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:

[burb1989]

Thanks vintage hunter for the comparison. From what I have gathered, both on here and from the experts on gunboards, my rifle is an Mle 1902 " Indochinois" that was sent to Indochina as per the serial number on my gun (A 33288) and was supposed to be lost to time. Also they helped me with a dating issue on when my gun was sent over (original estimate put my gun and 2199 others as being ordered in 1921 but suffered from late delays in shipping from France so it made sense that my rifle would have been a part of that order but not fully put together until 1926 and then sent over).