So... they're SMLEs Short Military Lebels, Ethiopian

I imagine Ian bursting through a wall like the Kool Aid commercial anytime someone says “unique and french” anywhere in the world.

I can already see a random dude walking in wanting a cup of coffee just to find Ian with 2 rifles on the table and feeling extra confused

The markings do show that the weapons were owned by Menelik II. The Ge'ez numbers are translated as 3 50 70 9, and the Amharic words transliterate to "Menelik Deneke". I'm not sure what the "Deneke" is for, considering that the literal meaning of the words is "Menelik was amazed".

Yeah! Gunholics anonymous meeting in the breakroom.

IO used to poorly assemble guns with terrible bores, now they import poorly assembled guns with terrible bores. Time is a circle!

“Obviously they’re French rifles, so I’m inclined to think they’re interesting.” We love it when you embrace your Francophilia.

Ethiopia to the World: "Hey guys, we need guns" World: "Which ones?" Ethiopia: "Yes."

The Ethiopians got all the cool surplus guns, no wonder the Elbonians had to make do with what was left

Adorable. My little Lebel: Friendship is war!

Every time I see Ethiopian I mistake it as Elbonia, I guess I’ve been indoctrinated

What a cool story. I like how Ian finds the rifles story and really transports you back in time to a place where local blacksmiths were forging components onto a modern rifle.

The top line on the rifle is Ge'ez script for the number 379. The bottom line is Amharic; the word before the semi-colon is "Menelik," the letters after it seem to be an abbreviation that my wife was unfamiliar with.

Honey wake up, new Forgotten Weapons video.

"Don't quote me on that" -Ian, Forgotten Weapons 2020

I’ve probably watched hundred of these videos, live in Australia, couldn’t even get any of these if I wanted too, don’t really have a clue about how a gun actually works or what half the things do I just like the history

Need a shorter handier rifle when guarding the ark of the covenant from the knights templar

All the eleven Lebels are already in Gun Jesus Heavenly French Arms Collection

I'll be honest, I misread this a "Elbonian" vs "Ethiopian," and I got way more excited than I should've. We need more Elbonian arms and armor!

When I saw all those utensils I thought "Oh God Ian got Covid and he's locked in".

I wonder what Ian would think of a Serbu BFG 50 but with a sawed- off barrel, no stock, and necked down to .17 wildcat rounds

Oh, how sweet! They're so tiny and cute!😍

Thank you for sharing Sir,enjoy the auctions and history,great stuff.

I was expected such a video since the unboxing

It's not a sporterization mom, it's an etiopian pattern

I never miss a video from Ian I have watched every single one

Was the magazine capacity reduced on these shortened Lebel rifles or do they still have the 8-round capacity?

Honestly the Lebel always makes me think of the French Foreign Legion. Also this was a fun video :-)

I bought one of the shortened berdans. I like it. I just need to fix the front sight and recrown the barrel. but the barrel cut is pretty straight. They didnt have any unaltered ones from 1877 or earlier so i bought one of the cut down ones. Most of the ones ive seen are from the late 1880s. so they werent even really used.

I love how they break the screws off and rivet some of them in. Its very clear they do not want someone to disassemble it or re-assemble it incorrectly.

I smell a new chapter for the second edition of Chassepot to FAMAS!

Ian doesn't even bother to smuggle all the French rifles out of the building before he makes videos now. He just goes to the break room to make them. 🤣🤣🤣

Just bought mine. Glad to be part of the level family

Continental breakfast usually comes with a danish, Ian's found a hotel with ethiopians😆

"Go to their various new owners and are never reunited again" - are you sure you didn't already buy them all?

Only God knows what those rifles has been through.

How many rounds do the short magazines hold?

Hopefully we'll see all those imported rifles on the website here soon

One of the main weapons I've still waiting for you to cover one day is the Ethiopian Mosin Nagants. The guns that beat back the italians in the first Italo Ethiopian war

Good to see that Ian's not in any danger of running out of caffeine any time soon...

Some top level fabricobbling going on there....

Great video

Do you have any plans next year to come to the Royal Armouries again? I love spending many an Hour in that place.

You mentioned most Lebel rifles were updated to M93 versions, would an un-updated version change the value of the rifle at all?

I read the title as "Elbonian" and got excited for a second.

Hi Ian, I can't help but notice distortion on your lavelier microphone, this was also apparent on your last video too. I am unable to ascertain which model you are using but perhaps you should make some adjustments to your gain structure. Regards, Phil

Finally, a meeting worth attending.

I want to see an obrez lebel lol I somehow managed to find and acquire an obrez carcano at auction xD need more for the collection

God ammo logistics in Ethiopia must’ve been a NIGHTMARE if they have every gun imaginable

Translates to "bubba was here"

The question is, which one are you bringing home?

2:26-2:29 is it the camera or is that barrel bent down a couple degrees?

Interesting find.

These are so weird, I had to buy one. Going to work it over, smooth out the rough bits, and confuse the hell out of everyone on the range!

You know Ian, no offense, but can you save some of the French Stuff for the rest of us? There are those out there (like me for instance) who haven't even started their collection yet lol! Another great video!

I bet Ian has his own coffee cup back there!

is this one of those videos Ian had been saving for the rainy day?

Sweet! The history makes it a treasure! If that rifle could talk!

Yeah... School can wait for now.

it's just seeing all those guns next to a coffee maker

I keep seeing the title as "Ethiopian Shortbread Rebels" and now I've got to watch the video so it stops coming up on my feed.

Id like to know what happened to all the ammo? and i wonder how much they paid for these rifles? it would be a pain to supply ammo for all these diff rifles. I imagine once ak47s started coming around for cheap they put these into storage sometime around the 70s,80s or earlier.

love how ian massaged this, these aren't simply terrible guns, they're special terrible guns

A very inviting cup of coffee on the background. 😁

Love those stories from the Rhodesia bush war about the guys who thought dialing the sites up all the way made their gun shoot harder.

When are we seeing the STG 940?

Ian has sold the soul of Bubba to make this video. You just had to pass a Lebel across Ian’s palm to gain his blessing.

how many did you buy Ian?

I'm guessing we're gonna get ethiopean french rifles till the year ends.

Anyone every thought after learning something from fun Jesus and in your head someone’s asking you about the gun you just learned about and then you answer all the questions, making yourself seem like a pro

So how much did you pay for the best of the shortened Lebels?

Chop shops shooters - we need this TV show

Love your work, though a tiny bit jumped out at me: "Ethiopia received military surplus and purchased military arms from virtually every major arms producer in the world for a period of like 80 years, from the 1870s all the way through frankly the 1970s to the 1980s" 1870 + 80 = 1980

So, how many rounds do these hold? Also, how did the Ethiopian army handle ammo supplies? Were specific companies outfitted with various rifles in one specific calibre?

Does anyone know if ethiopia obtained any Gewehr 71/84 rifles? I have a badly damaged one I picked up to use as a parts gun but I noticed it's shorter than the regular one id say it's around 49 inches where my working one is nearly 54 inches

Did he mentioned how many rounds it take?

Cool to realise what a pre-industrial state, Menelik II's Ethiopia did with imported guns - giving the Italians an absolute hiding and thus being one of the only states outside of Europe to avoid colonisation. These rough modifications are testimony to the lack of industrial capability up until quite recently. But the wisdom of buying modern guns was clear.

You asked us to the breakroom for a meeting and don't even offer us a cup of coffee!

Hmmm new variant, perhaps new addition to Chassepot to Famas 2nd edition ? ;)

1:43 5 or 6 inches shorter makes sense. That would mean the tube magazine is two rounds shorter?

I am a devotee to your channel but, your love of French rifles is a mystery to me. Have seen them at many gun shows and they always on the lower end of price and to me not very collectable. But as they say "each to his own"

Was the capacity reduced with the barrel length like the shortened French Lebel?

Brendan Fraser used one in the opening battle of The Mummy. They were also used in The Mummy Returns by the cult members of Imoptep

I think it is fair to say that the average Ethiopian is rather diminutive in stature so they might have just cut them down for comfort's sake. Also, unfortunately, the reality of the 'child soldier' is still pretty common in Africa.

it has alien scriptures on it thats super cool

I ended up ordering a variety of items from RTI after one your "...so go check them out..."s at the end of one of your previous collabs with them earlier this year. My experience was not good. First it was like pulling teeth to try and get a tracking number for my items and only received them once I brought up considering just canceling the order. Then after one of the items showed up a week and a half late it was not consistent with the item description and at that point I had been waiting on the other two items for well over a month probably close to a month and a half and at that point the lack of communication as well as the blatant misrepresentation of the item I did receive I contacted them again (for what felt like the hundredth time) to just cancel the remaining items, which a month and a half out hadn't even been shipped. To clarify they claimed that the items I ordered were not in stock so they were having to wait on getting them to ship out; wait...what? Then why in the hell would you list said items very clearly as "in stock"? Ridiculous. However I will say that once I was able to get a hold of someone she was quick to respond to my emails, polite, and quite fast in regards to canceling the charges to my card. But besides that particular female employee my experience with RTI was somewhere between frustrating and just outright bad. Just a little PSA from another Ian who is into firearms.

Time to take those rifles out to a range that can handle 1000m or so, mount some very tall and relatively skinny targets, and build an updated range table!

I know rifles like those were used in First Italo-Ethiopian War ... It does not appear to be Menelik or Selassie .markings on the rifle you showed .... I will look a little further.

nice coffee set up. lol gun jesus turns water into coffee

Combat Coffee Machine at the background

I see numerous other interesting rifles leaning up by the table. Presumably other 'break room' videos to follow.

This is really interesting, I always wondered why the French didn't manufacture lebels of varying lengths originally, like the Portuguese did for the Kropatschek, since they're fundamentally very similar guns, the Portuguese did an 8 round long rifle, a 6 round cassador (think jaeger) short rifle, and a 5 round cavalry carbine. The explanation for the berthier was that you "couldn't make a lebel carbine, but since the Lebel was basically a Kropatschek with added locking lugs for smokeless, that reasoning never held up for me

a few left on sale / you might have me interested Ian .

I kinda said this with the G88 Carbine, but some of these Ethiopian made guns are kinda good. These 5-round Lebels need some polish (and preferably zeroing), but otherwise I honestly like the idea of these better than other Lebel variants. 5 rounds (not counting the +2) is about average for most rifles, and the rifle is lighter without losing too much mass, so it's handier than the full-length Lebel but not as reload-problematic as the 3 round Maginot Lebels. If it was safe to shoot and rezeroed, I'd honestly shoot one of these over a regular Lebel.

I reckon that moustache doesn't get enough recognition.

If it wasn't for the history of these things, they'll be worth a dime a dozen...

"scribbles notes for Edition 2 of the book."

There was a 1950s British comedy called "Too many crooks" (on KZfaq somewhere) that peripherally involved shipments of weapons not unlike these. The survivors among the purchasers were not happy. :-)*

So I'm guessing this has about a 5 or 6 round magazine? Not much lost after being chopped down, then! But there is the rear sight... and the janky front sight ...and the screws gaping hole at the front of the magazine tube possible spider's nest inside But hey, it's light though!

In some ways I think the Ethiopians made a better short Lebel than the French did. While technically lacking (ie. the sights & the wooden magazine plug) they look like they'll handle well while still having a practical magazine size.