8mm Lebel The 8×50mmR French ( 8mm Lebel ) rifle cartridge was the first smokeless gunpowder cartridge to be made and adopted by any country . It was introduced by France in 1886 . Formed by necking down the 11mm Gras black powder cartridge , the smokeless 8 mm Lebel cartridge started a revolution in military rifle ammunition . Standard 8mm Lebel military ammunition was also the first to feature a spitzer boat tail bullet ( Balle D ) which was adopted in 1898 . Note . There are two 8 mm Lebel cartridges , one for the Lebel Model 1886 rifle and one for the Modèle 1892 revolver . They are entirely different cartridges and are not interchangeable . The use of the term " Lebel " for the French Mle 1892 revolver and its ammunition was never applied by the French military but has become informally accepted outside of France without any real justification . 8mm Lebel rifle ammunition . It was originally loaded with a 15 . 0 g ( 232 grains ) cupro - nickel jacketed lead - cored flat nosed wadcutter - style bullet ( " Balle M " ) which had been designed by lieutenant colonel Nicolas Lebel . The flat point ( flat nose ) of the Balle M bullet had been designed to be totally safe inside the Lebel ' s tube magazine . It was propelled by the first practical smokeless , nitrocellulose based , ( Poudre B ) gunpowder as developed by Paul Vieille in 1884 . The ballistic performance and range of Balle M eclipsed all the previous military ammunitions in existence at the time ( 1886 ) . The Balle M was replaced in 1898 by a 12 . 8 g ( 198 grains ) solid 90 / 100 brass , pointed ( spitzer ) boat - tail bullet called " Balle D " which provided a flatter trajectory and improved long range performance . Designed at APX ( Atelier de Puteaux ) by a captain Desaleux , Balle D was the first spitzer and boat - tail bullet to be placed into service by any army . Later on , in 1912 Balle D ammunition was improved into " Balle D am " ( " am " stands for " amorcage modifié " or modified primer ) by crimping the primer in to prevent primer expulsions when fired in machine guns . Balle D am ammunition was in near universal service during World War I ( 1914 – 1918 ) in all Lebel caliber weapons . Somewhat later , Balle D am ammunition was followed in 1932 by " Balle N " ammunition which featured a lead - cored , cupro - nickel over steel jacketed , spitzer boat - tail bullet weighing 15 . 0 g ( 232 grains ) . It was held into a case which had a slightly larger neck diameter than the older Balle D am ammunition . Balle N was heavier than Balle D am and had been designed to improve the long range performance of the Hotchkiss machine gun . Converting most Lebel caliber rifles and carbines to the " N " ammunition was carried out during the 1930s . " Balle T " tracer and " Balle P " armor - piercing rounds were also produced along with blank and reduced charge ammunition . In order to safely accommodate pointed ( spitzer ) bullets inside the Lebel ' s tube magazine , a circular groove was machined around each primer cup on both Balle D am and Balle N ammunitions . The role of that circular groove is to receive the tip of the pointed bullet that follows when loaded inside the Lebel ' s tube magazine . Furthermore , all Balle M and Balle D French military ammunitions feature convex primer covers which are crimped in over the primer itself . Those small convex primer covers are not noticeable but do provide a second effective protection against accidental primer percussion inside the Lebel ' s tube magazine . Wartime experiences ( 1914 – 1918 ) involving hundreds of millions of Lebel rounds fired in combat have entirely confirmed the effectiveness of these protections . While revolutionary for its time in terms of ballistic performance , the 8mm Lebel cartridge had its drawbacks . Formed by necking down the 11mm Gras rifle cartridge case , it was an odd design , with a thick rim and a rapid double taper . This made it more difficult to feed from standard magazine firearms such as the Berthier rifles and the Chauchat machine rifle . The rifles from which it was fired ( Lebel , Berthier , etc . ) were also nearly obsolete by the time Balle D , let alone the Balle N , came along . Balle N ammo should never be fired from any Lebel or Berthier rifle unless it has had the chamber reamed to accept the larger neck of the N cartridge . Such weapons are stamped N on top of the barrel , just in front of the receiver and behind the rear sight . Balle N ammo is identifiable by the fact that the bullet , while pointed like the solid brass Balle D , is lead cored and jacketed with soft steel . While newly manufactured 8mm Lebel ammunition has recently become available in the U . S . , reloadable cartridge cases can also be produced by reforming . 348 " Winchester brass . Newly manufactured Prvi Partizan 8mm Lebel ammunition is of excellent quality and replicates the performance of the original 8mm Lebel round . However its brass cases lack the circular groove around the primer cup so the reloader must be careful to use only round - nosed or flat - nosed bullets when producing handloads for the tube - magazine Lebel rifles . Recently manufactured 8mm Lebel ammunition with spitzer ( pointed ) bullets will be perfectly safe when stacked in the box - magazine of the Berthier rifle . However it is highly advisable that the same type of newly manufactured pointed ammunition should be fired single shot only in the Mle 1886 tube - magazine Lebel rifle . In 1929 the 7 . 5×54mm MAS mod . 1929 ( 7 . 5 French ) cartridge was introduced . This made the 8mm Lebel cartridge obsolete overnight but , due to post World War I financial constraints and political neglect , it was not introduced as a rifle cartridge until the adoption , just before World War II , of the MAS - 36 rifle . Downrange performance comparison . 1886 pattern 8×50mmR Lebel " Balle M " load 1898 pattern 8×50mmR Lebel " Balle D " load