French Mle 1886 Carbine Rifle / M95

SERIAL NUMBER: B70919 BARREL: 17 1/2" CALIBER: 8 MM LEBEL MANUFACTURED: 1899-1900 Designed in 1886 and adopted the following year by the French military, the Lebel Modèle 1886 has the distinction of being both France’s first repeating service rifle, and the world’s first service rifle chambered for a smokeless round. The defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871 and the subsequent fall of the Second French Empire forced the newly formed Third French Republic to re-evaluate its military needs in light of the increasing mistrust towards the neighboring and aggressive German Empire. Over a decade after the end of what was arguably the most important conflict fought in Europe between the end of the Napoleonic wars and the onset of World War I, French infantrymen were becoming seriousl...