the berthier was originally introduced as a partial replacement for the french 1886 lebel rifle. the lebel, a revolutionary concept at the time of its introduction because of its smokeless high-velocity, small-caliber cartridge, still used a tube-fed magazine and other details carried over from black-powder designs. by 1900, the lebel was already obsolescent in comparison to newer magazine-fed rifles introduced by mauser, lee, and mannlicher. with its tube-fed magazine, the lebel was long, ungainly and distinctly muzzle-heavy when loaded, difficult to manufacture, was overly complex in construction. most notably, the lebel proved very slow in reloading compared to newer rifle designs. on horseback, carbine versions of the lebel proved almost impossible to reload while on the move, while shortening the barrel to carbine length resulted in feeding problems due to an unreliable tube magazine that were never resolved. mounted security forces, cavalry units, and artillery units in colonial services were forced to use single shot mle 1874 carbines, most not even converted to fire the modern 8mm lebel ammunition, against insurrectionist forces who were sometimes better armed than government forces. a replacement for the lebel was clearly required, at least for mounted troops.