Remington 07/15 Berthier and the Road to Camp Perry

[Culpeper]

There is a local CMP match tomorrow and the weather is finally above the retirement age so I took the Poilu to the range. I fired two 5 round strings just to see what it will do from the bench and on bags. Windage was great. I think I was on the battle sight. Anyway, I think if I can hold steady in the prone and Standing I have a good chance at a half decent score. Prone rapids will be a bust. I need to get new clips. The used ones I have are all loosey goosey and cause rim lock. I may be able to get four or so single rounds off.


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[ebruce]

Windage is excellent! Elevation ... that will be a challenge. Enjoy Camp Perry!!! Sincerely. bruce.

[psteinmayer]

Awesome. Looking forward to seeing it... and YOU this year at Perry!!!

[butlersrangers]

Your Remington made 'Berthier', shoots well!

I do not recall seeing photos of 'Mademoiselle Rosalie' ... er ... I mean zee rifle, not dee bayonet.

You have ... postcards?

Attached is a drawing of the 3-shot 'chargeur', if you intend to buy a 3D printeur.

Also, an Oklahoma guy has some 3-shot Berthier clips on eBay: ebay.com/itm/254015477881

I believe the 5-shot Berthier clips will also function with your Remington. They will just project out the bottom of the magazine well,
but, will give you an 'edge' in rapid-fire.

[Culpeper]

Yeah the gun shoots well, kinda. I need a taller front sight to tame the bullet arc. The shooter on the other hand shoots like dog poopoo.



And now for the eye candy...

[butlersrangers]

Those Remington Berthier rifles are very pretty!

[Culpeper]

So a late update from the local match. Yes the results were as expected.

The bad: My shooting really sucks with no sling. It merely sucks with one. There. I admit it. The inside of the barn does have holes in the walls though. Score 185/500.

The good: I was able to get off all fifty rounds on the long course with one ruptured case. I looked at the case and I think I missed annealing it in the batch. All of the brass has been annealed at least once and for the most part are neck sized. And I will note I was able to get all rounds off in both rapids without any three round clips.

So far I have been shooting the PPU powder charge which puts me way high at 100 and 200. I've started to look at the front sight. It does not appear to have a replaceable sight blade. That may be a dead end since I do not want to change any thing on the rifle. Powder on the other hand is changeable. None of the main bullet makers list the Lebel cartridge so it is off to the internet land. Many guys list the loads they have used in their guns but to a man they warn that is their load in their gun so work up your own with caution and I completely on board with the warnings.

And enter load simulation programs. I have heard about Quickloads and while searching I stumbled across Gordon's Reloading Tool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swCVPpfy2-A

It was free so I down loaded it. I had a couple of reasoned thoughts about useful powders and grain charges before I found GRT and it verified them. Now I have more info to build my own loads in a safer manner.
https://grtools.de/doku.php

[waterman]

You need to raise the front sight blade to make it shoot lower. Just stick something to your front sight blade. Need not be permanent. You just need to change your sight picture. Stiff paper, old playing card, plastic? You can flatten a piece of lead and bend it over the sight blade. File until it works.

[Culpeper]

To look at the front sight it would appear to be one machined piece soldered onto the barrel but in the bright sunlight I see it is a two piece affair. Remington machined the four side surfaces smooth. I call that primo work. The good news is the front sight was made to American norms of the time with a base and pinned sight blade. YEA!

Now to find a good fitting blade.

[waterman]

Says a lot about the American work ethic of the time. The original purchaser thought of it as a long handle for a bayonet. It held & fired cartridges to keep the Poilus from mutineering.