SHORT HISTORY ON THE

MANNLICHER-BERTHIER

The following is information, variations, etc. of the Berthier I have came across in my wanderings.  My references are under the "Credits" link here and at the Berthier homepage, please check them out so that those who really deserve the credit get their just do.  Any errors or omissions are purely accidental and will be addressed if brought to my attention.  Sincerely, the author.

The rifle was designed by the French Army officer General A.V.P.M Berthier.  Previous to the Berthier, the main French Army rifle was the Lebel.  The Lebel series was a bolt action repeater using a tube feed magazine developed by the Austro-Hungarian Army officer Alfred Kropatschek.  Though effective, reloading was slow and the tube magazine had been replaced by several neighboring countries with the clip/packet magazine system developed by Ferdinand Mannlicher around 1886.  The Mannlicher clip system held fewer rounds and required that the ammunition be preloaded into clips (the ammo combined with the clip was referred to as a "packet").  The packet was dropped into the magazine and once all of the rounds were fired, the clip fell out of the rife through a open slot at the bottom of the magazine.  The advantage of the Mannlicher packet system verses the Kropatschek tube system was speed in reloading, less complicated manufacturing, and a lighter and better balanced rifle (pointed or spitzer bullets were not used until late the 1890's so the inability to use these in a tube feeding magazine was not a factor).

The French Army wanted a packet loading system (the Germans had adopted one in 1888 with their Commission Rifle) and so Gen. Berthier designed a new rifle utilizing the French standard split bridge receiver and bolt with a Mannlicher style packet system.  The clip was initially designed to hold 3 rounds, this was later changed in 1916 to five rounds.

The Berthier was chambered to use the 8mm Lebel round, the same ammunition used by the previous Lebel rifle series.  The Berthier rifle series started with a carbine model in 1890. Various carbine models were later designed with the first full length infantry rifle Berthier design being the Fusil des Tirailleurs Indo- Chinois 1902.  The main models of the Berthier carbines were the Mle90, Mle90/15, Mle92, and the Mle16.  A true Mle90 can be quickly identified by the distance between the end of the stock/front band and the front sight, the distance is very short in the Mle90, about half of that for the later Mle carbine models.

A great source of information is the Gunboards.com Forums, the following modification list was posted by "FK" at the French Firearms Board.

1901 - sight modified for 1896 D ball (receivers marked "M.D.").
1902 - half cock notch abandoned (leaving no form of manual safety).
1904 - sling bar on side of stock superceded the original sling swivel.
1909 - recoil lug added to rear of receiver.
1915 - Mle1890 carbines began to be converted to Mle 92 configuration by shortening their forends and fitting a bayonet lug (known as Mle 90 T15's).
1916 - 5 shot magazine with dust cover and later a wooden hand guard were adopted advancing the designation to Mle 1892/1916.
1920 - "A" marked sights adopted, replacing the earlier V-notch sights.
1927 - cleaning rod removed, channel filled and stacking prong added to upper band.
1932 - Mle1932N ball adopted, requiring recutting the chamber throat (modified weapons marked with an "N" on the top of the chamber and receiver ring).

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Residence: Los Angeles County [near Orange County boarder], California, USA

The author retains all rights to any and all photos and they may not be used for profit without explicit, written permission from the author.

Last Updated 09/10/01