Berthier Mle 1907
Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Châtellerault (MAC) · Rifle · Out Of Production · 1907
Also known as: Fusil Mle 1907, Senegalese Berthier, Berthier Mle 1907 Colonial, Fusil de Tirailleur Senegalais Mle 1907
Overview
The Berthier Mle 1907 (Fusil Mle 1907), often called the Senegalese Berthier, is a French bolt-action service rifle developed from Andre Berthier's en-bloc clip design and adopted to rearm colonial troops who had never received the tube-magazine Lebel Mle 1886/93. Building on the earlier short Fusil de Tirailleur Indochinois Mle 1902, the Mle 1907 was a full-length infantry rifle chambered in 8x50mmR Lebel and built at the Manufacture d'armes de Chatellerault. Its rotating bolt with two forward locking lugs fed from a fixed magazine loaded by a three-round Mannlicher-pattern en-bloc clip inserted through the top of the action; when the last round was chambered the empty clip dropped free through a cut in the magazine floor, giving the Berthier a much faster reload than the Lebel it supplemented. Formally adopted for service on 19 June 1908 and issued chiefly to Senegalese Tirailleurs and other African colonial units, the Mle 1907 was distinguished by its turned-down bolt handle and remained in small-batch production while the Lebel line wound down. When France mobilized in 1914 it was the cheapest modern rifle still in active production, and a lightly modified version of it was standardized as the wartime Fusil Mle 1907/15.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 3800 g (134.0 oz) |
| Weight (loaded) | 3850 g (135.8 oz) |
| Overall Length | 1306 mm (51.42") |
| Barrel Length | 800 mm (31.50") |
| Action Type | Bolt Action |
| Firing Mechanism | Striker Fired |
| Trigger Type | Two Stage |
| Magazine Capacity | 3 rounds |
| Magazine Type | En Bloc Clip |
| Muzzle Velocity | 725 m/s (2379 fps) |
| Muzzle Energy | 3363 J (2480 ft·lbf) |
| Effective Range | 400 m (437 yd) |
| Maximum Range | 2400 m (2625 yd) |
| Rate of Fire | 12 rpm |
| Barrel Rifling | Right Hand |
| Rifling Twist | 240 mm (9.45") |
| Number of Grooves | 4 |
| Frame Material | Steel |
| Barrel Material | Steel |
| Stock Material | Wood |
| Finish | Blued |
Calibers
- 8x50mmR Lebel · primary — also known as 8mm Lebel, Cartouche Mle 1886, Balle D, Balle N, 8x51mmR
Features
- Firing modes: Repeating
- Feed systems: En Bloc Clip, Three Round Clip
- Safety mechanisms: Manual Bolt Safety, Half Cock Notch
- Features: En Bloc Clip Loading, Bottom Clip Ejection, Rotating Bolt, Two Locking Lugs, Turned Down Bolt Handle, Tangent Leaf Rear Sight, Blade Front Sight, Full Length Wooden Stock, Bayonet Lug, Cleaning Rod, Sling Swivels
Variants
- Fusil Mle 1907/15 — Wwi Standardized Rifle
Base model
Service history
Operators
- Senegalese Tirailleurs · adopted 1908 · as Fusil Mle 1907
- French Colonial Forces · adopted 1908 · as Fusil Mle 1907 Colonial
- French Army · adopted 1914
Conflicts
- French Pacification of West Africa (1908-1914)
- World War I (1914-1918)
Production
Estimated total produced: 25,000 · Production years: 1907-1914
Approximately 25,000 Fusil Mle 1907 rifles produced in small batches at the Manufacture d'armes de Chatellerault before the design was standardized in 1915 as the Fusil Mle 1907/15, which was made in far larger numbers.
Origin
Country of origin: France
Designer: Andre Berthier
Discontinued: 1915
Notes
Roughly 25,000 Mle 1907 rifles were built at Chatellerault between 1907 and 1914 in small runs issued as colonial units needed them, making the original Senegalese pattern far scarcer than the mass-produced 1907/15 that followed. The defining external difference is the bolt handle: the colonial Mle 1907 used a turned-down (bent) bolt handle, while the 1915 infantry standardization moved to a straight bolt handle found more practical for line troops. Like all early Berthiers the rifle was limited by its three-round en-bloc clip, a capacity inherited from the 1890 cavalry carbine that proved grossly inadequate against five-round Mauser and Lee-Enfield rifles once the gun reached the Western Front; this shortcoming drove the 1916 five-round redesign of the 1907/15.
Background
The Senegalese Berthier exists because of a logistical embarrassment: France's African colonial troops were still carrying obsolete single-shot rifles or no modern rifle at all in the 1900s, while the Lebel they were owed was already going out of production. Rather than restart the costly Lebel line, the army adapted Berthier's cheaper en-bloc clip rifle into a full infantry pattern for the Tirailleurs. That decision quietly set the course of French small arms: when war came in 1914, the only modern rifle France could still build at scale was this colonial Berthier, and so the rifle drawn up for Senegal became, in lightly altered form, the Mle 1907/15 that armed millions of poilus.