Reviving an old warrior

[4thGordons]

Over the past weeks I have been reviving a Berthier Mle M16 Infantry rifle - thought I would share some pictures. I know this sort of thing is not really possible for most people in the UK without undue complications regarding the firearms laws - in fact that was one of the things that got me interested in doing it while I am living here, so I hope it is of some interest.

A word of explanation.

In the US there are (broadly speaking) two categories of people interested in WWI weapons - shooters and collectors. There is some overlap of course. I often find myself in the middle. This is not such a bad place to be. Shooters tend to want mechanically perfect examples but are less concerned about originality - fully refinished rifles with no historical interest are attractive to them. Collectors often want mint original examples where everything matches and is "original" to the rifle. I am more in the latter category, but also have a very limited purse! However there are rifles that fall in between. Largely complete and original but not in great shape - neither great "collector pieces" nor "top class shooters" and therefore not really in demand- enter rifles like this one - a filthy dirty Berthier M1916 rifle, complete (save the foresight blade) - and a solid example of a great war weapon. These tend to be cheap and, if one is a little discriminating and can avoid total junk, I find these interesting and fun as projects that are within my financial and skill limits!

I did not set out to refinish the rifle (ie not make it like new) - this would involve sanding the stock and re bluing the metal etc and, for me, destroying the "feel" of a 90+ year old rifle, what I wanted to do was throughly clean and "refresh" the rifle - without destroying its patina, controlling the corrosion and returning it to a condition which it might be fired (subject to a gunsmith's approval) - actually it is unlikely I will shoot this one, the bore is quite worn and although the rifle is basically sound I got it largely to fill a gap in my collection. I made no attempt to remove all the staining from the furniture, did not sand it, but did clean and de grease it and remove as much ingrained dirt as possible. The metal work had baked on grease all over it (cosmolene - from long term storage somewhere) The rifle does not have an import stamp on it which means it came into the US prior to 1968 or as an unofficial carry-back.

Anyway I have posted the pictures on Photobucket HERE to save forum bandwidth

The "after" pictures are not very good as the light was failing - but I will retake them in the morning.

A bayonet and a sling (I have the latter but couldn't find it this evening) and I think it will look much improved.

Chris

[everclay]

Nice job on the revival.

Have you got a large collection of weapons from that era?

[Tinhat47]

I think the condition gives it character! I'd love to have one.

[N White]

I'm envious, I need one of those. Nice job on the cleanup. I too have feelings for the "ugly ducklings", rather than the mint perfect examples. Have you found a sight blade for it yet?

[sabine72]

Chris nice job ,I have the same one but with no pitting and I think yours is also live

Patrick

[gew98]

I love these old smokepoles... but black and white pics????. Jeez I looked for .1 seconds and ditched.

[4thGordons]

I love these old smokepoles... but black and white pics????. Jeez I looked for .1 seconds and ditched.

You should have stayed -- the last ones were colour!

(its called Atmosphere! )

Just for you.....

Chris