PhoenixPhart
PhoenixPhart 10 Jun 2019
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St. Etienne - Lebel Mle 1886 M93 R35 - 8x50mmR Lebel

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In General

Many apologies for the blurriness.

Shooting my new (old) French Lebel R35 carbine. These were made from 1886 Lebel rifles and updated to the new M93 standard (if they weren't already previously) then shortened and rebarreled in 1935 for use with French colonial forces in Northern Africa. This example was manufactured by St. Etienne and then rebarreled in 1938 by Chatellerault.

These carbines sport an 18.5" barrel and a 3+2 ammunition capacity. This is done by leaving a cartridge on the elevator and placing another cartridge in the chamber.

There're some issues with extraction that need to be fleshed out, but spent cases eject fairly reliably.

The bolt is surprisingly smooth, even more so after taking it apart for cleaning and lubrication. My hand hurts a bit due to the sharper angles of the bolt knob, though.

I really like the thick front sight post since it fills up all of the space in the rear sight but any deviation from a proper sight picture will give you open spots when you're looking through. The little channel in the front sight is neat since it's so unobtrusive, but helps for more precise shots. Front post for minute of man, little channel for minute of angle

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