It is French, probably re-arseneled sometime after 1927. On the barrel opposite the side where it says MLE1890, will be a year. That will be the year the barrel was made. Mine says MAC 1908, the MAC tells who made the barrel and 1908 is the year. The gun is worth about $200 in good condition. It does shoot 8mm Lebel, you can get custom loaded ammo from Gad's Custom Cartridges and the best deal on brass is Grafs and Sons Reloading. The brass is about $40.00 for 100 shipped and uses large rifle primers, I use large rifle magnum because I had a problem with squibs. The bullet diameter is standard 8mm which is .323" and I shoot 170 grain bullets. Lee Pricision carrys the reloading dies. Be careful shooting surplus WWI or WWII ammo. Look at the head stamp - if it shows an "N" on the headstamp, do not shoot it unless the receiver on the gun has an "N" stamped centered on the top. N is more powerful than the standard ammo and could damage the gun if the gun was not tested and rated for the N ammo. I got the opportunity to shoot one round from WWI era. It went, "Click", wait, wait, "BANG!". I have an AR-15 and an SKS and the Berthier is the funnest of them all to shoot to me.
I love my MLE M16 Berthier - it is a great shooter and piece of history. If you google French Berthier Rifle you should get plenty of hits. I am on a remote dial up connection now, so I can't post any of the links I have found.
Also there is a 5 round clip for that rifle. The rounds load into the clip and the clip with rounds push down into the magazine box. When the clip is empty, it will drop out the trap door in the bottom of the magazine box. You can shoot the gun without the clip, just sit a single load on top of the magazine follower and push it into the chamber by closing the bolt. I haven't had much luck with clip loaded ammo, so I shoot mine single shot.
Looking at the pictures that have finally downloaded, that gun may or may not have been re-arsenaled. PM me with more pictures of all the markings you can find and mid-next week I can research and tell you more about it.
