8 mm Lebel

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The 8x50R French (8mm Lebel) rifle cartridge was the first smokeless gunpowder cartridge to be made and adopted by any country. It was introduced by France in 1886. Following the 11mm Gras ammunition which still used black powder, the smokeless 8mm Lebel cartridge started a revolution in military rifle ammunition.

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[edit] Note

There are two 8mm Lebel cartridges, one for the rifle, one for the revolver. They can't possibly be interchanged and should not be regarded as the same.

[edit] 8mm Lebel rifle ammunition

Originally loaded with a 232 grain lead-cored wadcutter-style bullet (Balle M) for the Lebel Model 1886 rifle , the design was changed to a 198 grain solid brass spitzer boat-tailed bullet (Balle D) in 1898. "Balle D" ammunition was universally used during WW-1 in all the Lebel caliber weapons , including the Berthier rifles and carbines as well as the automatic weapons: the Hotchkiss machine gun and the Chauchat machine rifle. In 1932 the ammunition was upgraded for the last time to the lead-cored spitzer, boat-tailed "Balle N" bullet which weighed 232 grains. It was held by a case which had a slightly larger neck diameter than the older "Balle D" ammunition. It had originally been designed in order to improve the long range performance of the Hotchkiss machine gun. Converting Lebel caliber rifles and carbines fo the "N" ammo was an attempt to standardize between those weapons and the Hotchkiss machine guns still in use just before WW-2.

While revolutionary for its time, the 8mm Lebel cartridge had its drawbacks. It was of an odd design, with a very thick rim and a rapid taper. This made it difficult to feed from detachable magazines. In order to accommodate Balle D ammunition in tubular magazines, a groove was machined around the primer and a primer cover inserted to prevent accidental discharges of ammunition waiting in the magazine. The rifles it was fired from (Lebel, Berthier, etc.) were also nearly obsolete by the time Balle "D" , not to speak of Balle "N", came along.

NOTE Balle N ammo should never be fired from any Lebel or Berthier rifle unless it has had the chamber reamed to accept the larger neck of the N cartridge. Such weapons are stamped N on top of the barrel, just in front of the receiver and behind the rear sight.

In 1929 the 7.5 x 54 mm MAS mod. 1929 (7.5 French) cartridge was introduced. This made the 8mm Lebel cartridge obsolete overnight but, due to post WW-1 financial constraints and political neglect, it was not introduced as a rifle cartridge until the adoption, just before WW-2, of the MAS-36 rifle.

[edit] Performance

Balle M

Meters             200     400    600    800    1000    1500    2000
Trajectory (m)    0.14    0.81   2.39   5.27    9.83   31.71   75.61
Velocity (m/s)     488     397    335    290     255     197     160

Balle D

Meters              200     400    600    800    1000    1500   2000
Trajectory (m)     0.12    0.54   1.43   3.01    5.60   18.30   44.0
Velocity (m/s)      607     521    448    388     342     278    240

[edit] References

http://www.chuckhawks.com/8mm_lebel.htm http://www.conjay.com/2085%20WW2%208%20Lebel.jpg

[edit] See Also

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