Added: 4 years ago
From: mag30th
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  • I have one that I don't know if you can help. I have a chatellerault mle m.16 and a MAC 1917 on the right side of barrel. I think is a 8 mm lebel but not sure.

  • Does that manufacturer is the ammo?

  • are you all three handicaped?

  • A very interesting gun, I'd love to shoot one.

  • I think Roumanians had these Lebel rifles in the world war II.

  • me and my dad got a gun that looks like this in some ways and we didnt know what it is so we took it in and asked and they said that it is from 1914 and they dont know what size of bullet it might be a 8mm but we are not sure so if u know please tell me ok thank you very much.

  • I'm going to pick one of these up if I can get one in good condition. They were a very innovative design that was way ahead of the other great powers.

  • Im waiting for my Lebel to show up. Can't wait to shoot it! I am a big ww1 buff and had to get one of these to complete my collection. Its funny that with the original 25" bayonet the rifle is as tall or taller than some of the soldiers. Back then europeans were so small in stature. I have many ww1 helmets and I laugh at how small they are. To be a 5' 4" man lugging a Lebel with a fixed bayonet around must have been quite a chore!!

  • Hello Mag30th.

    Do you still have this rifle? If you do, is it in any way possible that you can give me the dimensions of the stock, forestock, and receiver area of the rifle? (LxWxH)

    Thanks!

  • From what I've heard, the only real reason why the Lebel had so many explosions was because soldiers were given pointed rounds, instead of flat tipped or round headed ammunition. Then again I could be wrong, I don't own one.

  • Lebel without a cause...

  • @MrBillcale I have repeatedly asked only one question of you, which you have refused to acknowledge, so for the third time, how many US servicemen died protecting France in World War 2?

  • @mag30th who do you think you are that i have to answer your questions..let me reply this way during world war 2 France lost 1.35% of its populace..we were lucky..217,000 military deaths 350,000 civilian deaths..germany experienced 5.5 million military deaths and statistics vary between 1.5 and 3.3 million civilian casualties 8 to 10.7% of the total population the ussr experienced over 10 million military deaths and about 15-17 million civilian casualties in the most brutal and despicable way

  • America's Final Victory - 1781 <- watch this on youtube it seems many americans do know history i just wish more americans were not such pathetic cartoons of humanity

  • @MrBillcale 1 of 3 I’m very well read on world history and yes, we are thankful for France’s assistance during our Revolution. And yes, I’m deeply saddened by the loss of 88 French servicemen while they were assisting us during the Revolution, while you have no concern over the 50,000 US servicemen who went to free your country in WWI.

  • 2 of 3 You clearly are very well read and intelligent, please research and post the number of Americans killed defending your country in WWII. How many thousands of my fellow citizens, who had zero interest in France, who didn’t speak French, who had no plans whatsoever of ever going to France, ended up dying to protect YOUR country.

  • 3 of 3 The number of French military who lost their lives in the protection of the US is well documented, 88. Help me out, how many kids from my country went to your country in WWII and never came back? And how many of these kids, from what you call "an infant culture," were in your words, "pathetic cartoons of humanity."

  • @mag30th 55? where did that number fall out of your ass? get real it was a lot more than that..technology was different

  • @MrBillcale I said eighty-eight, not fifty-five. Eighty-eight members of the French military were killed in the battle of Yorktown. You said it was a lot more than that? Really? How many was it then?

  • and you owed us big time 55000 thats nothing 3 million french men died fighting the germans in ww1 which might explain the war wearyness you never lost many men..the soviets lost 20 milion to defeat hitler so dont wave a few dead soldiers around you came out the winner in ww2 and you did it for that

  • @MrBillcale I’ve asked you only one question, so for the second time, please respond. How many US servicemen died protecting France in WWII?

    And also, in your opinion, French dying to protect their country, and Russians dying to protect their country, is the same as US servicemen dying to protect your country? You have a sense of entitlement, very sad.

  • @mag30th about 14% of their total population died okay? the united states lost 416,000 in military casualties..and about 1700 civilians that was .32% of your total population everyone was very happy for your help..but dont get al righteous okay? france did not really suffer so bad really when you think about it surrender saved a lot of lives the italians figured that out when they switched sides half way through..the soviets lost almost 30 million people most of them civilians

  • try to remember you had that ocean to protect you and dont forget that the british and americna strategy was to bleed the USSR make them do most of the fighting so you did not have to 90% of all caualties on the alies side were soviet casulties..they died so you did not have to okay? proove me wrong

  • @MrBillcale Typical ignorant moron with a sense of entitlement. You see no difference when you die protecting your country, compared to when WE go and get killed protecting your country.  I don’t give a crap how many French died protecting their country. Our kids from the US, hundreds of thousands of them, die to protect your county (TWICE) and assholes like yourself refuse to even acknowledge it.

  • @mag30th my god thank you for showing the world what a bunch of pigs americanscan be, i'm ignorant?? i'm ignorant..20 milion soviets die and you dont care because they were not americans..listen you people NEVER do anything that is not in your own self interst so guess what screw you..you would not exist without the aid your receive in the revolutionary war...you bleed the world of resourses and offer nothing but hot air..and then you wonder why you are universally hated..brillaint people,

  • @MrBillcale If your hatred is so strong for the United States, then why do you live here? Why don’t you move back to your beloved France?

    I took the time to run your handle via Google, this is all you do, you literally look for arguments with people, regardless of what country they reside in, and mock them, and at the same time you foam at the mouth over what a fantastic place your childhood home of France once was.

    Ur sick and you are a spammer to these sites. Good luck.

  • @mag30th Take it from me, you are right to be upset at that asshole! I am French, my grandpa fought in the trenches at Verdun using the Lebel, but he always told me how much he appreciated what the Americans did for France. When my father, who is American, spent some time in France, then feel in love with my mother, my grandpa had no problem seeing his daughter marry an American. And so, yours truly came into being! God bless America!

  • @twombonu Thanks, but just to point out, this Bill Cale jerkoff is the only Frenchmen I’ve ever encountered with this type of attitude. I associate with many different Europeans, and they are all fantastic people, it is the minority of people, like this Cale jackass, who have such a distorted sense of entitlement.

    But what provokes me the most about this guy is that he resides in the United States. He lives here while at the same time making comments like the ones he posts above. Sick.

  • @mag30th Well, I have lived 34 years in the USA. I miss France all right, but i sure don't miss the stupid socialist gun control laws they have over there! Believe me, gun control supporters are nothing more than utopian assholes who think a litany of stupid laws will make the world a better place. I love to shoot, and own, and collect guns. So I am here to stay. I am even beginning to emulate the NRA supporters. Since Obama got elected, I purchased 9 rifles and 2 pistols! God bless America!

  • @twombonu Well, the problem is that the safety of others can't be sacrificed so some people can have fun in the range, and yes I know that firearms are not evil killing demons but they, are, and will continue to be used by criminals, and when anybody can purchase things like automatic rifles and sub-machineguns there are more probabilities that someone with bad intentions can get them, plus, what if one day, a gun owner gets drunk and angry and just starts shooting through his window?

  • @DerFeindr 1 of 2 Or a non-gun owner gets drunk and decides to drive his car? Drunk drivers kill far more people than people shooting guns do.

    Guns are not permissible here in the US so a few can have "fun at the range." They are a constitutional right, not for fun, they allow people to protect themselves "from the government." Many countries, if allowed the same right, would be much different today, and their governments have crushed the defenseless people.

  • 2 of 2 Or in your case, you state you reside in Mexico, do you feel the drug cartels would be able to dominate the people as they do if the people were allowed to arm themselves? Instead, the cartels are armed and the people are defenseless.

    There are many persons who commit crimes with firearms, but 99% of all firearm owners are law abiding persons, who will never relinquish their right to possess them

  • @mag30th The problem is that you can't guarantee that people will act rationally when in a situation involving firearms, and anyways, most deaths have occurred during fighting between cartels (ergo: both sides have firearms) And the problem is that, although having (let's say) a handgun can probably save you from a mugger or a minor criminal, but when someone armed with a T-56 shoots you the only thing you will achieve by having a handgun is making sure he dies too, that is, if you're lucky.

  • @mag30th Also, guess where do the firearms used by the cartels come from... the USA! If assault weapons weren't being sold over there, a lot less people would be dead now. Also, before this continues, I don't have anything against handguns for self defense (more like preemptive offense, a bullet resistant vest would make more sense) or things like bolt actions in rural areas or for hunting, the problem is when there are thousands of autos being essentially used for entertainment.

  • @DerFeindr assault weapons? a semi automatic is not an assault weapon, by any assholes definiton. They are using fully automatic russian made weapons and explosives smuggled from central and south america, not to say they don't get some of their ordnance from the US, but nothing substantial, you just go off of the bullshit lies the main stream media likes to feed

  • @viking5442 When did I say semi-autos are assault weapons? And by the way (though it doesn't make much difference), weren't the AK type weapons mostly of chinese manufacture?

    The problem with the news is that mexican media tends to blame the US, and the American media defends the US.

  • @DerFeindr You haven't got a fucking clue, "the American media defends the US"? if they aren't giving our soldiers shit, or calling us all a bunch of dumb pieces of shit, they're talking about how we are the source of the worlds problems, you don't know a damn thing

  • Also, about "defending from their government", (and yes I did know about that) in the end it's pointless. Let's put it like this, tomorrow some guy takes complete control of the armed forces, organizes a coup d'etat and goes on to turn the US into a dictatorship. Even if all gun owners (and other people "borrowing" weapons from gun owners) fight against him, they'll still be helpless against the army (maybe they could delay the whole thing for a week...).

  • @DerFeindr Name something that can't be used by a criminal to do evil, Don't blame the hammer if it's owner uses it on heads other than on the end of a nail.

  • @supressorgrid If had a dollar for every time someone tells that to me... Yes, I am aware of the fact that you can kill a man with your fists, a CD,a paperclip or anything of reasonable size and consistency (a pair of trousers, a rock, a fork... a big quantity of fingernail shavings?), Captain Obvious, but I can assure you it is a lot easier to kill a man with a firearm than with most other "deadly" things.

  • @DerFeindr Let's ban crowbars as they make breaking into homes easier.

  • Serbs have made fastest most powerful rifle of World War I

  • @Luka464 WWI was 28 years after this rifle was created.

  • @mag30th M1878/80.1884, 8-shot.. 30 years before WWI

  • @Luka464 1 of 2 I’m aware of the Serbian Mauser M1878/80, but it fired a black powder 10.15 mm bullet. The Serbian Mauser fired a 337 grain bullet 1640 feet per second, creating 2012 foot pounds of energy. While they did eventually switch to smokeless powder, they had to maintain the same 1640 FPS threshold for the rifle to prevent damaging it.

  • 2 of 2 So while the Serbian Mauser generated 2012 FPE, the French Lebel generated almost 2,500 FPE, by firing an 8mm 198 grain projectile 2,400 FPS. So contrary to your statement, the French Lebel was faster and more powerful the Serbian Mauser, and not the other way around as you stated.

  • @mag30th it was much faster mechanism, not the bullet velocity.. the 10.15 mm was outdated but rifles were able to withstand hot charges and there was a small caliber 7x57 Mauser Djurich 1880/07 first seen in the Balkan wars.

  • Interesting rifle.

  • so it uses a magazine tube?

  • As a young fellow I bought a Lebel at a junk yard for 8.00 dollars. I shot it thru fence posts and years later it killed deer in Oregon.

  • Très belle arme!. Vous avez un morceau d' histoire entre vos mains

  • any more kick then the 30-06?

  • Bravo guys for your hard efforts ! Now we are capable to see an actual piece of history firing !

  • My apologies for my ignorance, but from observation it looks like you have to manipulate the bolt action very roughly in order for the extraction and chambering process to occur properly in a "fluid" motion.

    Is this a common fault of bolt action rifles with tube magainzes like the Lebel and Mauser 1871/84?

    Or, is it just because of age that this particular Lebel is being stubborn?

    Any education you or anyone else can provide regarding this issue would be extremely helpful.

  • Umm yea,improperly produced/packed wartime manufacture bullets were prone to detonation with head to primer configuration.

  • @MrBuddydan This rifle was designed for round-nose projectiles only (or flat), any type of pointed projectile (as used in the later 8mm Lebel ammo) would cause the chain-fire you are referring to. This is the same issue that arises with all tube type feed systems, such as the 30-30. Whenever the proper ammo is used, the chance of a chain-fire is nearly eliminated.

  • @mag30th Athough I cannot remember the source, I remember reading that when spitzer(pointed) bullets were used, the casing was designed with a ring shaped recess just *around* the primer into which the tip of the round behind would sit. This the rounds in the magazine would be slightly tilted with the actual tip of each lieing adjacent to the primer of the next. I believe I also read that newer(modern) brass lacks this feature, but I can't be sure.

  • Just curious, I see you're using round-nosed fmj bullets in your reloads. What grain weight were the bullets, and who were they manufactured by?

  • Great video, now i know what was a Lebel rifle. Many Thanks!!!

    Norm. QC.

  • YOu probally know bou the problems with the mag and hitting the primer. Do you have to be exxtreamly carefull when reloding the mag? or is it over exagereted?

  • @Mauser2012 There is not any risk a chainfire when the correct bullets are used, flat or round nose work perfectly and remove any chance of a chainfire.

  • this gun has a horible reputaition of exsploding when loading :/

  • French gun is suck!

    That's why they lost in Dien Bien Phu, look at their action gun..1 by 1 man! suck

  • @CharlieDoan sino-french war "Chiến tranh Pháp"-Thanhaginst China and Vietnam 1884. Tonkin and Annam become french protectorate.

  • @niksarass French Protec,,,?  We all became SLAVE!

    No^ le^ day ban a..dung du`ng My~ tu'`

  • @CharlieDoan That's just what i meant lolol

    so french guns are not that sucky sucky :D

  • so are the ironsights bad ?

    also wow you have to take the spent cases out yourself?

  • Very nice looking rifle, but the tube magazine loading looks a little fiddly though. I can't say I'd like the idea of using one during Verdun.

  • its good to introduce your kids to guns at an early age ..... good for you:)

  • didnt this gun blow up in yuor face?

  • @mastermiky2299 Yes, and it killed me, I posted that near the end of the video.

    Why would it "blow up in my face," and if I thought it would, why would I be shooting it?

  • @mag30th idk i was awtching sometihng on the hustory ot bolt action rifles and it said that this rifle would explode in your face if not properly cocked in the time of war soldiers couldnt do it right under fire and they would go to shoot and it would explode

  • @mag30th He is reffering to what commonly happened in WW1 to French soldiers. Many poorly made lebel rifles would break down or worse just 'explode'. A British soldier commented "They killed more men in their own trenches with that rifle."

  • beautiful rifle with a very nice sound

  • hello from france and tanck you for your vidéo

  • how is the recoil? im guessing not too bad if your letting ur kids shoot it

  • le fusil de l'armée Française de la guerre 1914-1918 ...très bonne arme à longue portée !

    il en a fait des morts !....

  • "Vive la france ..." putain mais quel honte, faire tirer des gamins...

    Au moins, il a un joli timbre de voix ce bon vieux fusiot

  • what is the caliber

  • the feeding and ejection seems kinda unreliable

  • In watching that action work, you can see why Mauser's 1898 design is considered the best..

  • @hwoods01 Try again both of them, and change your mind !

  • i had that rifle

    the police has taken that old rifle

  • I like the bayonet looks deadly

  • carrefoul

    france decide to destroy all of the stock !!

    for accept the otan rules

  • I know what you meant, but Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, South Africa, Switzerland and the United Kingdom have also abandoned their firearms in the last 100 years. Sad actually.

  • @mag30th yea dont forget australia help save a own in france during ww1 so im pretty sure we didnt lay down our arms and we still havent

  • @mag30th typical arrogant stupid yank, funny how your memory is so selective..google Yorktown siege of 1781.

    funny you always make a big deal about your war for independence but you forget we trained your poor excuse of an army and did most of the fighting for you...

  • @mag30th Well, not Finland, actually. I do not know for the others, though. I think we have modern arms (assault rifles) for the most part of the conscript army. Only obsolete arms have been sold, like prewar rifles and automatic guns. That is Sweden which just abandoned it conscript army. We have different geography. ;)

  • @mag30th Abandoned our firearms? since when has Canada abandoned its firearms? And just so you know, if it wasn't for the French supplying you with weapons, ammunition, and soldiers during your revolution, you would still be a part of the British empire, so maybe you should thank the French for you're freedom every now and then, instead of mocking for everything you have

  • @bob555555 um Switzerland has not abandoned their weapon lol. in fact BY LAW every house must have at least 1 weapon!

  • Just for the record, Serbia received it's Lebels only on the Macedonian front (1916). Until then the first and second class infantry mostly used Mauser M1910 Serbian, purchased in Germany prior to the Balkan Wars (ammo was produced locally). The third class used Berdan rifles.

  • @VersusARCH Man... Berdan eh? Taking it WAAAY back.

    To be fair, the French were still using the Gras, and the Germans the 71/84

  • The third class were old recruits (55+ years) - rear echelon troops guarding the railway bridges and so.. However they DID go muzzle to muzzle with the enemy on quite a few occasions, notably against the Austro-Hungarians at tha critical moment of the Battle of Kolubara when they helped stall a flanking maneuver until the main battle was won.

  • was this a cheap gun

  • good work kid!

  • Je comprends pas pourquoi il est obligé de reculer plusieurs fois son levier ?

    La balle veut pas se loger dans la chambre ?

  • @gasp6 Il le dit plus bas ( 1/1 à 1/4 ) dans les commentaires: Les cartouches qu'il a faites étaient moins chargées et moins longues pour ne pas risquer d'endommager le fusil nouvellement restauré; Si les cartouches d'origine se logeaient parfaitement, les nouvelles s'éjectaient à l'armement, etc... Après correction, tout allait comme sur des roulettes.

  • werent the early models of these rifles a bit disasterous in some cases the rifle man using the gun being injured

  • as long as the headspace is OK, those old rifles are built like tanks. The headspace does need to be checked though either with a gauge, or by a gunsmith.

  • America's favorite pastime, showing kids how to kill people.

  • Amen to that, it is tacky embarrassing and expensive when they only wound folks.

  • if you teach them at a young age how to shoot, they're more likely to shoot at paper targets than people. If, on the other hand, you have a kid usually from a latchkey situation, no man involved in parenting, learning about guns on the street, then of course they're going to act like an idiot.

    The RESPONSIBLE thing to do is to teach kids how to shoot early. That's what i do, that's what most gun-owning americans do. So don't spout off if you don't know what's really going on.

  • I agree with this statement. The problem with kids is that if you don't teach them they are bound to try to learn things themselves. And we get mixed results with that. Very few get it right, and the others... well look on the news.

  • this is a comment you should go leave on rap videos. They are all about influencing single-parent homes; usually no father, with violent gun and gang talk, how to kill another person, and to demand respect at the risk of ending someone's life. Go on. Go leave comments on the rap videos, not on responsible gun owners' videos.

  • @ele90 your just jealous, u probably cant even own a gun where u live

  • @ele90 your a dummy. in fact the gun is what made it possible to Colonize the Americas, hunting. killing sport. etc etc,. besides going to teach your kid something might as well teach him/her a skill they can use if there life is in danger.

  • Je suis français :)

  • i have the bayonet for one

  • pretty cool bolt action rifle! One of my favorite bolt action rifle with the US M1917 and the brit Lee Enfield N°4.

    Some Lebel are still on duty during at the beginning of ww2, in the french colonial troop (zouaves, spahis, tirailleurs....).

    It's absolutely amazing but it's simply French ^^

  • Je suis Francais, tres fier du fusil Lebel, et je vous remercie de vos compliments. Vive la France!

  • Je suis Français aussi ! ^^ Celà n'enleve rien au fait que c'est un excellent fusil (bien meilleur que ces concurrents au debut de la ww1). Le chauvinisme jouant aussi un peu mais sa ne fait pas tout.

    La qualité fait le reste ;) Et c'est quand meme le fusil de nos arrieres grand peres dans les tranchées.

  • C'est vrai. Mais j'ai 54 ans, et je me souviens tres bien de mon grand pere maternel. (je suis ne en 1955, il est ne en 1893). Il ne se lassait jamais de me raconter comment il avait descendu un boche la nuit. Il l'avait repere avec ses jumelles (environ 300 metres), et l'a abattu d'un coup pendant qu'il marchait imprudemment le long des tranchees. Il m'a toujours dit que le Lebel etait un fusil tres precis et a toute epreuve!

    Mon granp pere est mort tranquille chez lui en 1961.

  • i love bolt action rifles, good job on the vid

  • yeah that was the lebels only weakness, its tubular magazine in theory seemed to work but the bullets wouldnt load other then that its a first rate rifle.

  • i would love to have a lebel rifle like that looks like he's a future legionaire

  • Looks awfully finnicky and difficult to work.

  • Were these rifles used by the Greek army in the Greco-Turkish conflict of 1919-22?

  • The Greeks probably used their 6.5's.

  • Did they have clips of ammo? I found pictures of my grandfather in that Greoco turkish war of 1919-22. I'm sure he posed with that rifle. However I saw clips of 5 bullets in the chamber. Could that be correct. Thanks for getting back to be.

  • There were two types of Lebels, one has the tube type cartridge holder, in which the bullets were stacked end to end, and required a rind nosed or flat nosed projectile to keep the rear bullet from detonating the round in front of it, and the other used a bullet stacking magazine, where they stack on top of each other. The one you are describing is consistent with the bullet stacking system. So the answer to your question is yes, they used clips in the later models.

  • @mag30th No Mate - the Lebel only ever had the tube magazine. It was replaced by the Berthier which was the same calibre, but was loaded in clips of three.

  • @bombdoc42 Well the Berthier is pretty much just a Lebel with a mannlicher mag on it.

  • I did a bit of reading and the Greeks had both French and Greek rifles in the Greco-Turkish war...

  • I came across these pictures a couple ofyears ago, I read that the french were supplying the greeks for a short while, until they withdrew their support of the campaign late 1921 I think?. Didn't know that the Greeks ever made their own guns?. I also noticed that The Greek uniforms were very similar to the french?.

    It was amazing to see and hear the same type rifle that my Grandfather fired and fought with 90 years ago! . Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

  • The 6.5 Greek rifles were made in Austria.

  • He fought in the Afion Karahissar and Sankaria areas, he was in a bunch of batles and lost 2 of his brothers in 1921 and 1922

  • Is the Lebel rifle a common rifle? Is it hard to find, is it expensive?

  • Its a hard one to find. they are old, and now very rare.

  • i didnt think they still make ammo for rifles that old

  • they dont but you can mold the ammo. I have a mauser model 1898 that was used in ww1 and i mold the ammo.

  • ohh i wouldent know i live in the uk where its next to impossible to get a gun licence

    :(

  • Actually they still make ammo for the Lebel. Aimsurplus is selling new manufacture.

    If your mauser shoots 7.92x57mm there's still a ton of ammo available for it as well, new manufacture and mil surlus as well.

  • Very cools.

  • Lebel is one of the rifles to own if you are a nostalgic collector. I myself am dying for one

  • Are you using the basic .323 mauser bullet when handloading?

  • the actif service of this gun is 1886 - 1962 !!

    it's true

    i am french if you want to know

  • @druisteen

    Yes and I'm Swedish but that does not mean that I am an expert on Swedish guns.. 

  • I love mine, it's brutally tough and shoots almost and inch tighter groups than my uncle's Gew 98 (also a superb weapon). As far as reloading, with practice, you get really quick, it's called muscle memory, stripper clips take practice as well.

    Way better military rifle than the over-engineered, delicate 1903 I sold.

  • A piece of firearms history. It's definitley on my to own list.

  • Love that weapon!Action looks like a much loved by the troops slam,bam,fire...no dicking around type:)

  • Naw, the Mas 36 loads from the top using a stripper clip into a vertical magazine column. Not sure if it's cock on closing, opening, or something in between. I do know it's got that freaky bolt handle that actually looks pretty cool. xD

  • Mas36 cocks on opening.

    Nice Lebel

  • the mas 36 have the same mechanism as the lebel i guess

  • Could you explain how the rifle pops a new cartidge after the old one is ejected? I can see that when you close the bolt and turn the handle, a new round pops into place below, but I just don't get it. Maybe I'm dumb, trying to figure out this tubular magazine is wrecking my mind xD

    Also, after you load the eight rounds, do you have to cycle the bolt in order to load the first round? During the part when you loaded three or four rounds you had to cycle the bolt twice I think.

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  • Blow up in someones face? How? Loading it with spire point bullets? It was made for round-nose.

    And I never stated it was the first magazine rifle, it was the first smokeless powder military rifle.

    And french soldiers hated this rifle because it was nearly 30 years old when the war broke out.

    It is sort of unfair to compare it to rifle that were manufactured decades later you think?

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  • The Lee-Metford was not superior to the Lebel. It fired black powder ammo, and without charger loading, was almost as slow to reload. Not until 1903 or so did the L-E become the best military rifle.

  • Did you see part 2 of this video? In the second part, this rifle repeatedly drills a small metal plate like clockwork at 1/4 mile, over and over, with more energy at ¼ mile then the black powder 11mm Mauser generates at point blank.

    In 1886, there was not any rifle in the world that could compete with this rifle.

  • C'mon, this rifle killed a lot sandniggers in Africa. Give the Legion and their weaponry their due.

  • the first true "soldiers rifle"??? not really there where many successful rifles used a century before...

  • In 1886, which rifle would you have preferred to carry instead of a Lebel?

  • i couldnt say... dont get me wrong its a great rifle but it wasnt the first...

  • Do u reload, or buy the ammo? and how much did the lebel cost, and cost to restore?

  • where can you get ammo for this rifle at? Will a regular 8mm shell work in it? I have an 1898 lebel and the ammo I got with the gun is so old that it misfires when shooting

  • I had to order the brass custom and the projectile is standard .323 (8mm) If you will be reloading for it let me know, I have a lot of information for the lebel reloads.

  • not trying to be a smart arse, but out of this and the Henry rifle (from around the same era!) id much prefer it, it looks like the lebel uses not only working of the action but inertia to load the bullet in front of the bolt head so it can be chambered, all in all tho, for an 1880s rifle it still kicks!

  • 1 of 2 Yes, but keep in mind, much of the quirkiness that is seen in this video as far as the cycling of the ammunition is my fault, not the rifle. I had a very difficult time getting it to seat correctly, the modern 8mm bullets have the seating ridge that allows the bullet to seat further into the brass, while the original 8mm Lebel bullets seated much further out.

  • 2 of 2 When I stacked the rounds into the tube, the combination of the spring tension and the poor seating crimp, caused the bullets to seat in slightly further than they were designed. This resulted in the bullets having a shorter OAL than they were designed to have, resulting in poor cycling, flipping from the receiver. With round the correct length, and proper seating, the rifle does cycle as smooth as any standard bolt action rifle...

  • may i ask what an inert round is

  • dummy rounds, safe, they wont go off.

  • As i lack my own youtube account, i have been using my father's account, ''ramberghini'' to post comments on the videos i view daily. Seeing as a few of them have caused a bit of grief, i see to it to appologize for any offense any of you have taken to my comments. -gunny55

  • im not trying to insult the lebel, i just don't think too highly of it. I understand that the lebel was better than older rifles in how it used smokeless powder, but very soon, it became outdated. Ive never handled one so maybe im not so sure what im saying but ive heard stories about lebels blowing up and killing the soldiers who used them. A good rifle when it was first introduced, but far outdated once the mausers and etc. came along. Sorry if ive offended you and your rifles.

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  • I think the lebel is rather clunky, ugly and outdated compared to a mauser, enfield, or mannlicher rifle, but interesting video. It may not be as nice looking as some of the other rifles i mentioned above, but it does have a good deal of history to it.

  • Ramberghni stated, "Clunky, ugly and outdated compared to a mauser, Enfield, or mannlicher rifle"

    You are comparing it to rifles that were invented well after the Lebel. What rifle that existed in the 1880s would you have rather carried than a Lebel? A single-shot 45.70?

    Keep in mind, every other rifle in the world, was a black powder rifle. I doubt if anyone would prefer any black powder rifle over a Lebel on the 1880s.

  • The Lebel was a Huge part of the first world war, But if asked most cannot name Frances' Main battle rifle.Nice to see a Video explaining this interesting though sometimes problematic Rifle, Thanks

  • Do they still make 8 x 50mm rounds for the Lebel? The cartridges look really awkward too, they're so stubby, short, and fat compared to 7.92 x 57 or the 30-06.

  • No, you have to make them as handloads. The ones I made here in the video are less than perfect, and cycled improperly, Ive since made them to better specs and they cycle much better.

  • hornady sells reloading dies for it. I dunno where you'd get cases though, you'd have to form them yourself but I have no idea how you would get that distinct shape out of anything else out there.