Krag Collectors Association Forum

A few years back, I purchased a French Berthier rifle with a 'cut-down' stock.
I quickly obtained a missing action-screw to get it in shooting condition. Range results were promising, but, I shot up all my ammo and put the rifle on the 'back burner'.

I finally found a front barrel-band last year.
I recently gave up on finding a complete stock and bought a large piece of walnut and have started making a replacement forearm (to splice under the rear barrel-band).

I ordered some supplies from Graff's, last week, and a set of Lee "8X50R Lebel" Dies, 8mm bullets & brass (PPU), arrived today.

I will update as things progress.

BTW - I don't have any trouble seeing the Berthier's front "blade"!

Good. Another Berthier fan. What bullets are you using? I have never shot my Remington 07/15 even though I have three cases of ammo. When I do shoot it up I want to know what the correct diameter bullet I need to purchase.

Stock up now before you need it is my mantra.

Another closet 8MM Lebel Berthier shooter speaks out.

For a long time I have scrounged the odd (old) partial box of Remington UMC ammo at gun shows. Pulled them apart for the brass and 170 Gr 8MM factory bullets. Tried the 198 Gr BTHP bullets for the Military load. Yikes! way to stiff for my liking especially in the carbine.

Working on cast bullet load with an old Lyman mold I have. This is two 5 shoot groups with the Berthier Carbine.

The stockpile of Balle-N bullets I have measure out at 0.3275" (8.32mm)

I have had an interest in the Berthier, since my teen years, when a friend inherited a three-shot Ste. Etienne made carbine.
We never got to fire it because the ammo was a collector's item. But, the petite carbine was a cool piece of machining and fun to handle!

I never fired an arm, chambered for the 8X50R cartridge, until the Prvi Partisan factory ammo came onto the U.S. market.
The Prvi (Full Metal Jacket) factory rounds, I have measured, appear to have a .327" projectile.

In the last 12 years, I have owned and fired a couple of nice Berthier carbines, which I 'flipped' for a good profit.

I briefly had a 'cut-down' (Remington made) Berthier rifle that was too altered for 'reasonable' restoration. I sold it, for what I paid.

My project Berthier rifle was built at Chatellerault, in 1917. Although the rifle received the (post WW-1) "N" chamber alteration, it has proved to be the most accurate Berthier, I have fired.

The Prvi 198 grain soft-nosed projectiles, I purchased, are measuring a maximum diameter of .325". It remains to be seen, how they perform. This is my first experience reloading this cartridge.

Although a .325" diameter bullet appears to be undersized for French rifle bores, on the "Gunboards Forum", knowledgeable participants have reported good success and accuracy with .323" diameter bullets of U.S. manufacture.

"Now for something completely different", obviously a Monty Python fan.

I slugged the bore of my Berthier, today. The four-groove rifling measures .318" from Land to Land and .329" from Groove to Groove.

We'll see how the Prvi .325" diameter (jacketed-SP) projectile performs.

I reloaded some 'fired' 8X50mm Lebel brass for my 'altered' Berthier rifle.

I am just partially 'neck-sizing' the cases, by backing-off the F.L. Sizing Die a couple of turns.

The French military chamber leaves the cartridge shoulder rather 'bloated' after firing. There is no point in over-working the Brass.

I shot some 8 shot groups (from the bench) at 50 yards to get a 'base-line' on the rifle's grouping. I will be restoring the military forearm and front barrel-band.

Hopefully, the Berthier rifle shoots just as well or better, after restoration. Using "Kentucky Windage", I was able to keep all the shots on a 7" paper plate. Better sights would have rendered tighter groups.

The Berthier trigger-pull is a challenge, with a very heavy 2nd-stage.

The Lebel round is pleasant to shoot in terms of recoil.