8 mm Lebel

The 8x50Rmm French (8 mm Lebel) rifle cartridge was the first smokeless gunpowder cartridge to be made and adopted by any country. It was introduced by France in 1886. Formed by necking down the 11 mm Gras black powder cartridge, the smokeless 8 mm Lebel cartridge started a revolution in military rifle ammunition. It was also first to feature a boat-tailed bullet ( Balle D ) which was adopted in 1898.

Note
There are two 8 mm Lebel cartridges, one for the rifle, one for the revolver. They are entirely different cartridges and are not interchangeable.

8 mm Lebel rifle ammunition
Originally loaded with a 15.0 g (232 grains) lead-cored wadcutter-style bullet (Balle M) for the Lebel Model 1886 rifle, the design was changed to a 12.8 g (198 grains) solid bronze spitzer boat-tailed bullet (Balle D) in 1898. "Balle D" ammunition was universally used during World War I in all the Lebel caliber weapons, including bolt-action Berthier rifles and carbines as well as automatic weapons: the Hotchkiss machine gun and the Chauchat machine rifle. In 1932 the ammunition was upgraded for the last time to the lead-core spitzer, boat-tailed "Balle N" bullet which weighed 15.0 g (232 grains). It was held by a case which had a slightly larger neck diameter than the older "Balle D" ammunition. It had originally been designed in order to improve the long range performance of the Hotchkiss machine gun. Converting Lebel caliber rifles and carbines fo the "N" ammo was an attempt to standardize between those weapons and the Hotchkiss machine guns still in use just before World War II. "Balle T" tracer and "Balle P" armor-piercing rounds were also produced.

While revolutionary for its time, the 8 mm Lebel cartridge had its drawbacks. It was of an odd design, with a very thick rim and a rapid taper. This made it difficult to feed from detachable magazines. In order to accommodate Balle D ammunition in tubular magazines, a groove was machined around the primer and a primer cover inserted to prevent accidental discharges of ammunition waiting in the magazine. The rifles it was fired from (Lebel, Berthier, etc.) were also nearly obsolete by the time Balle "D", let alone the Balle "N", came along.

NOTE Balle N ammo should never be fired from any Lebel or Berthier rifle unless it has had the chamber reamed to accept the larger neck of the N cartridge. Such weapons are stamped N on top of the barrel, just in front of the receiver and behind the rear sight.

In 1929 the 7.5x54mm MAS mod. 1929 (7.5 French) cartridge was introduced. This made the 8 mm Lebel cartridge obsolete overnight but, due to post World War I financial constraints and political neglect, it was not introduced as a rifle cartridge until the adoption, just before World War II, of the MAS-36 rifle.

Performance
Balle M Meters            200     400    600    800    1000    1500    2000 Trajectory (m)   0.14    0.81   2.39   5.27    9.83   31.71   75.61 Velocity (m/s)    488     397    335    290     255     197     160

Balle D Meters             200     400    600    800    1000    1500   2000 Trajectory (m)    0.12    0.54   1.43   3.01    5.60   18.30   44.0 Velocity (m/s)     607     521    448    388     342     278    240

Categories
Cartridge:rifles