Hey everyone,
I noticed that there has been a lack of French guns on this forum. I'm not complaining, I'm a fan of German guns myself.
Anyway, since I havn't seen any of these on this forum yet, I took this opportunity to post pics of the only firearm in my tiny collection; my Mannlicher-Berthier Mle 1892/16. This gun, serial number H23543, was made at the arsenal in St. Etienne. At some point someone, most likely an American GI, gave this gun's stock a "duffel cut", to make the stock short enough to stuff in a duffel bag, and it was taken to the US. This gun sat in my Grandpa's gun cabinet for many years, and as long as I can remember the gun was there. When I asked him what kind of gun it was, he said he didn't know. He figured it was a '30-.30. He was too young to serve in WWII and he didn't even remember how he got it. It was only when I did a little research that I discovered what this gun really was, a French carbine dating back to WWI. I asked if I could have it and he said I could. It was a good thing I liberated it because he said he had thought about throwing it away!
Anyway, there is still a lot about this gun that I still don't know. My main question is; why does this gun have the 5 round magazine when it is stamped Mle1892, not Mle1892/16? The Mle1892s have internal, 3 round magazines. Could this gun have been redone by the arsenal and not have been restamped?
More pictures to follow.
I noticed that there has been a lack of French guns on this forum. I'm not complaining, I'm a fan of German guns myself.
Anyway, since I havn't seen any of these on this forum yet, I took this opportunity to post pics of the only firearm in my tiny collection; my Mannlicher-Berthier Mle 1892/16. This gun, serial number H23543, was made at the arsenal in St. Etienne. At some point someone, most likely an American GI, gave this gun's stock a "duffel cut", to make the stock short enough to stuff in a duffel bag, and it was taken to the US. This gun sat in my Grandpa's gun cabinet for many years, and as long as I can remember the gun was there. When I asked him what kind of gun it was, he said he didn't know. He figured it was a '30-.30. He was too young to serve in WWII and he didn't even remember how he got it. It was only when I did a little research that I discovered what this gun really was, a French carbine dating back to WWI. I asked if I could have it and he said I could. It was a good thing I liberated it because he said he had thought about throwing it away! Anyway, there is still a lot about this gun that I still don't know. My main question is; why does this gun have the 5 round magazine when it is stamped Mle1892, not Mle1892/16? The Mle1892s have internal, 3 round magazines. Could this gun have been redone by the arsenal and not have been restamped?
More pictures to follow.
It is in rough shape but, there is a good chance it has seen action. How hard is it to get 8mm Lebel ammo?
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