[jeebus]

Welp, after i said enough spending my (little) money on guns for now i end up at cabellas in michigan, if anyone has ever been there they know of the "gun library". a room where classic antique firearms are kept in a museum setting. well everytime im there i have to wander around and drool for a while. this time i saw an M1C on the wall, so that caught my attention. the price tag nearly made me faint, but behind it on the rack i saw something strange...something id never seen before in person...a French m93 lebel. "wow!" i said "i've never seen on of those on gunbroker or anywhere else for that matter" well, being brave i glanced at the price tag... 150.00 "that's it?" maybe thats the downpayment i thought. i know they are not the most desireable guns ever, but they're rare so i figured that was a bit low. Welp, i talked to one of the attendents. Surpsingly they took a good deal of time on a 21 year old kid looking at the cheapest rifle in the store. brought out the light, magnifying glass and bore snake and really tried to clean it up so i could look at it. the barrel looked bad. gunked up, i thought pitted for sure. but it took it anyway. made in 1916 it was in really good shape, except for the base of the buttstock that seemed to be burned a bit...(wonder where that might have happened, its an old wound) well once i got it home i really cleaned it. looks even better now! most suprisingly...the bore was filled with mud, not rust it is almost spotless now, no pitting. now the only problem is, where the heck do i get ammo for this thing?? not only does it use a RARE round, but it has to have a groove cut out of the base to work in the tubular magazine! but im committed, it MUST be shot, at least one load out worth. also, i looked up the average price for these, while i cant find any for sale anywhere, it seems from message boards they go for about 500 most places...so i think i did well! anyone have any idea where ammo might be had??

 

[divernhunter]

Try Old Western Scrounger---They have alot of oddball ammo--Be prepared to open your wallet real wide!!

 

[Rick the Librarian]

Sounds like a MLE 1886 Lebel which shoots a 8mm LEBEL (Not MAUSER!) round. They were plentiful about 40 years ago but are very scarce today. There may be a specialty cartridge maker out there that still turns them out. Another idea is to try one of these forums which specialize in French firearms:

http://p077.ezboard.com/fparallaxscurio ... orumsfrm32

or:

http://www.gunboards.com/forums/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=15

Good luck!

 

[delloro]

You can occassionally find Remington 8mm Lebel ammo at gunshows for $40.00/box of 20. It is Boxer primed, noncorrosive, and correct in every respect. I saw some not far from you at a small gun show, as a matter of fact.

You will find various Lebel ammo out there. Kynoch is good, but has a reputation for being the most corrosive. It also has a "K" on the base of the bullet. I dunno why, but it is there. Some of the ammo you will find is surplus MG ammo either loose or on feed strips. It has a longer and heavier bullet, and can only be fired in your gun if there is a "N" stamped on top of the chamber. That means your gun had its throat modified to allow the use of the MG bullet. If you fire the MG bullet in a umodified chamber, you can get bad pressure problems, as in kaboom.

A '16 Berthier in good shape for $150 is a very good deal anywhere, and a smoking deal from Cabela's gun library!

BTW the 8mm Lebel is the world's first military cartidge to use smokeless powder.

Graf's has the brass, mthis will save you from having to buy the form and trim dies which can be expensive.

GRU8X50R GRAF BRASS 8x50R FRENCH LEBEL RIFLE UNPRM

$27.99 per 100 $125.96 PER 500

shipping included.

 

[vf1000ride]

Found an interesting site if you would like to load your own.
http://www.gunsworld.com/french/bert_le ... rt_us.html
Their main page also has what seems to be a fair amount of info for Lebel collectors.

 

[Guest]

Ammo shouldn't be any more concern now as it was back then, heck it probably was never loaded

Big question is did you get the field kit too go with the rifle consisting of a length of cord and a big white patch of cloth :wink:

Just kidding but I couldn't help myself

Sould like a nice find but maybe a bit expensive too shoot.

Karsten

 

[jeebus]

yea ive researched it alot since i got back with it, i knew it was 8x50r going in but i had no idea how odd the bullet was or rare for that matter. thanks for all the heads up, i'll keep my eyes open at gunshows. i didnt realize it was the first smokeless powder round till i started researching so thats even more interesting! ive found reloading components to resize another casing to 8x50r but i doubt it would work properly in the m93.

 

[delloro]

careful, there are several 8x50 cartridges, Siamese, Mannlicher, Lebel come to mind. Make very sure you are getting the right dies, as they are not interchangeable.

It is my understanding that the 348 Win brass can be reformed to work just fine, but it costs a bit in its own right; in fact, Graf's gets more for it than theu do the 8x50R Lebel. And check out the prices of the RCBS dies, form, trim, base for, neck ream, full length size, etc. Hundreds of dollars! If I was looking into reloading for the Lebel, I would use the Graf's brass and the Lee dies, there is no less expensive way to acquire correct, servicable and reloadable 8x50R Lebel short of stumbling across something unexpected.

Also, be advised that the French made 8mm Lebel pistol ammo. Every once in a while you will come across a great deal on "8mm Lebel" stuff and find out upon inquiry that it is pistol stuff.

BTW, the French also had the first full-power semiauto battlerifle, though they never fielded it widely. Check it out, strange but true.

 

[jeebus]

it is true! looks like a lebel rifle with a different bolt and a strange mag under. the french back in those days actually would fight! in fact, throughout world war 1 they were doing the majority of fighting in europe...until 1917 when they decided to hold off attacking until the americans got there.

but yea, i do notice alot of 8x50s running around, and the fact that 8mm pistol ammo is made still by fiocchi really is frustrating...i see it for a sale alot and get all excited until i read "pistol ammo" or "fiocchi" urgh.

 

[linus9]

lee has dies for the 8mm lebel for 30.00$

http://www.leeprecision.com/

load data is here

http://www.gunsworld.com/french/bert_le ... rt_us.html

brass is here.

give it a try. i want an 8mm lebel rifle someday too.

mike

 

[linus9]

whoops, left out a link

http://www.grafs.com/

 

[Senateskate69]

Nice job on the rifle. Cabellas is a AWESOME store, its so big! (as my X used to say, haha). Hey, check out a store called Jay's sporting goods up at Clare if your in Michigan, you get to handle all of the rifles they have there, so your not straining your eyes squinting at them from behind the counter.