Chassepot
Encyclopedia
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 an assortment of Minie muzzleloading rifles many of which were converted in 1867 to breech loading (the Tabatière rifle
s). 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 (an abbreviation of Manufacture d'Armes de St. Etienne
), 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 ( Potts and Hunt ), Belgium (Liege), and in Placentia and Brescia (later Italy). The approximate number of Chassepot rifles available to the French Army in 1870 was close to 1,200,000 units. Manufacturing of the Chassepot rifle ended in February 1875, four years after the end of the Franco-Prussian War.
The Chassepot was named 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 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 Minie rifle
.
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 higher 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.
of the bolt by a segmented rubber ring which expanded under gas pressure and thus sealed the breech when the shot was fired. This simple yet effective technology was successfully adapted to artillery in 1877 by colonel de Bange, who invented grease-impregnated asbestos pads to seal the breech of his new cannons (the De Bange system).
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 accumulated in the chamber and bolt mechanism after continuous firing. Also, the bolt's shielded rubber ring eroded in action, although it was easily replaced in the field by infantrymen. The older Dreyse needle gun and its 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 centerfire
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). About 150,000 Chassepot rifles had been captured by the German coalition that defeated France in 1871. Large numbers of these captured Chassepot rifles were converted to 11 mm Mauser
metallic cartridge and shortened to carbine size in order to serve with German cavalry and artillery until the early 1880s. Others were disposed of "as is" with English surplus dealers. In most cases, the French receiver markings on these German capture Chassepot rifles were erased.
Breech-loading weapon
A breech-loading weapon is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel....
rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
, famous as the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870 and 1871. It replaced an assortment of Minie muzzleloading rifles many of which were converted in 1867 to breech loading (the Tabatière rifle
Tabatière rifle
The Tabatière rifle was a breech-loading rifle of the French Army.The Tabatière system was developed from 1864 as a way to convert numerous muzzle-loading weapons into breech-loading ones, in a process similar to that of the Snider-Enfield in Great Britain...
s). 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
Fusil Gras mle 1874
The Fusil Gras Modèle 1874 M80 was a French rifle of the 19th century. The Gras used by the French Army was an adaptation to metallic cartridge of the Chassepot breech-loading rifle by colonel Basile Gras. This rifle was an 11 mm caliber and used black powder centerfire cartridges that weighed...
), a step which would have been impossible to achieve with the Dreyse needle rifle
Needle gun
The Dreyse needle-gun was a military breechloading rifle, famous as the main infantry weapon of the Prussians, who adopted it for service in 1848 as the Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr, or Prussian Model 1848...
.
It was manufactured by MAS (an abbreviation of Manufacture d'Armes de St. Etienne
Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne (MAS)
The Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne was a French state-owned manufacturing company located in the town of Saint-Étienne. It has since been merged into the state-owned Nexter defence conglomerate....
), 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
Château des Rohan (Mutzig)
The Château des Rohan is a former castle and weapons factory now serving as a museum and cultural centre in the French town of Mutzig, Bas-Rhin, Alsace. The castle, whose structure goes back to the 13th century, belonged to several families of noblemen and bishops of Strasbourg before being turned...
. Many were also manufactured under contract in England ( Potts and Hunt ), Belgium (Liege), and in Placentia and Brescia (later Italy). The approximate number of Chassepot rifles available to the French Army in 1870 was close to 1,200,000 units. Manufacturing of the Chassepot rifle ended in February 1875, four years after the end of the Franco-Prussian War.
History
Antoine Alphonse Chassepot
Antoine Alphonse Chassepot was a French inventor and gunsmith. He was born in 1833 at Mutzig in Alsace.He invented the breech-loading, center-fire needle gun rifle known as the Chassepot. It was adopted by the French army in 1866 for which he received the Cross of the Légion d'honneur and a...
(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
Battle of Mentana
The Battle of Mentana was fought on November 3, 1867 between French-Papal troops and the Italian volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who were attempting to capture Rome, then the main centre of the peninsula still outside of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy....
on 3 November 1867, where it inflicted severe losses upon Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
's troops. It was reported at the French Parliament that "Les Chassepots ont fait merveille!", 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 Minie rifle
Minié rifle
The Minié rifle was an important rifle in the 19th century, developed in 1849 following the invention of the Minié ball in 1847 by the French Army captains Claude-Étienne Minié of the Chasseurs d'Orléans and Henri-Gustave Delvigne. The rifle was designed to allow rapid muzzle loading of rifles, an...
.
In the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
(1870–1871) it proved greatly superior to the German Dreyse needle gun
Needle gun
The Dreyse needle-gun was a military breechloading rifle, famous as the main infantry weapon of the Prussians, who adopted it for service in 1848 as the Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr, or Prussian Model 1848...
, 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 higher 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.
Bolt mechanism
The breech was closed by a bolt similar to those of more modern rifles to follow. Amongst the technical features of interest introduced in 1866 on the Chassepot rifle was the method of obturationObturate
Obturate means to block or obstruct. With reference to firearms and airguns, obturation refers to the process of a bullet or pellet, made of soft material and often with a concave base, flaring under the pressure of firing to seal the bore and engage the barrel's rifling...
of the bolt by a segmented rubber ring which expanded under gas pressure and thus sealed the breech when the shot was fired. This simple yet effective technology was successfully adapted to artillery in 1877 by colonel de Bange, who invented grease-impregnated asbestos pads to seal the breech of his new cannons (the De Bange system).
Cartridge
The Chassepot used a combustible paper cartridgePaper cartridge
Paper cartridge refers to 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 lubricating and anti-fouling agent...
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 accumulated in the chamber and bolt mechanism after continuous firing. Also, the bolt's shielded rubber ring eroded in action, although it was easily replaced in the field by infantrymen. The older Dreyse needle gun and its 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 centerfire
Centerfire ammunition
A centerfire cartridge is a cartridge with a primer located in the center of the cartridge case head. Unlike rimfire cartridges, the primer is a separate and replaceable component....
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). About 150,000 Chassepot rifles had been captured by the German coalition that defeated France in 1871. Large numbers of these captured Chassepot rifles were converted to 11 mm Mauser
11x60mm Mauser
The 11mm Mauser was a blackpowder cartridge developed for the Mauser Model 1871 rifle, and used later in the 71/84 variant. It is no longer in production, but is available from custom loaders, and dies exist to handload it. It is also known as .43 Mauser....
metallic cartridge and shortened to carbine size in order to serve with German cavalry and artillery until the early 1880s. Others were disposed of "as is" with English surplus dealers. In most cases, the French receiver markings on these German capture Chassepot rifles were erased.