Mike Irwin
Staff
"It is an odd fact, however, that the first smokeless high velocity military cartridge used both pointed bullets (not technically spitzers, though) and a tube magazine."
The original bullet for the 8mm Lebel, the Balle M, was a 232-gr. flat nose, flat base designed specifically for use in the Lebel's tubular magazine.
This is a Balle M-loaded round:
In 1898 the famous, solid-bronze Balle D was adopted. It was a boat-tail spitzer.
I don't think this is an actual Balle D, but the profile matches the ones I have in my personal collection.
That is when the case head was changed to include both an annular ring (to catch the point of the bullet behind) and an "armored" primer cup, essentially a primer with two cups.
"The cartridge also had an unusual bullet that was stepped, like heel-based bullets such as the .41 Colt had."
Not exactly sure what you mean by this, but if I fully understand that statement, that's not the case. Both the Balle D and the Balle M were conventionally shaped, as was the later Balle N.
Both Balle M and Balle N were jacketed core type bullets, which would have made it VERY difficult to include any kind of step.
Oddly enough, during World War I, French troops actually did what they could to get hold of a Lebel instead of using the Betherier rifles, which they considered to be of inferior accuracy. Plus, they also liked the extra magazine capacity of the Lebel.
By that time most of the Lebels had been issued to conscripts and Colonial troops, so French front-line troops made a major push to get those rifles.
The original bullet for the 8mm Lebel, the Balle M, was a 232-gr. flat nose, flat base designed specifically for use in the Lebel's tubular magazine.
This is a Balle M-loaded round:
In 1898 the famous, solid-bronze Balle D was adopted. It was a boat-tail spitzer.
I don't think this is an actual Balle D, but the profile matches the ones I have in my personal collection.
That is when the case head was changed to include both an annular ring (to catch the point of the bullet behind) and an "armored" primer cup, essentially a primer with two cups.
"The cartridge also had an unusual bullet that was stepped, like heel-based bullets such as the .41 Colt had."
Not exactly sure what you mean by this, but if I fully understand that statement, that's not the case. Both the Balle D and the Balle M were conventionally shaped, as was the later Balle N.
Both Balle M and Balle N were jacketed core type bullets, which would have made it VERY difficult to include any kind of step.
Oddly enough, during World War I, French troops actually did what they could to get hold of a Lebel instead of using the Betherier rifles, which they considered to be of inferior accuracy. Plus, they also liked the extra magazine capacity of the Lebel.
By that time most of the Lebels had been issued to conscripts and Colonial troops, so French front-line troops made a major push to get those rifles.
