Chassepot

Chassepot
Chassepot
Chassepot-diag.jpg
Chassepot rifle with bayonet
Type Bolt action rifle
Place of origin France 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 8-15 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity 410 m/s (1345 ft/s)[1]
Effective range 1200 m (1300 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 and 1871. It replaced an assortment of Minie 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.[2]

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.

Contents

History

French soldier with Chassepot rifle.

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.

Technology

Bolt mechanism

Chassepot 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 obturation 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

Chassepot paper cartridge and boxes.

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 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.

Chassepot gun, model 1866, Mutzig, 1869.

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.

Gallery

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Ford, p. 23
  2. ^ New International Encyclopedia

References

External links

Preceded by
Tabatière rifle
French Army rifle
1866–1874
Succeeded by
Fusil Gras Modèle 1874

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • chassepot — [ ʃaspo ] n. m. • 1866; nom de l inventeur ♦ Fusil de guerre à aiguille utilisé par l armée française de 1866 à 1874. ● chassepot nom masculin (de Chassepot, nom propre) Fusil à aiguille en service dans l armée française de 1867 à 1874. Synonyme… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Chassepot — modèle 1866 Fusil Chassepot Antoine Alphonse Chassepot (* 4. März 1833 in Mutzig, Frankreich; † …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Chassepot — Chasse pot , n. [From the French inventor, A. A. Chassepot.] (Mil.) A kind of breechloading, center fire rifle, or improved needle gun. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Chassepot — bolt action breechloading rifle used by French forces in the Franco Prussian War, 1870, named for French inventor Antonine Alphonse Chassepot (1833 1905) …   Etymology dictionary

  • chassepot — [shas pō′] n. [after A. A. Chassepot (1833 1905), Fr inventor] a breech loading rifle used by the French army between 1866 and 1874 …   English World dictionary

  • Chassepot — (spr. schass po), Antoine Alphonse, Erfinder, geb. 4. März 1833, legte als Beamter der Waffenfabrik St. Thomas in Paris, in der er vorher Arbeiter war, 1863 das Modell eines Hinterladegewehrs vor. Dieses, später nach Vorbild des Zündnadelgewehrs… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Chassepot — Chassepot, Antoine Alphonse …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Chassepot — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Patronymes Antoine Alphonse Chassepot (1833 1905) armurier et créateur du fusil du même nom. Victor Chassepot : pseudonyme utilisé par André Gide… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • chassepot — chas·se·pot s.m.inv. ES fr. {{wmetafile0}} TS arm. antico fucile a retrocarica, usato per la prima volta dai Francesi nella battaglia di Mentana contro i Garibaldini {{line}} {{/line}} DATA: 1892. ETIMO: da Chassepot, nome dell inventore A.A.… …   Dizionario italiano

  • chassepot — noun Etymology: French, from Antoine A. Chassepot died 1905 French inventor Date: 1869 a bolt action rifle firing a paper cartridge …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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