Daudeteau M1896
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 826 mm
- Weight, empty
- 3.95 kg
- Introduced
- 1896
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Daudeteau M1896 (No.12) was a French bolt-action repeating rifle designed by Louis Daudeteau and built by the Société Française des Armes Portatives at Saint-Denis. Chambered in the small-bore high-velocity 6.5×53.5mm smokeless cartridge, it fed from a 5-round charger-loaded box magazine and featured tool-less bolt removal. Though never adopted as a French standard service rifle, it was bought in small trial lots by several navies and Latin American states.
Louis Daudeteau argued his small-bore 6.5mm was ballistically superior to France's own 8mm Lebel, and on paper he was right, but the French army rejected the rifle on a technicality, leaving it an export curiosity scattered across Indochina trials and LatAmerican arsenals.
The Uruguayan 'Dovitis' rifles were Mauser M1871 actions rebarreled in France to 6.5mm Daudeteau via the merchant Antonio Dovitis, giving them a split identity: German Gothic markings on the receiver and French script on the barrel. The cartridge gained a poor reputation for hard primers and weak cases.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Société Française des Armes Portatives (Saint-Denis)
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- France
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1896 to 1900
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 826 mm
- Overall length
- 1287 mm
- Weight, empty
- 3.95 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Bolt action
- Firing mechanism
- Striker fired
- Trigger
- Single stage
- Capacity
- 5
- Magazine
- Internal
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 732 m/s
- Maximum range
- 2000 m
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Charger loaded magazine- Tool less bolt removal
Smokeless small bore
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 1,612 rifles | 3.95 kg | 3.50 kg | Heavier than about 70% |
| Overall lengthAmong 1,557 rifles | 1287 mm | 1080 mm | Longer than about 90% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 1,659 rifles | 826 mm | 584 mm | Longer than about 90% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 1,611 rifles | 5 | 5 | Holds more rounds than about 60% |
Answers
Questions about the Daudeteau M1896
How much does the Daudeteau M1896 weigh?
The Daudeteau M1896 weighs 3.95 kg (8.71 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Daudeteau M1896?
The Daudeteau M1896 is chambered in 6.5×53.5mm Daudeteau No.12.
How many rounds does the Daudeteau M1896 hold?
The Daudeteau M1896 holds 5 rounds, fed from an internal magazine.
How long is the Daudeteau M1896?
The Daudeteau M1896 is 1287 mm (50.7 in) long overall, with a 826 mm (32.5 in) barrel.
Who makes the Daudeteau M1896?
The Daudeteau M1896 is made by Société Française des Armes Portatives (Saint-Denis) (France). It was designed by Louis Daudeteau.
When was the Daudeteau M1896 introduced?
The Daudeteau M1896 was introduced in 1896 and discontinued in 1900.
How does the Daudeteau M1896 operate?
The Daudeteau M1896 uses a bolt action, and its firing mechanism is striker fired.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- French Navy
- 1896
- Uruguayan Army
- Uruguay
- El Salvador
- El Salvador
Provenance
Confidence in this record
64%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/daudeteau' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "daudeteau", "name": "Daudeteau M1896", "manufacturer": { "id": "societe-francaise-armes-portatives", "name": "Société Française des Armes Portatives (Saint-Denis)", "countryCode": "FR", "foundedYear": null, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "9003f0b0ae2dacfd2317720ddeb37e09a5882504c94bc7ec242a983a9f26f078" }, "category": { "id": "rifle", "name": "Rifle", "description": "Long-barreled firearms designed for accurate shooting" }, "country_of_origin": "FR", "year_introduced": 1896, "barrel_length_mm": 826, "weight_empty_g": 3950, "action_type": "bolt_action"}