![Dreyse needle gun](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Dreyse_needle_gun.jpg)
A needle gun (or needle rifle for varieties with
rifling) is a
firearm that has a needle-like
firing pin
A firing pin or striker is a part of the firing mechanism of a firearm that impacts the primer in the base of a cartridge and causes it to fire. In firearms terminology, a striker is a particular type of firing pin where a compressed spring ...
, which can pass through the
paper cartridge
A paper cartridge is one of various types of small arms ammunition used before the advent of the metallic cartridge. These cartridges consisted of a paper cylinder or cone containing the bullet, gunpowder, and in some cases, a primer or a lub ...
case to strike a
percussion cap
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise ...
at the
bullet base.
Types
Pauly
A diagram of a needle-gun cartridge, showing the paper cartridge case, the sabot, and acorn-shaped bullet.
The first experimental needle gun was designed by
Jean Samuel Pauly
Jean Samuel Pauly (1766 – c. 1821), born Samuel Johannes Pauli, was a Swiss inventor and gunsmith of the early 19th century. Parish records show that he was baptised in Vechigen near Bern, Switzerland on 13 April 1766, the son of Johann Pauli ...
, a Swiss gunsmith.
In Paris in 1808, in association with French gunsmith
François Prélat
François Prélat was a Frenchman involved in gunmaking in the early part of the nineteenth century. It is sometimes claimed that he invented the first fully contained cartridge in 1808, as well as the percussion cap in 1818. However most gun histo ...
, Pauly created the first fully self-contained
cartridges:
the cartridges incorporated a copper base with integrated
mercury fulminate
Mercury(II) fulminate, or Hg(CNO)2, is a primary explosive. It is highly sensitive to friction, heat and shock and is mainly used as a trigger for other explosives in percussion caps and detonators. Mercury(II) cyanate, though its chemical formu ...
primer powder (the major innovation of Pauly), a round bullet and either brass or paper casing.
The cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle. The needle-activated central-fire
breech-loading gun became a major feature of firearms thereafter.
The corresponding firearm was also developed by Pauly.
Pauly made an improved version which was protected by a patent on 29 September 1812.
The cartridge was further improved by the French gunsmith
Casimir Lefaucheux
Casimir Lefaucheux (; 26 January 1802 – 9 August 1852) was a French gunsmith. He was born in Bonnétable and died in Paris.
Casimir Lefaucheux obtained his first patent in 1827. In 1832, he completed a drop-barrel sporting gun with paper-cased ...
in 1836.
In 1809 Pauly employed the German
Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse
Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse (20 November 1787 – 9 December 1867) was a German firearms inventor and manufacturer. He is most famous for submitting the Dreyse needle gun in 1836 to the Prussian army, which was adopted for service in December 1840 ...
, who later invented the famous
Dreyse rifle.
Dreyse
![Dreyse mechanism model 1865](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Dreyse_mechanism_model_1865.jpg)
The first mass-produced needle gun was invented by the German gunsmith
Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse
Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse (20 November 1787 – 9 December 1867) was a German firearms inventor and manufacturer. He is most famous for submitting the Dreyse needle gun in 1836 to the Prussian army, which was adopted for service in December 1840 ...
, who, beginning in 1824, had conducted multiple experiments, and in 1836 produced the first viable breech loading gun model using a complete cartridge.
The early Dreyse needle guns were smooth-bore. Later Dreyse guns adopted by the Prussian army were rifles using self-contained combustible cartridges holding oblong lead balls held in a papier-mâché "sabot".
From 1848 onwards the new weapon was gradually introduced into Prussian service. The Dreyse rifle became widely used during the
Austro-Prussian War of 1866 when it played a decisive role at the
Battle of Königgrätz
The Battle of Königgrätz (or Sadowa) was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire. It took place on 3 July 1866, near the Bohemian city of Hradec Králové (German: Königg ...
.
Doersch and von Baumgarten
This Model 1861 rifle was an improvement of the Dreyse rifle by Johannes Doersch and Cramer von Baumgarten. They shortened the needle mechanism and moved the handle to the rear of the bolt. The rifle was officially adopted in the
Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe
Schaumburg-Lippe, also Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807, a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present day state of Lower Saxony, with its capital at Bück ...
. More than one thousand rifles were produced until the principality was forced to join the German Empire in 1871.
Carl
In 1865, Johannes Friedrich Christian Carl (also known as Carlé or Karl), a ship- and insurance broker of Hamburg, patented a needle gun which was an improvement on the Dreyse gun. Sohs (Zons), a Hamburg citizen, participated in the design and development of it.
The Carl system was officially adopted by the Russian Empire in 1867. Only 215,500 Carl rifles were manufactured in Russia, because a short time later, needle rifles were replaced by rifles with metal cartridges, such as the
Berdan rifle
The Berdan rifle (''винтовка Бердана''/''vintovka Berdana'' in Russian) is a Russian rifle created by the American firearms expert and inventor Hiram Berdan in 1868. It was standard issue in the Russian army from 1870 to 1891, when ...
.
Chassepot
![Compare Dreyse-Chassepot](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Compare_Dreyse-Chassepot.jpg)
The Chassepot was named after its inventor,
Antoine Alphonse Chassepot
Antoine Alphonse Chassepot (1833–1905) was a French inventor and gunsmith. Born in 1833 in the town of Mutzig in Alsace, he is best known for inventing the breech-loading, center-fire needle gun rifle named after him: the Chassepot. Officially k ...
(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
Mentana is a town and ''comune'', former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio, central Italy. It is located north-east of Rome and has a population of about 23,000.
History
Mentana's name in ...
on 3 November 1867, where it inflicted severe losses upon
Giuseppe Garibaldi's troops. It was reported at the French Parliament that "", or loosely translated: "The Chassepots have done wonderfully!" The undisguised truth is that 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
The Minié rifle was an important infantry rifle of the mid-19th century. A version was adopted in 1849 following the invention of the Minié ball in 1847 by the French Army captain Claude-Étienne Minié of the Chasseurs d'Orléans and Henr ...
.
In the
Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) it proved greatly superior to the German
Dreyse needle gun Dreyse may refer to:
* Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse (1787–1867), German firearms inventor
* Hitch Dreyse, a fictional character in ''Attack on Titan'' (''Shingeki no Kyojin'') series who serves in the military police.
* Dreyse needle gun, a German ...
, outranging it by 2 to 1.
The Chassepot used a paper cartridge, that many refer to as being 'combustible', whereas in reality it was quite the opposite. It held an round-headed cylindro-conoidal lead bullet that was wax paper patched. 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.
Carcano
The Carcano Fucile di Fanteria Modello 1860/67 needle gun was developed by Salvatore Carcano, an Italian technician. This rifle was operated by pulling a cocking knob on the back of the action, retracting the needle and allowing the bolt handle to be lifted. It was adopted in 1867 in Italy.
The Carcano Modello 1868 needle fire rifle had very few differences from the 1860/1867 model.
References
Further reading
* John Walter. The German Rifle pages 20–46 Arms & Armour Press/London 1979
External links
* {{Cite EB1911, wstitle=Needle-Gun, volume=19, page=339
Early rifles