When was the needle gun invented

Unfortunately for the French, the Chassepot did not give them a decisive advantage in the face of Prussian organisation, tactics, and artillery — but it signalled the end of the line for the Dreyse gun. Following the French surrender in , the Prussians and their German allies with the exception of Bavaria were re-equipped with the Mauser Model 71, a bolt action rifle that fired 11mm cartridges and had a maximum range of 2, metres.

Like so many game-changing innovations, the Dreyse Needle Gun quickly became outmoded as competitors ironed out the creases in its design. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.

Loading Comments There was also a blank cartridge developed for the needle-gun. It was shorter and lighter than the live round, since it lacked the projectile, but was otherwise similar in construction and powder load. The needle-gun proved to have numerous defects. Its effective range was very short compared to that of the muzzle-loading rifles of the day, and conspicuously so as against the Chassepot. A significant amount of gas escaped at the breech when the rifle was fired with a paper cartridge , neutralizing the advantage gained from the novel front-ignited powder charge.

An improved model, giving greater muzzle velocity and increased speed in loading, was introduced later but soon replaced by the Mauser rifle. The breech would fail to close entirely after several shots due to the lack of an effective obturation seal.

This caused the gas escaping from the breech to burn the skin of the soldier. The placement of the primer directly behind the bullet meant the firing needle was enclosed in black powder when the gun was fired, causing stress to the pin, which would often break after as few as rounds had been fired and render the rifle useless until it could be replaced.

Soldiers were provided with two replacement needles for that purpose. Because the rifle used black powder, residue accumulated at the back of the barrel, making cleaning necessary after about 60—80 shots.

This was not a large problem because the individual soldier carried fewer cartridges than that and Dreyse created an "air chamber" by having a protruding needle tube the Chassepot also had this, but it was more likely to jam after fewer shots because of its smaller-diameter chamber.

The only contemporary rifle which it can be compared to is the Norwegian Kammerlader —the only other breech loader adopted for service in the s. Military Wiki Explore. The Dreyse Needle gun was first adopted in by the Prussian army as the " Leichtes Perkussionsgewehr Model " or Light Percussion rifle Model , to disguise the true nature of the weapon.

Mass-production proved a significant problem until the development of cast-iron gun barrels, with the Dreyse significantly outnumbered in service by the obsolete Potsdam musket for much of its early life, only seeing large-scale service after the Second Schleswig War of The Dreyse's first major conflict was the Austro-Prussian War in Austrian and German confederate states were equipped with muzzle loading Vereinsgewehr and Lorenz Rifles , which were offshoots of the Minie Rifle , firing the Minie Ball.

Though these rifles had an advantage in terms of range and muzzle velocity over the Dreyse, their low rate of fire average of shots per minute gave the Dreyse the advantage, able to fire 6 shots per minute.

The Dreyse also benefitted from allowing the user to lay on the ground when reloading, meaning less of the soldier was exposed during reloading and operation. This tactical advantage was another key feature of the Dreyse Needle gun and helped to develop a new method of fighting.

The Dreyse's success on the field helped Prussia to unify Germany by and led to the observation by some of "the needle-gun is king". In my business of dealing in collectible firearms I have been fortunate enough to be able to handle some really interesting collector pieces. Recently I briefly owned another rifle that most who have interest in firearms development will have heard about. The Dreyse Needle Gun. This rifle is considered to be the first breech loading system that utilized a completely self-contained cartridge.

That is the bullet, powder and ignition percussion cap is one item. The Dreyse cartridge propelled a. Up to this point most firearms had been muzzle loading and they used separate percussion caps. There had been several breech loading designs but they still relied on separate ignition. Its name comes from its 0. The Dreyse rifle was also the first breech-loading rifle to use the bolt action to open and close the chamber, executed by turning and pulling a bolt handle.

The gun was the invention of the gunsmith Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse , who, beginning in , had conducted multiple experiments, and in produced the complete needle-gun. The first types of needle-gun made by Dreyse were muzzle-loading, the novelty lying in the long needle driven by a coiled spring which fired the internal percussion cap on the base of the bullet.

It was his adoption of the bolt action breech loading principle combined with this igniter system which gave the gun its military potential, allowing the firer to reload in a prone position, and using a one-piece cartridge without a separate cap to be handled under stress. From onward the new weapon was gradually introduced into the Prussian service, then later into the military forces of many other German states, save for Austria.

The employment of the needle gun radically changed military tactics in the 19th Century. It saw battle in a few internal German conflicts throughout the s and saw its heaviest use in the Austro-Prussian War of