Fusil Lebel Mle 1886 M93 image - Forgotten Hope 2 mod for Battlefield 2

In 1884 French chemist Paul Vieille finished work on Poudre B, a nitrocellulose based explosive that was suitable for use in firearms. The military advantage of this new smokeless powder was clear - not only was the problem with smoke obscuring the battlefield gone, but it was also 3 times more powerful than blackpowder and thus bullets could get smaller and faster. Two years of secret work would go into finding the optimum bullet diameter for the new powder, but the same opportunity was not extended to the cartridge or rifle. In January 1886, War Minister General Boulanger ordered that a working system had to be ready within a year.

Hampered by this accelerated development time, the only option was to fall back on existing technology. The new 8mm bullet was awkwardly fitted into an extremely necked down 11mm Gras cartridge case, and the rifle was adapted from the Mle 1885 Kropatschek Infantry rifle. The rifle bolt from the Mle 1874 Gras was adapted with a pair of front locking lugs to deal with the significantly higher firing pressures of the new powder, and the new rifle entered production the next year.

The following 6 years saw over 2 million rifles produced, with a minor design modification made in 1893. The last new rifles would be assembled during the First World War, with major rifle production moving over to the Berthier. Officially declared obsolete in 1920, the Lebel would continue to see updates into the 30's, and was still in wide usage in 1940. It was the preferred rifle for launching rifle grenades due to the relative weakness of the Berthier's single piece wooden stock, and was also the more common choice for mounting the APX21 telescope. Our Lebel was made by Seth Soldier.