EDIT: This video has been refilmed with improved camera settings and without the failure to feed. See it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pmNNIheZ-gg.html Howdy friends, I thought I'd address chain detonation and why it is NOT an issue with the Lebel. One thing that can happen with pointed bullets and tube magazines is that the tip of bullet can set off the primer of the bullet in front of it, causing a chain reaction and blows up the rifle and often part of the user. The French got around this by machining a circular channel around the primer that the tip of the round naturally wants to sit in. This keeps if off the primer and eliminates the risk of chain fire.
You can't be a history fan and not like old guns. What else can you get from hundreds of years ago that still functions perfectly? It's a great connection to the past
Everytime Trilo uploads it's like a miniature christmas. Crazy how a gun can be absolutely cutting edge, then a decade or so later it might just be the last service rifle you'd want to be using in battle.
This was not the Lebel's fault as it was rushed into service by the French since they thought other nations wouldn't have smokeless powder so early, they were very wrong....
@@JGR_JoeysGameReviews that may be why I find it so neat, it’s the link between the tube fed late black powder big bore rifles and the box fed small bore smokeless rifles
God I love the lebel, it has such a soft spot in my heart. The gun from the 1880s that found itself thrust into a world war twice, and soldiered on. French guns are very underrated too.
Not all French guns, but at least the MAS 36, in my opinion one of the best repeating rifles ever made. Short, reliable, incredibly strong, simple (its bolt has only 5 pieces and don't need any tool to be field-stripped, where the Mauser has more than 12) and firing one of the best cartridge of its time, it's a dream for a shooter. Seems quite a few found their way to the US. Anyway, though rapidly obsolete, the Lebel is a splendid, particularly well made rifle and its bullet was known to be very efficient even at long ranges
@@KRaikkonenSF These weapons are quite underrated, you're right. Because much more people know the MAS 36, the MAS 49/56 semi-auto rifle and the MAT 49 SMG, especially in the US, because the GI often met them in Vietnam...
As a Hunt Showdown player I'm impressed how good job developers did to give us players that feel of realism when using historical weapons in the game 👏
I used to think it was a cumbersome rifle compared to the clip-loading rifles like the Gewehr 98 and Springfield, but after looking at the lebel seriously I realized that it had a unique technique that only the French Army would know. It's cool!
Tube Magazines were actually pretty widespread at the time, since this was based on the then very popular Kropatschek, which France, Germany, Japan, Portugal, and several others had adopted; the French then just surpassed everyone with Smokelss powder, and it led to everyone needing to design new rifles, which lead to clip loading, while the French poured their efforts into a semi-Auto, which would become the RSC-1917
It especially took off when the french got their hands on the Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr and came up with their iteration (The Chassepot). From the 60s up into the 90s was the most important gun development in history (imo). From a cannon on a stick, to a matchlock musket, to wheel lock musket, to flintlock musket, to percussion cap muskets and rifles I believe the invention of the Zündnadelgewehr was the first real step towards what's needed to have a functioning and useful magazine fed gun.
The rate at which technology improves is exponential. It took us four times longer to go from bronze swords to iron swords than from iron swords to nuclear bombs.
@@Fuerwahrhalunke I disagree, respectfully. The design of the Dreyse is the first bolt action, that is its significance. But it was a series of inventions that led to the famous rival of the bolt action, the lever action, and it was lever action rifles that came first. It is an insult to call the Spencer in all its use in the Civil War, Triple Alliance and Franco-Prussian War not a functioning and useful magazine-fed gun. Had bolt action rifles never been invented we would still have functioning, magazine arms.
Pretty specimen. I found one dating 1894 for a great deal at a local pawn shop a while back after the broker told me it had been sitting on the wall for years. Yours is in slightly better shape lol Great to see the bluing in such good condition.
@@thibaultbethencourt $1k minimum for a decent one rn if you can even find one for sale. I’ve never even seen one for sale in as good condition as the one in this video, but I’d expect it to easily hit $2k if so
i saw one of these in a shop before i had fallen down the well of french rifles, didnt even pick it up. i regret not buying it on the spot every time i see one in video. awesome content though!
The level as well as the navy, has to be some of my favorite "bolted" rifles. Simply by the fact of how unique they seem. Plus the level from personal experience is quite fun and reliable.
The Lebel is one of those wacky firearms in that it was cutting edge for its day for introducing smokeless powder on the scene but everything else about it is almost a generation behind. Also find it hard to believe the spring for the tube magazine is still serviceable 134 years later.
At the time, it was revolutionary, since 8mm lebel was the first smokeless powder round to be adopted. I bet it was a fantastic gun to have in 1886, but imagine loading this in the trenches
@@ommsterlitz1805 If remember correctly the Berthier, or at least models of it, had 3 rounds which isn't that great at all, especially when the standard for bolt-actions is 5 rounds, but it was at least MUCH faster to load than the Lebel.
@@welkingunther5417 They we’re originally 3, updated to 5 towards the end of WWI. The three round clips are rather compact and load extremely quickly though.
@@ommsterlitz1805 aesthetics, atmosphere and gunplay are one of a kind. Very unique game. But you have to stomach the first 100 hours of dying to learn how to play on basic level, and then 900 hours more to achieve the first level of transcendence where you are able to reliably use different tactics to your advantage. Bear in mind that all that time you will encounter those on transcendence level 3 (couple thousands of hours of playtime) who will shred you and send you crying in the corner. Oh, and constant random netcode bullshittery. That's a lot to overcome, but if you manage, you will like it. TLDR - the complete opposite of typical casual session-shooter experience.
Great condition for its age. I have a Gewher 88 from the same year, also in amazing shape. It's interesting to imagine that my rifle and yours may very well have shot at each other during the war.
From what I have seen In a lot of the videos about The lebel, I would describe this gun As 'Springly', It is a little rough On the chamber system (Which was already outdated by The newer bolt actions of 1890s) And Is a bit like a shooting stick with a pike on with such an length, But for what it was, Truly a short lived revolution in guns.
I understand that the 8MM lebel cartridge is rimmed so the nose of the cartridge next in the tube doesn’t hit the primer of the one in front. Yet this video has me question, when loading could this not be a potential problem as the nose connects flush to the primer of the next cartridge? Maybe in trench combat you ram a round forward and boom?
You really can't get enough of a running start to hit the primer hard enough to set off the round. The tip of the round basically instantly settles in the channel around the primer.
@@TenaciousTrilobite now that you said that I watched more closely, and you can actually see this happening, the follower drops slightly below the chamber and you can see the nose dive. Ingenious design, beautiful rifle my friend 🙏🏻🤝
I can't imagine going to war with a tube fed magazine and such a long and heavy weapon. I have a Berthier and found it incredible you would send someone to war with a 3 shot weapon. Crazy. I admire the French and Colonial forces that had to use them.
each one of your videos gets better and better, and it fascinating how many antique iconic rifles you have, its also interesting to see how your aim has improved while watching your older videos
@Peter T not somehow thanks to british, americans, russians. the fact. russians killed most germans ww2. americans killed most germans ww1. in both war british blockaded germany and bought enough time.
@@QWERTY-gp8fd totaly ridiculous, the americans enter in WW1 very late (1917) when the worst fights had already passed, and they did use mostly french and british weapons (canons, machine guns, automatic rifles, aircrafts) because they came close "nacked" only with they rifles...
Normally I’d post some sort of joke about the lebel being a tube loader due to concerns that French soldiers might stuff frogs into their magazines and the tube loader makes it harder to do so. However the Lebel is a pretty cool rifle that was pushed into service longer than maybe it should have but it served it’s home country to the best of its abilities through two arduous conflicts. So no joke this week.
You can't believe how many times i saw this video and wanting a lebel for my own, after 9 years of searching i finaly found one that i bought over from an old man, its in amazing condition like yours, Tulle manufactured and rebarreled by tulle in 1936. 80% of its blueing is still there and just a light bit of pitting.. I would almost call it a steal since the old man only wanted 425 euros for it.
El rifle francés lebel muy muy bueno usado también por la legion extranjera francesa. Muy fuerte y preciso y tenía la ventaja de admitir 8 cartuchos en el depósito del rifle.cuando lo normal en todos los rifles en servicio en otros países era de 5 cartuchos excepto el británico lee-enfield que era de 10.estos eran los 2 rifles en servicio de más capacidad.el único problema de este rifle era su recarga lenta de cartuchos de uno en uno.al ser un deposito y no un depesito -cargador como otros rifles no podían utilizarse peines para agilizar la recarga.a cambio tenía más disparos que otros rifles solo el lee-enfield lo superaba en capacidad de cartuchos y en rapidez de recarga metiendo dos peines de 5 cartuchos en su depósito-cargador.el rifle lebel tenía varios tipos de bayonetas que aquí no se ven.la más común era una bayoneta de aguja de tipo napoleónica.pero también tenía una variedad más moderna de cuchillo - bayoneta que se empezó a emplear con más frecuencia al estallar la primera guerra mundial. Era y es un buen rifle uno de los mejores y más famosos del mundo.
The loading of this specific weapon somehow creeps me out event though there are lots of these types of magazines out there. Something about the pointiness of the bullets pushing the primer of the last round and the thumb goin wayyy deep in the enclosed space of the gun gives me the shivers.
It's so weird how there is no sound of the round being chambered since it's just laying loosely on the lifter and is never stripped out of feeding lips.
I've always found the lebel interesting with the tube feed mechanism, along with the krag, very normal looking rifles, with an unusual loading mechanism
what most people dont point out in these videos are the birds in the background, they'll be chirping peacefully as you load up the rifle you are about to use, and the moment the first shot goes off the birds fall silent. they dont fly away, they just fall silent.
I bought one a couple weeks ago from a pawn shop for $80 great rifle but after 7 rounds the chamber split open on the side at some point in it's life someone abused it I'm guessing with a spicy hand load so it will hang above the fireplace
While highly impractical in combat, cutting edge at introduction but obsolete a few years later and with a very exposed action, the Kropacheck system is a highly intriguing and beautiful system.
random question, but having fired both a mosin & a lebel, do you find cycling the lebel's bolt to be slower/more fiddly? i noticed there was a distinct slower-pace to it in this video than other bolt actions, and was curious if the design choices in hunt showdown reflected real life in that regard (the lebel is slower to cycle the bolt on).
@@TenaciousTrilobite I agree specially if you compare it right next to a enfield or a carcano were the bolt it's soo smooth that you definitely feel a higher RPM by the way you can see the difference in Battlefield 1, DICE developers nailed with this guns !
@@lxDastanxlThis is very true... My first rifle was a Mosin, and I love it, but after I found my Enfield, I realized how horrible the Mosin action is 😆 it makes the Enfield feel like a dream. I was introduced to the Lebel in BF1, and I always thought the action looked super weird, but after seeing this I kind of want one! Thanks @Tenacious Trilobite
And here i thought the empty reload of the lebel on BF1 was weird for pulling the bolt back n forth twice to load the first round, but now i see that it is the actual procedure
To have been the tip of the innovative spear in the mid to late 19th century, by the time WW2 came around the French were pretty crudely armed. Weapons that were state-of-the-art just a generation prior soon proved to be practically archaic when the Germans came pouring in.
The French spent the military budget on ships, artillery, aircraft, machines guns, defensive static positions, atom bomb research, a potent new class of battleship and submarine aircraft carriers, and had a potent self loading rifle program underway at the time of the invasion.
dude I finally got to see a real version of this gun as I've been playing a game on Roblox which has this exact same gun on the french ww1 riflemen , skirmisher , and sniper
Call me crazy but I always thought a nice hand lever action in 8mm lebel would be a real winning combo for just about anything in the lower 48. A 200grain soft point in a nice neat package and can use spitzer bullets for when you wanna reach out and touch that buck on the otherside of a cornfield? Yes please!
I never understood why no army adopted a lever action rifle, it seems easier to stay on target and faster rate of fire than with a bolt action... maybe too expensive or too fragile 🤔
@@andredulac4456 some did albeit mostly for rear echelon troops or mounted cavalry. The most notable was the Russian empire buying 1895 winchesters in 7.62x54r. The biggest problem is by the time armies began adopting repeaters clip fed rifles were already outclassing them. And it’s awful awkward shooting a lever action from the prone or resting on a trench parapet
Seeing this weapon being loaded really makes you think of how often the user would actually be able to pull off a full reload in the heat of battle. My guess would be not often but who knows
You shouldn’t be if you’re using it right. Just like tube fed shotguns or lever actions, usually you’ll have a moment between firing where you can load a few rounds. Keeping weapons with internal magazines topped up at every opportunity is the best strategy. If you do run dry and are still engaged with the enemy you throw a round directly into the chamber at a minimum and keep shooting like this, using the weapon as a single shot rifle/shotgun until you get the chance to top up again. This strategy is mostly used with shotguns nowadays
I always found the concept of a tube fed full power bolt action interesting, but from what I read a couple times the reason this gun was relatively unliked was its unreliability and its slight tendancy for rounds to set eachother off in the tube when firing. Which obviously isnt nice.
They put an indented ring around the primer pocket in the cases specifically to catch the pointed bullets away from the primer. Chain fires may have happened with round tipped ammo in early examples but it was more or less fixed later. As for the magazine system itself, yeah it kinda sucks. Snap the bolt back with too little force or the elevator won’t work and pull too much and the bullet will jump out of the gun. Not great for high-stress conditions. Definitely designed to be a volley-fire gun.
@@haramsaddam238 I looked it up and yes, it was a early model problem. Chain fires were fixed relatively quickly. From what I understand the rifle and system was phased out because of reliability problems and the time it took to reload. As well as issues in carrying dozens of loose rounds. Thank you for your comment.
@@swellerballoon7 As I've read there is alot to that but also the action was very prone to damage from that extensive and hard working as well as battlefield conditions, i.e mud, dirt, sand, water, ect. It was a fantastic concept but the practice was very vulnerable to how the battlefield actually worked. I've read a couple of accounts in WW1 unsing these rifles and they were less than favourable in that condition. For old line warfare? Likely they werw great. But for what we call modern war they were kind of shit all things concidered.
@@TenaciousTrilobite Yea I made a mistake. It was the M27. Lebel I believe. But Berthier as well. I'm a big fan of 7.5 French. Sadly not a common round, not common firearms. I only own a MAS 36/51.
@@NYG5 Or, and stay with me here, OR I could read a couple of actual books on the development of the Mosin, because it started long before the Lebel was. The only thing the Lebel influenced at all is the sights and those were quickly dropped for the later Konovolov sights in 1908.
@William Welleks thank you for sharing these memories, I knew about the berthier which have an easier reloading process, but I never thought about the fact that the ten rounds from the lebel cannot be all fired when enemy is charging.
Let me be lebel with you: I used this particular weapon in the foreign legion back in ‘16 and ‘17. We loved it because we could SKEWER those KRAUT BASTARDS from over a man’s length away. The loading was slow but it wasn’t anything these old boys weren’t accustomed to with our 1897 WARCRIME sticks lol lmao lol. My buddy Dan Lapierre III used used one at the battle of Gerhardt Ridge to kill 3 Italian fascist officers that sure was a good day the Frenchies used to bake baguettes in the magazine toob by putting in the dough and holding the rifle over the fire it sure tasted funny though it’s widely believed Thomas Jefferson copier the magazine elevator design to design the first commercial horse powered elevator in 1808 wich is very impressive. Good video sea bug!!!!!!!!!1!1!1!1!!!
