Chassepot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Chassepot | |
|---|---|
 Chassepot rifle with bayonet |
|
| Type | Breechloading rifle |
| Place of origin |  France |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1867-1874 |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Antoine Alphonse Chassepot |
| Designed | 1866 |
| Number built | more than 1,000,000 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 4.635 kg (9 lb 5 oz) |
| Length | 1.31 m (without bayonet) 1.88 m (6ft 2in) (with bayonet) |
| Barrel length | 795 mm |
|
|
|
| Cartridge | lead bullet 25 g (386 grains) in paper cartridge charge 5,6g (86,4 grains) black powder |
| Caliber | 11 mm (.433 inches) |
| Action | Bolt action |
| Rate of fire | N/A |
| Muzzle velocity | 410 m/s (1345 ft/s)[1] |
| Effective range | 1200 m (1300 yd) |
| Feed system | single-shot |
| Sights | unknown |
The Chassepot, officially known as Fusil modèle 1866, was a bolt action military breechloading rifle, famous as the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and 1871. It replaced the obsolescent muzzle-loading Minié rifle. It was a great improvement on the military rifles previously in use and marked the real commencement of the epoch of bolt action, breech loading, military firearms generally. It was very easily converted to fire metallic cartridges in 1874 (Gras rifle), a step which would have been impossible to achieve with the Dreyse needle rifle. [2]
Contents |
[edit] History
It was so called after its inventor, Antoine Alphonse Chassepot (1833—1905), who, from 1857 onwards, had constructed various experimental forms of breechloader, and the rifle became the French service weapon in 1866. In the following year it made its first appearance on the battlefield at Mentana on 3 November 1867, where it inflicted severe losses upon Giuseppe Garibaldi's troops. It was reported at the French Parliament that "Les Chassepots ont fait merveille!", or loosely translated : "The Chassepots have done exceedingly well !".
In the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) it proved greatly superior to the German Dreyse needle gun, outranging it by 2 to 1. Although it was a smaller caliber (11 mm vs. 15.4 for the Dreyse), the chassepot ammunition had more gunpowder and thus faster muzzle velocity (by 33% over the Dreyse), resulting in a flatter trajectory and a longer range which was 1200 yards (1100 m). The Chassepots were responsible for most of the Prussian and other German casualties during the conflict.
[edit] Technology
The breech was closed by a bolt similar to those of more modern rifles to follow. Amongst the technical features of interest was the method of obturation of the bolt with a shielded rubber ring which was quite effective. It was similar in principle to the de Bange obturator for artillery. The Chassepot used a combustible paper cartridge holding an 11mm (.43 inch) round-headed cylindrical lead bullet. An inverted standard percussion cap was at the rear of the paper cartridge and hidden inside. It was fired by the Chassepot's needle (a sharply pointed firing pin) upon pressing the trigger. While the Chassepot's ballistic performance and firing rates were excellent for the time, burnt paper residues as well as black powder fouling did accumulate in the chamber and bolt mechanism after continuous firing. The older Dreyse needle gun and cartridge had been deliberately constructed in a way to minimize those problems but to the detriment of its ballistic properties.
In order to correct this problem the Chassepot was replaced in 1874 by the Gras rifle which used a center fire drawn brass metallic cartridge . Otherwise, the Gras rifle was basically identical in outward appearance to the Chassepot rifle. Virtually all rifles of the older Chassepot model (Mle 1866) remaining in store were eventually converted to take the 11mm Gras metallic cartridge ammunition (fusil Modèle 1866/74).
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Ford, Roger. The World's Great Rifles. London: Brown Books, 1998. ISBN 1-897884-33-8
- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
