the berthier carbines (and later the rifles) used a lighter, streamlined receiver and a one-piece stock that departed from the lebel mle 1886/m93 rifle system. for instance, the locking lugs present on the bolt of berthier weapons lock into the receiver vertically, instead of horizontally as in the lebel rifle. like the mle 1886/m93, the berthier carbine was designed for the 8mm lebel cartridge, but it was loaded by a three-round en-bloc mannlicher-style clip. in line with the usual mannlicher magazine design, designers included a large opening at the bottom of the magazine well, in part to verify if the carbine was loaded with a charger of cartridges. during world war i, after complaints from combat troops regarding the limited capacity of the 3-round charger and mud ingress into the well opening, the berthier's magazine was increased to hold a 5-round "en bloc" charger. furthermore, a hinged metal plate covering the bottom opening of the magazine well was added. the final result was the mle 1892 m16 5-shot carbine which was well received, but did not appear on the front lines until the summer of 1918. though inferior overall to mauser's double-column box magazines, the berthier weapons had to retain the mannlicher "en bloc" system, as the rimmed and tapered 8mm lebel cartridge could not feed properly from a mauser-style box magazine. the berthier mle 1892 m16 carbine, with a 5-round charger, had a deserved reputation of solidity and reliability that kept it in service until the early 1960s.