Boris heres the english translation from the russian documentation
May 10th, 1890, first official consultations between the representatives of the Czar and the ones of the French weapons factories happened. The businessman and French representative of the factories, Adrien Treuille, had been authorized by the French War Ministry, to run the negotiations. His partners on the Russian side were Lieutenant General Tschagin, head of the Russian commission for the acquirement of a rifle with small caliber, and the Russian military attaché in Paris, Lieutenant General Baron von Freedericksz. The first agreement on 300.000 single shot rifles was may 21st, 1891. The executing factory should be Saint Etienne. Some weeks later the order was changed. July 16th, 1890, Mr. Treuille got a new, pretty uncertain, order on 500.000 magazine fed rifles. At this time it was not clear, what rifles should be manufactured and at what cost. But a new factory was chosen: Chatellerault. Up to now the reasons for the relocation from Saint Etienne to Chatellerault are not clear.
December 31st, 1890, General Freedericksz told Mr. Treuille, that the order would work. Up to June 1st, 1891, the (handmade) five master weapons should be in Chatellerault. They really arrived in time. The technical department of the French Artillery took the rifles to pieces and examined them. After that the price for the single weapon was fixed: 48,65 Francs including the bayonet. Added to that price had to be 3 fr for the production expenses, 0,35 fr for proof shooting and another 7 fr as fees of the factory. The total price therefore arose to 59 fr. It was a good deal for the French factory, because the average costs for one rifle soon decreased from 50,8942 fr to 37,9802 fr in November 1894. It is interesting to know, that essential parts of the raw material, like the stock-wood, raw barrels and the raw steel for the entire chamber had to be delivered from Russia.
The treaty was signed December 19th, 1891. The French Government accepted to deliver 503.750 Three-Line-Rifles M1891 in the time from 1892 up to 1894. A Russian control commission came to Chatellerault October 20th, 1891. First there were only two persons, Colonel Sokerine as head of the commission, and Lieutenant Prince Gagarine. January 1893 the next member, Captain Kholodovski, and September 12th, 1893, the last one, Captain Orloff, arrived in Chatellerault. But there were many delays in starting the production. Blueprints, tools etc. did not come in time from Russia. It was April 18th, 1892, when some very important parts, like the master barrel and a master bayonet, arrived. So the first rifle M. 1891 was assembled only in July 1892.
The following table shows the number of established machines and employed workers during the production of the Three-Line-Rifles in Chatellerault:
TABLE BELOW AS I CANT PASTE IT HERE SO WILL POST BELOW AS ATTACHMENT
Building one rifle needed altogether 42 hours of work with 1446 different stages of work and 812 proof measurements.
Production, Deliverance
In the treaty you find that in the first nine month of production Chatellerault had to produce the parts of the rifles only, not to assemble rifles. In the tenth month, which means from July 19th to august 19th, they had to assemble 100 rifles per day in 25 working days per month. There had to be an increase of production every month, 175, 250, 325, 400, 475, 550, 625, 700, 775, 850 and 925 per day in the next months. From July 19th, 1893, there had to be a production of 1.000 rifles per day, which means 25.000 per month. The last month of this high production should be the 33rd from June 19th to July 19th, 1894. After that there was a monthly decrease from 800, 600 and 400 per day in the following months and than there should be a daily production of 200 from October 19th, 1894 to January 19th, 1895.
It seems that the factory fulfilled the time schedule very well, though different French sources tell us different dates of deliverance. So the facts remain a little bit sketchy. One source says, that the first 25.000 rifles had been assembled by September 1892 and shipped from Dünkirchen to St. Petersburg, where they arrived October 3rd, 1892. In 1894 alone there should be a production of 475.000 rifles! Another source tells us the total amount of assembled rifles in September 1892 to be 153 and the daily production 4 rifles. In January 1893 the total production was 3.520 rifles with 150 rifles assembled daily at the end of this month. Up to January 1895 the total production shall have been 461.800 rifles M91. If you remember that the first five rifles have been accepted in December 1892, a fact clearly proofed by the letters of Colonel Sokerine, the source telling us about the deliverance of the first 25.000 rifles in September 1892 is obviously wrong.
But it is a fact too that Chatellerault delivered all weapons in time. The last crate with the number 25.129 was delivered April 25th, 1895 with the remaining 17 rifles. Altogether not 503.750 rifles, but 503.539 "only“ were shipped to Russia.