Berthier from M&B Sports

[HaroldoftheRocks]

Hey all, figured I post this one here finally. NES member NavelOfficer helped me acquire it so I should probably post it here. I was browsing the milsurp prices thread and came across a post from NevelOfficer who posted some interesting inventory from a shop local to him. Long story short he sent me some photos of a Berthier M16 rifle the shop had for a steal. I got in contact with the shop and a week later the rifle was at my FFL here in VT. For those unfamiliar, the French went into WWI with a 3 shot Berthier rifle and carbine, come 1917 they decided they needed more capacity and a 5rd magazine and corresponding clip was designed. The new model was designated the M16 and the carbines were put into service immediately. The rifles on the other hand were likely put into storage and never used in the war. My rifle appears to be from 1917. These rifles saw service into WWII but its likely my rifle was outside of Europe before then as it lacks some major upgrades that were done in the 20's. Its a really neat rifle to shoot. The enbloc system is very easy to use, much quicker than Mauser stripper clips. The 8x50 packs a wallop too.

 

[PATRON]

Nice find congrats.

 

[Picton]

Nice! I love offbeat old WWI rifles. My Pattern 14 is one of my favorites; like yours, it missed all the '20s/'30s upgrades.

Enjoy it. And for heaven's sake, keep that Loctite away from it!

 

[HaroldoftheRocks]

Enjoy it. And for heaven's sake, keep that Loctite away from it!

Haha that's for a completely unrelated AR project.

 

[mac1911]

looking forward to a range report

 

[HaroldoftheRocks]

looking forward to a range report

I had it out last weekend. Put about 15rds down range. 8x50 packs a punch but its more subtle than say 54r. The sights are absolute garbage. The 200m battle sight can barely be seen as they're mostly blocked by the wood of the hand guard. The 300m is slightly more visible but the front blade is so thick that it will cover your target at most ranges. They changed the sights on the carbines but for whatever reason didn't change the rifles. The bolt cycle is good, fairly smooth. When cycling from the shoulder the bolt handle is very far forward from your grip, it doesn't fall to your hand like an Enfield does. I managed to find a few decent 5rd enbloc clips. They were made very thin and were never intended to be reused however all mine feed well enough. Loading the rifle is easy, just stuff the clip in the action. On the last round the clip will fall out the bottom if you have trap door open. If not it will be shoved out as you load your next clip. I'd say its a lot quicker than rifles with Mauser style clips. All in all its a really neat rifle to shoot.

 

[NavelOfficer]

Alright! Glad to see you're getting some enjoyment from that purchase.

 

[mac1911]

I had it out last weekend. Put about 15rds down range. 8x50 packs a punch but its more subtle than say 54r. The sights are absolute garbage. The 200m battle sight can barely be seen as they're mostly blocked by the wood of the hand guard. The 300m is slightly more visible but the front blade is so thick that it will cover your target at most ranges. They changed the sights on the carbines but for whatever reason didn't change the rifles. The bolt cycle is good, fairly smooth. When cycling from the shoulder the bolt handle is very far forward from your grip, it doesn't fall to your hand like an Enfield does. I managed to find a few decent 5rd enbloc clips. They were made very thin and were never intended to be reused however all mine feed well enough. Loading the rifle is easy, just stuff the clip in the action. On the last round the clip will fall out the bottom if you have trap door open. If not it will be shoved out as you load your next clip. I'd say its a lot quicker than rifles with Mauser style clips. All in all its a really neat rifle to shoot.

time for cast loads, a .32? (Not sure of bullet size ) mold a lb of Trailboss and some fun cheap shooting!

 

[greencobra]

very cool!