The cartridge for the tube-fed long arm was originally loaded with a 15.0 g (232 grains) cupro-nickel-jacketed, lead-cored, flat-nosed, wadcutter-style bullet, called "
balle M", which had been designed by Lieutenant Colonel
Nicolas Lebel. The flat point (flat nose or tip) of this bullet had been designed to be safe inside the newly commissioned rifle's tube magazine. It was propelled by the first practical smokeless,
nitrocellulose-based powder (
Poudre B), as developed by
Paul Vieille in 1884. The ballistic performance and range of
balle M with the new propellant eclipsed all the previous military ammunitions in existence at the time (1886). This
balle M was replaced in 1898 by a new design, a 12.8 g (198 grains) 90/10
bronze mono-metal, pointed (
spitzer)
boat-tail bullet called "
balle D", which provided a flatter trajectory and improved long-range performance. Designed at the Atelier de Puteaux (APX) by Captain Georges Desaleux, the
balle D was the first pointed
and boat-tailed bullet to be placed into service by any military. Later on in 1912, the round was improved into the
balle D am ("am" stands for "
amorçage modifié" or "modified primer"), done by crimping the primer in more deeply to prevent primer expulsions when fired in machine guns. This ammunition was in near-universal service during World War I (1914–1918) in all Lebel-caliber weapons. The
balle D am ammunition was followed in 1932 by
balle N ammunition, which featured a lead-cored, cupro-nickel-over-steel-jacketed, pointed boat-tail bullet weighing 15.0 g (232 grains). It was thicker (8.3 mm instead of 8.17) and was held into a case that had a slightly larger neck diameter than that for the older
balle D am ammunition. The new
balle N was again heavier than the
balle D am, and had been designed to improve the long-range performance of the issued
Hotchkiss machine guns. Rechambering practically all French Lebel-caliber rifles and carbines to use the "N"-type ammunition was carried out during the 1930s. A
balle T (
tracer ammunition) and
balle P armor-piercing rounds were also produced, along with blank and reduced charge cartridges. In order to safely accommodate pointed (spitzer) bullets inside the Lebel rifle magazine, a circular groove was machined around each primer cup at the case base on both
balle D am and
balle N ammunitions. The role of that circular groove is to receive the pointed bullet tip of the following round loaded inside the tube magazine, and keep it
at the side of the case base of the previous cartridge, so the tip does not easily slide to the base center where the primer is located. The tapered form of the case itself did help too to keep pointed tips away from the primer cup of a round in front of another in the tube. Furthermore, all
balle D and
balle M French military ammunitions featured
convex primer covers which are crimped in over the primer itself. Those small 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 8×50mmR 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 guns, and is the reason for the distinct curvature in the magazines of those firearms. The Lebel rifle from which it was fired was also rather outdated by the time
balle D, let alone the
balle N, came along. A
balle N round can only be fired from Lebel or Berthier rifles, if the chamber has been reamed to accept the larger neck of the N-type cartridge. Such weapons are stamped
N on top of the barrel, just in front of the receiver and behind the rear sight. The
balle N ammunition 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 8×50mmR Lebel ammunition has become available in the U.S., reloadable cartridge cases can also be produced by reforming
.348 Winchester brass. The 8mm Lebel round produced by
Prvi Partizan is of excellent quality and replicates the performance of the original round. However, Privi Partizan's
older style brass cases lack the circular groove around the primer cup, so reloaders use round-nosed or flat-nosed bullets when producing handloads for the tube-magazine Lebel rifles with these cases. The older Privi Partizan cases loaded with spire point bullets should only be fired single shot. More recently, Privi Partizan manufactured Lebel ammunition with spitzer bullets do incorporate the circular groove at the base, and are safe when stacked in the box-magazine of Berthier rifles and the tubular magazine of Lebel rifles. Newer cases with circular groove follow the
balle D specifications, and shooters may use the magazine for loading. In 1929, the
7.5×54mm MAS mod. 1929 (7.5 French) cartridge was introduced. This made the 8×50mmR Lebel cartridge obsolete, 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==