already in use in the French Navy Kropatschek rifles which were the basis of the Lebel rifle design. As a result, the Lebel cartridge was significantly tapered and had a large rim (which would cause a series of problems for use in repeating arms in later years).<\/p>\n<p>The model 1886 ammunition was a flat-nosed long conical bullet, with a lead core. The bullet weighed 15g\/231gr and had a muzzle velocity of 638mps\/2093fps. This was updated slightly in 1891 to strengthen the case and add a crimping groove to the bullet. Designated Balle 1886M, this cartridge would be the standard for almost 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>In 1898, trials of a new spitzer bullet concluded with the adoption of Balle 1886D. This was not just a spitzer bullet, but actually a solid 90\/10 brass bullet instead of a lead cored bullet, as this type was simpler to manufacture. The bullet weighed 12.8g\/198gr and had a muzzle velocity of 701mps\/2300fps.<\/p>\n<p>In 1932, a new loading was developed to give better performance in machine guns, designated Balle 1932N. This was still a spitzer, but returned to the lead core type of construction. Its bullet weighed 15.05g\/232gr and had a muzzle velocity of 690mps\/2265fps. It was a more powerful round than the preceding versions, and incorporated a thicker neck in the brass. This required reaming out the chambered of existing weapons to avoid overpressure when firing. Converted weapons were marked with an &#8220;N&#8221; on the barrel and receiver. It is important not to fire this ammunition in unconverted firearms!<\/p>\n<p>Today on the commercial market, the primary source of 8mm Lebel ammunition is PPU (Prvi Partisan). They make a cartridge loaded basically to Balle 1886D specifications, which can be safely used in both N-converted and unconverted rifles.<\/p>\n<p>In 1924, a new rimless cartridge was adopted &#8211; the 7.5x58mm. A problem quickly revealed itself, however, because 8mm Mauser ammunition could be chambered and fired in firearms made for the new 7.5mm cartridge &#8211; with potentially catastrophic results. To solve this problem, the case was shortened to 54mm in 1929, and the new standard loading was Balle 1929C. This fired a 9g\/139gr bullet at 823mps\/2700fps and would be the standard French rifle cartridge until the adoption of the 5.56mm FAMAS in the 1970s.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Les Cartouches 8mm Lebel&#8221; can be ordered here: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crepin-leblond.fr\/livres\/5540-les-cartouches-8-mm-lebel-9782703004141.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.crepin-leblond.fr\/livres\/5540-les-cartouches-8-mm-lebel-9782703004141.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/InRangeTVShow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/InRangeTVShow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>http:\/\/www.patreon.com\/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons merchandise! http:\/\/shop.bbtv.com\/collections\/forgotten-weapons Today we are going through the French rifle ammunition used in the Lebel, Berthier, and MAS series rifles &#8211; 8mm Lebel and 7.5mm French. The 8mm Lebel cartridge began as simply a necked-down version of the 11mm Gras cartridge, because that cartridge was already in use in the French&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/07\/french-rifle-ammunition-8mm-lebel-and-7-5mm-french\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">French Rifle Ammunition: 8mm Lebel and 7.5mm French<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":8354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[89,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8353"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14764,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8353\/revisions\/14764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}