I Have This Old Gun: Chassepot Rifle

[@felixthecat265]

The Chassepot (and the Dreyse!) DO NOT use "combustible cartridges". The paper in the cartridge does not burn. It is blown out of the barrel along with the primer by a bubble of high pressure gas created behind the nozzle on the bolt head. There is a specific reason that needle guns require you to cock the gun before allowing the bolt to open. In a needle gun, the needle penetrates the primer rather than striking it. This is actually a more reliable method of initiating explosives however if there is a misfire, you end up with the needle stuck in the primer. Opening the breech without withdrawing the needle would cause the needle to be pulled back through the primer, potentially causing ignition in an unlocked breech! Metallic ammunition did in fact exist when the Chassepot was adopted, however the French authorities ( allegedly Napoleon III himself) did not want to be dependent on factory made ammunition. France had widely dispersed colonial forces and they wanted to retain the ability to make ammunition locally by hand.

[@laurentdevaux5617]

Yes, metallic munitions already existed then, and even since quite a long time. As such, our Imperial Navy used the model 1858 Lefaucheux revolver, firing a pinfire, full copper casing metallic cartridge. If I'm not wrong it was the first revolver of this kind ever adopted by an army. We also had quite a few converted old percussion muskets using the "snuffbox" system, but only the rear part of the cartridge was made of copper, the rest being made of cardboard, and the caliber was still the huge original 18mm. In fact, the first metallic cartridge rifle the French army used was the Egyptian Rolling Block our National Defense Government bought in big numbers after the fall of the Empire in september 1870, as our army needed rifles since many had been captured by the Germans as it has been said. A very fine rifle, much appreciated and that would probably had been adopted sooner or later by the French army, as Napoléon IlI noticed its qualities during the Paris 1867 World Expo and recommended its adoption. But at that time, the scale production of the Chassepot had been fully launched... And as you said, the design of the Chassepot's paper cartridge (which we don't see here, I don't know why... You can still rather easily find original ones, at least here in France for something like 20-30 euros) was easy to make nearly everywhere, even in a small family workshop. The fate made us finally using the Rolling Block, but not as the Emperor intended it...

[@Fuerwahrhalunke]

I love the Chassepot. Defnititely one of my favorite possessions. This gun is pushing the law in Germany, where we can only own guns that were manufactured or ressemble a gun that was manufactured up until the 1st of January, 1871. My Chassepot has been built in 1870 and got it's repair in 1876. This is basically the last gun we are legally allowed to own here without a permit. 🙂

[@dominic6634]

My condolences on you situation. Move to the U.S we love Germans!

[@ErichKartmann]

Yeah come to Merica you’ll get freedom to own auto weapons 🙌🏻 and even a tank depending what state you land in

[@ChodaStanks]

My favorite rifle of that era and also fun to make ammo and shoot with. I have three of these

[@ArijitDey-k1m]

❤❤

[@ChodaStanks]

Yep and the paper cartridge IS NOT combustible. The paper usually flies out after you shoot

[@inspiredme7030]

What kind of grief you give the french

[@nexxus2614]

🏳🏳🏳

[@arilieberman3547]

The French had a superior rifle in the Franco-Prussian war but lost regardless. Better weapons is no substitute for better tactics, commanders and logistics, qualities possessed by the Prussians but largely lacking among the French

[@ChodaStanks]

Prussias breech loading Krupp cannon also had alot to do with it. After Prussia realized their advantage, the French infantry couldnt get close enough to use the Chassepot because of the Krupp cannon. French cannons were silenced easily because they were outranged and Prussia artillery owned the battles

[@alexbulow7121]

NRA Pub … they called for Legion Érrangère was by then, and still is, France’s prémiere élite troops in the oldest sense of the word. The right troops, the right tactics, and the right weapons, incl. the right strategic deployment wins hands-down.

[@alexbulow7121]

@@ChodaStanksI wonder why the French did not deploy men to infiltrate the Prussian artillery positions, thus eliminating the artillery, and their respectice gunners etc.

[@m1812Z]

​@@alexbulow7121 Because the Prussians had hundreds of guns and France didn't have some sort of corps of infiltrators ready to go. These kinds of spec ops tactics didn't show up until later. Plus, t he fact is that war is waged, won and lost, on the industrial scale, and nothing can make up for having such significantly inferior artillery. The Prussian cannons were often outranging the French cannons by 50-100%.

[@arnoldpinguin2982]

the problem with these kind of videos is that they say stuff without explanation.