French 1892 Carbine

[Joe Boleo]

I was in a gun shop yesterday just wasting time. The shop owner has cut back his hours and days that he is open and that is a real shame. Anyway, I scanned the used gun racks and saw two 1892 French carbines in 8mm Lebel. One was much nicer with a perfect bore, matching numbers and was more expensive. I set it back and will pick it up next week. Now I will have something to hold when I watch "Beau Geste" or movies about the Foreign Legion. Take care...
Joe

[Gil Martin]

Model 1916 Carbine

Joe,
I believe you are correct regarding the 1927 conversion. Small Arms of the World and Smith & Smith in The Book of Rifles have very little information about these arms. All the best...
Gil



__________________

[Badger]

Joe,

Very Good find. I have several French arms, reload for them and shoot them on the backyard range. As I recall, the M1892 had a 3-shot Mannlicher clip. In 1915, a 5-shot clip was adopted for French rifles and carbines.

I have watched "Beau Geste" too many times. Beau was in the infantry, so I doubt he had a Carbine. The Legion Camel Corps probably had carbines. In the Movie with Gary Cooper and Ray Milland, they had 8MM Berthier tube feed rifles, as I recall.

Badger