The Turkish Berthier, the Turkish Forestry Carbine,Continuing my series on the French Berthier Rifle
The Turkish Berthier, the Turkish Forestry Carbine,Continuing my series on the French Berthier Rifle, one other model of note that is certainly worth mentioning is the rare Turkish Forestry Carbine. After World War II, one of Turkeys big natural resource problem was illegal logging of its Circassian Walnut forests. A valuable resource, it was not uncommon for illegal lumbering operations to set up camp on national forest grounds and begin logging. The Turkish Government decided to arm the Turkish Forest Service to combat these illegal logging operations. At the time Turkey had around 15,000 WWII surplus Berthier rifles on hand, taken from a large shipment that was intercepted from Vichy France controlled Syria to Iraq, to be used in a rebellion against the British. The rifle was cut down and refitted with a new carbine length stock, for easier use by Turkish Foresters on patrol in the heavy woods. Many parts were replaced from spare parts off of 1905 Mausers. The old markings were ground off and they were re stamped with a new serial number and the factory marking “TC ORMAN”. Look at the eposed barrel of the last third of the rifle. That is a common feature on most Turkish rifles. One of the reasons the Berthier was chosen was because it was an odd caliber (8X50R Lebel) when the most popular caliber in Turkey was 8X57Mauser, so rifles captured by bad guys would be difficult to maintain. Around 10,000 Berthier rifles were converted into Turkish Forestry Carbines. While rare they retail for around $250-$300 because they are fairly unknown to most and Turkish firearms are not heavily sought by antiques collectors. -- source link
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