after the adoption of the new lebel model 1886 rifle, french military authorities attempted to develop a carbine version of the rifle for mounted troops. a prototype carbine was created by simply shortening the existing barrel, forearm, and magazine tube of the mle 1886 rifle. however, this design was soon rejected for insufficient accuracy, as well as being too slow and cumbersome to reload with single cartridges while on horseback. in response, the french army held a series of rifle trials in 1887 to select a suitable carbine. one of the prototypes submitted was designed by émile berthier, a mechanical engineer in the compagnie bône-guelma (one of the five subsidiary companies of the algerian railway system). berthier's design for the original carbine was adopted in 1890 as the mle 1890, utilizing a 3-round en-bloc clip. the first berthier carbine came into production as the "carabine de cavalerie modèle 1890", which was officially adopted for service on march 14, 1890. the main production facilities were the manufacture d'armes de st etienne or mas and the manufacture d'armes de chatellerault or mac. the search for a suitable small arm for mounted troops was given greater urgency by the germans' development of the karabiner modell 1888, a carbine variant of the gewehr 1888. it was issued to essentially all french artillery and cavalry troops. as the high command appreciated the performance of the mle 1890 berthier carbine, a second version was specifically produced for artillery service, the " mousqueton mle 1892" which could mount a short blade bayonet and thus had a re-designed forend stock. however it continued to feature the 3-round en-bloc clip of the model 1890 carbine. during the first world war it became obvious that the 3-round clip was a handicap compared to german short weapons such as the german kar98az which had a 5-round clip.