• SSTF@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    Brutal that the French military was stuck with the Lebel Model 1886 rifle through the war. The downside of rushing to be the earliest adopter of smokeless powder is that everyone else is going to have better rifles when they catch up.

    • PugJesus@piefed.socialOPM
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      8 days ago

      Trailblazers open up the path for others to do it better - one always hopes one’s allies and not enemies.

      Wh-what’s that?

      M-Mauser 98, you say?

      The Berthier seemed like an odd choice too, but maybe I’m just not viewing it in the proper context.

      • SSTF@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        The short version with the Berthier is that it was very limited by the 8mm Lebel cartridge. It is a terrible cartridge to design a rifle around.