French Buffalo-Slave rifle

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Dave DeLaurant

Dave DeLaurant

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My wife's been having a rough week and I've been stuck at home keeping one eye on her. My other eye has been looking around for something useful to do, so I decided to do some more research for a project on military 7.5-8mm revolvers and cartridges of the late 1800s. I own five of the things (so far), and if I'm not careful there's a danger of them turning into a collection.

Foursome.jpg

While rereading Medlin and Huon's book Military Handguns of France, I spotted a weird reference to something called the 'Buffalo-Slave Carbine' that was supposedly chambered for the 8x27 French Revolver cartridge.

BuffaloSlaveCarbine.jpg BuffaloSlaveReceiver.jpg BuffaloSlaveReceiverMarkings.jpg

Evidently this single shot rifle was a product of "MANUFACTURE FRANCAISE D'ARMES ET CYCLES DE SAINT-ETIENNE" or Manufrance. In addition to the Buffalo-Slave 'Carabine' (which I understand actually means rifle in this context in French), the action was offered in Buffalo-Lebel, Buffalo-Hubert and Pistolet Buffalo configurations (and probably others), and in it's various guises was chambered for 6mm Flobert, .22 rimfire, .22 WCF, 32-20 and '8mm Armee'.

As weird-sounding as the name was, a Google image search proved the rifle's design to be just as strange. The bolt handle is integral with a collar that caps over the breech end of the barrel and locks using an inverted arrangement of lugs inside the bolt and outside of the barrel. In this way, the locking surfaces are actually positioned in front of the breechface. The rear portion of the bolt assembly has a long guide rod running below the feedway. The extractor design also seems a bit loopy, moving in the same track in the receiver as the bolt guide. There is no ejector as far as I can tell.

BuffaloSlaveAction.jpg BuffaloSlaveCarbineCatalog.jpg

I've never seen one of these things, but if I did I might be tempted to buy one just for the extreme novelty. There's a French-language book about the 'systeme' that I'd also happily buy if it was still available. Maybe the book would explain why they named the rifle 'Slave'!

BuffaloBook.jpg

For now, the best information in English I could find is at this website:

https://www.rifleman.org.uk/Lebel_training_rifle.html
 
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I noticed that you have a French 8mm Lebel revolver,,,
I have one that I've owned since I was 11 years old.

I paid $5.00 for it at a farm auction back in the early 60's,,,
It came with a sock-full (40-ish rounds) of ammo.

After I shot all that ammo up I never found any more,,,
The revolver just sat lounging in a drawer for the next 40 years.

Several years back I saw that sgammo.com had new manufactured Fiocchi for it,,,
If you need ammo for the Lebel here is a direct link to it.

Now I shoot a few cylinders on my birthday each year,,,
I bought 550 rounds so I should be good for quite a while.

I understand that the gun will work with .32 long ammo as well,,,
But I've never been brave (foolish?) enough to try it.

Anyways,,,
I hope this helps you.

Aarond

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aarondhgraham said:
I noticed that you have a French 8mm Lebel revolver,,,
I have one that I've owned since I was 11 years old. <snip> I understand that the gun will work with .32 long ammo as well,,,But I've never been brave (foolish?) enough to try it.
I hope this helps you.
Aarond
Click to expand...

Thanks Aarond! Just bought my 1892 last month, and paid over 100x more than you did for yours.

You can indeed use .32 S&W Long or even H&R in it, but unless you handload with larger bullets you'll need to use hollowbase wadcutters so they can expand for the 1892's larger 8mm bore diameter -- plus you can expect occasional split brass and misfires due to non-concentricity with undersized brass.

Here's a demonstration you may find interesting.



I prefer using shortened PPU 7.62 Nagant gas seal brass in the 1892, which is a bit fatter than .32 S&W but still comes out swollen a little after firing.

BTW, .32 S&W/H&R brass appears perfect for handloading 8mm Gasser ammo for the Austrian 8-shot Rast & Gasser, using suitably sized bullets and light powder charges. Still looking to get one of these revolvers when I have the $$$ to spare, but I have a R&G cylinder and have confirmed chamber dimensions.
 
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No sure but in the late 1800's slave trade was still pretty big in Africa amongst the natives, Arabs and some European colonies. That is according to books I have been reading about white hunters.
 
Regarding the name... This is a French rifle, "Carabine Buffalo", modèle Slave. In French, Slave means Slav, from the Slavic countries, not the English word "slave".

As for "Carabine", when it comes to hunting firearms a "carabine de chasse" is a rifle, and a "fusil de chasse" is a smoothbore, shotgun. In military parlance, a "carabine" corresponds to the English "carbine", a light rifle originally developed mainly for the cavalry, and a "fusil" is a full-size rifle.
 
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Kano383 said:
Regarding the name... This is a French rifle, "Carabine Buffalo", modèle Slave. In French, Slave means Slav, from the Slavic countries, not the English word "slave".

As for "Carabine", when it comes to hunting firearms a "carabine de chasse" is a rifle, and a "fusil de chasse" is a smoothbore, shotgun. In military parlance, a "carabine" corresponds to the English "carbine", a light rifle originally developed mainly for the cavalry, and a "fusil" is a full-size rifle.
Click to expand...

Slav makes much more sense to me!

I recall in the Michael Mann film Last of the Mohicans, the protagonist's nickname Long Rifle was translated into French at one point as Longue Carabine.

As you've probably guessed, my French surname is many generations (nine, to be precise) removed from its motherland -- our family's second language was Danish, and as a proper 3rd generation American I didn't bother learning it from my parents.
 
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