New Berthier M16 carbine

[burb1989]

Hi everyone. I picked this up yesterday and I got some pics of it last night. My friend who is a milsurp dealer at our little gun shows down here came into possession of a Lebel and a Berthier and he asked me if I would want one. I said sure but I had spent my money on a mostly matching BNZ 42 K98 and a Hanyang 88. He picked up the Berthier and told me I could have it at the expense of the $50 he put into buying it. I came home to find out it is a Tulle M16 that had been reassembled in 1926. Also I found that this rifle had the 3 shot open bottom on it instead of the 5 shot magazine and it had a broken rear sling swivel which I have ordered a new one from Liberty Tree. It is a great little gun but condition is near horrendous (It looks like it got run over by a truck). I'm thinking about putting the 5 shot mag back on it but I'm not sure if the mags were numbered to the rifles or not. Mine has all matching numbers except for the 3 shot open bottom. Hope you all enjoy and comments are very welcome.

Information

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[jmoore]

I would like to find a "three shooter" carbine without the Post WWI upgrades. But yours would be better off with the five shot assembly, I reckon.

So what about the Lebel???

That's on my want list in a fairly large way. Even a mixmaster, if it has a good bore.

[Aragorn243]

I would have gone for the Lebel also but I have a Berthier.

[burb1989]

My friend kept the lebel because it had all matching numbers and he didn't have a lebel in his collection. Also I'm finding out how hard it is to find spare berthier 5 round mags for sale. They're almost as hard to find as the cleaning rods it seems.

[vintage hunter]

I'd like to see more pics of your carbine if it ain't too much trouble.

[burb1989]

Sure thing Vintage Hunter. Here's a picture of the stacking hook:

[vintage hunter]

Interesting. Looks to be from one of the model 1902 variants. The correct M16 upper band for those without cleaning rod channels in the stock would have a ball ended stacking hook on the left side.
For those that escaped modifications and still have cleaning rods the band looks like this: