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Description: | 1. MANUFACTURE D'ARMES Tulle
2. MLE1886 M93
3. MA T1915N
The French Model 1886 rifle is perhaps better known as the Lebel rifle, after the Colonel who supervised the trials of the prototypes. It was the first rifle to be designed to employ cartridges which used smokeless powder, which had been developed by the French in 1885.
The advent of smokeless powder revolutionized military musketry, as it did not foul rifle barrels to the same extent as gunpowder. This permitted the use of small-calibre, high-velocity bullets, of greatly enhanced range and accuracy. A further advantage was that the view of a unit employing such ammunition was no longer obscured by clouds of powder smoke.
The Model 1886 rifle was developed at desperate speed, so that the French Army would be enabled to have the new smokeless 8mm cartridge in service as soon as possible and steal a march on the Germans. As a result, the rifle itself did not exhibit any startling new design features. Some improvements were made to create the standard production variant, the Model 1886/93, but the rifle was obsolescent by the outbreak of war in 1914. However it remained in service (alongside newer designs) until 1940. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Manufacture d'Armes Tulle, France | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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