From the December 1999 issue, pages 320 - 321.

Bjorn Nielsen, Belgium, to Dolton G. Walker, concerning the article "French Berthier" (MRJ, issue 104, Aug. 1999).

It may be of interest to you that I once owned a Berthier rifle Mle 16 with a three-round magazine. Apart from the magazine it had the distinctive characteristics of a Mle 16, the inscription on the receiver and a handguard. I had to get rid of it many years ago, but the following has been taken from the notes I made then. The inscription on the left side of the receiver was "St. Etienne Mle. M. 16". The bolt, barrel, trigger guard, and stock were marked: "F. G. 94543". In addition to this (and a lot of other control stamps etc.) the barrel was marked: "MAS 191711, and the cartouche on the stock, the final acceptance stamp, was dated September 1917. When I became aware that a Mle. 16 was supposed to have a five round magazine, I looked it over rather thoroughly, but I was not able to find any indications that it had been tampered with. According to my notes, both the trigger guard and the bottom of the magazine itself were marked with an "M". Before I got it, it had been neutralized according to French legislation, by blocking the chamber.

Anyone's guess is as good as mine, but the simplest explanation for the three round magazine is that the French arsenals were so hard pressed in 1917 that they used older parts to keep up production. Not only did they need to make up for the terrible losses suffered by the French army, but France was heavily engaged in supplying some of its allies, like Russia, Serbia, Rumania and Italy, with rifles. Another possibility is that some Mle. 16 rifles were fitted with three round magazine to be issued as replacement rifles to units or allies still predominately equipped with Mle. 07-15 rifles with three round magazines in order to simplify the supply of cartridge clips.

My rifle seems to have been in service outside France, as the stock is stamped with the following letters or figures the meaning of which is unknown to me:

I acquired the rifle in April 1973 in Denmark. The previous month an importer was offering "Chatelrault-Bertier" (sic.) rifles for sale as decoration pieces in a local sports journal. The advertisement was illustrated with a photograph showing a Berthier rifle with a three round magazine, no hand guard, and a straight bolt handle, presumably a regular Mle. 07-15. In addition, there was a photograph showing a wooden shipping crate in which the rifles had arrived. It appears that the crate is full of rifles without handguards, e.g. Mle. 07-15. The box had what seemed to be arabic script on the outside. Such imports are extremely rare in Denmark due to the very strict legislation, so I am sure that my rifle Mle. 16 came with this lot. Maybe the French got rid of their non- standard Mle. 16s by sending them abroad.