Chassepot rifle

Chassepot
Chassepot rifle with bayonet
Type	Needle gun
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1867–1874
Used by	France Monaco Qajar Dynasty Tokugawa shogunate Greece
Wars	French colonial conflicts, Franco-Prussian War, other conflicts
Production history
Designer	Antoine Alphonse Chassepot
Designed	1866
No. built	~2,000,000
Specifications
Weight	4.635 kilograms (10 lb 3.5 oz)
Length	1.31 m (without bayonet) 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) (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	8-15 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity	410 m/s (1345 ft/s)
Effective firing range	1,200 m (1,300 yd)
Feed system	Single-shot
Sights	Ladder

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 1870/1871. It replaced an assortment of Minié muzzleloading rifles many of which were converted in 1867 to breech loading (the Tabatière rifles). A great improvement to existing military rifles in 1866, the Chassepot marked the commencement of the era of modern bolt action, breech-loading, military rifles. Beginning in 1874, the rifle was easily converted to fire metallic cartridges (under the name of Gras rifle), a step which would have been impossible to achieve with the Dreyse needle rifle.

It was manufactured by MAS (Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne), Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault (MAC), Manufacture d'Armes de Tulle (MAT) and, until 1870, in the Manufacture d'Armes de Mutzig in the former Château des Rohan. Many were also manufactured under contract in England (the "Potts et Hunts" Chassepots delivered to the French Navy), in Belgium (Liege), and in Italy at Brescia (by "Glisenti"). The approximate number of Chassepot rifles available to the French Army in July 1870 was 1,037,555 units. Additionally, State manufactories could deliver 30.000 new rifles monthly. Gun manufacturers in England and Austria also produced Chassepot-rifles to support the french war effort. The Steyr armory in Austria delivered 12.000 Chassepot carbines and 100.000 parts to France in 1871. Manufacturing of the Chassepot rifle ended in February 1875, four years after the end of the Franco-Prussian War, with approximately 700.000 more Chassepot rifles made between September 1871 and July 1874.

The Chassepot was named after its inventor, Antoine Alphonse Chassepot (1833–1905), who, from the mid-1850's onwards, had constructed various experimental forms of breechloaders. The first two models of the Chassepot still used percussion cap ignition. The third model, using a similar system as the prussian Dreyse needle gun, 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 wonderfully!" The heavy cylindrical lead bullets fired at high velocity by the Chassepot rifle inflicted wounds that were even worse than those of the earlier Minié rifle.