Berthier M1907.

It was Introduced in 1907 as an improvement/modification of the Model 1886. Chambered in 8mm Lebel. Named after its inventor, André Virgile Paul Marie Berthier, a French civilian engineer in the Algerian railways. This is the first Service Cartridge to use Smokeless Powder a Spitzer profile and a boat tail-designed projectile.

The earlier designed 1886 Lebel rifle which this cartridge was introduced in used a tubular magazine. As previous cartridges utilized round-nose projectiles. This proved to be a problem as pointed, hard projectiles pressed up against a primmer of a live round within the tubular magazine and caused ammunition to discharge.

One of the improvements of 1907 over 1886 was to do away with the tube mag and go to the stacked magazine the Berthier's three-shot vertical feed Mannlicher type en bloc magazine Furniture for the Berthier rifles and carbines featured one piece through the stock and fore-end, and ended just before the muzzle; under the barrel was a slot for a cleaning rod. 

On all models except before the M-1916, the top of the barrel was unprotected; after this, a wooden shroud was added to the top of the rifle. The weapons had no manual safety; during movement, French Army doctrine was that the rifle or carbine be carried without a round in the chamber.

This Bayonet most likely would have been made by Remington. To meet the demands of an expanded army and heavy losses, the French government contracted with Remington in 1916 to produce 200,000 1907/15 Pattern Mannlicher-Berthier rifles with bayonets.

The French had earlier decided to keep using the Lebel pattern cruciform bayonet and these were also produced by Remington in the early long form.

We have written about this one before. Ron published an article in Lock Stock and Barrel in 1982 about the Berthier rifle