'/%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=small}
While in modern times wars have become increasingly devastating in terms of human life, it is particularly interesting to delve back into historical writings to see how things unfolded during a given period, and thus observe the evolution of military and industrial practices… among other things. For the first article in this series on the Chassepot rifle, we will immerse ourselves in the period around 1869 and study a section of a book from that era. A second article, to be published at a later date, will provide us with figures regarding the Chassepot Model 1866 rifle. In the conclusion of these articles, we will see whether any lessons can be drawn from the elements brought together.
The second article is available here : The rifle mle 1866 Chassepot 2/2
The Chassepot Model 1866 rifle
To present this weapon, we will use a section of a book in which I have carefully bolded the passages that I find significant. This book is titled: Les merveilles de la science : ou description populaire des inventions modernes by Louis Figuier (Volume 3 – 1869).
Transcription of the book :
The Chassepot rifle – its effects – transformation of our old Snider-style tabatière rifles
The Bohemian Campaign and Prussia’s victories on the battlefield of Sadowa in 1866 demonstrated, with striking clarity, the merits of the Prussian rifle. Following these events, and in light of these results, European nations that had overlooked the needle gun with little attention were forced to cast aside their indifference and adopt the new weapon. In France, as elsewhere, there was a rush to replace old percussion rifles with the needle gun. However, the Prussian rifle was open to various criticisms. A commission formed at the Ministry of War in 1866 studied the modifications that could be made to this system, and from its studies came the adoption of an irreproachable needle gun model, proposed by Mr. Chassepot.
It is this rifle, officially designated under the 1866 weapon classification, that we are going to describe. The preceding details, which contain the explanation of the Prussian rifle’s design principles, will allow us to greatly shorten the description of the new French weapon.
The parts that make up the Chassepot rifle are simpler and less delicate than those of the Prussian rifle. The hammer is of sufficient size. It offers a firm grip due to the knurling on its thumbpiece. Furthermore, to prevent the hammer from being strained by the pressure exerted when cocking it, it has been fitted with a roller to facilitate smooth sliding. By pulling back the hammer, to which part of the sleeve containing the needle spring is attached, the rifle is cocked.
To open the chamber, the bolt is pulled back using the handle; the cartridge is placed into the cavity designed to receive it, in front of a steel disc with a smaller radius than that of the chamber. Below this disc is a small rubber cylinder that exactly fills the chamber’s diameter. This cylinder is more vulcanized on the edges than in the middle, so that under the influence of gas pressure, the central part of the rubber yields, preventing vapors from escaping through the joints between the breechblock and the barrel. The recoil is moderate.
To close the weapon, the handle is pushed back to its original position, then turned down to the side. The first of these movements drives the cartridge into the barrel; the second locks the bolt in place by positioning a protruding part of the handle into a notch. By pulling the trigger, the sear releases the needle spring, which strikes the percussion cap, and the hammer is returned to its original position after the shot.
The cartridge is made of thin paper and reinforced by a silk gauze envelope; it thus possesses the two essential qualities of any good cartridge, namely lightness and strength. An invaluable advantage is that it is completely consumed by the combustion of the powder. The percussion cap is fixed to the lower base of the cartridge, with its opening facing the needle. In this regard, it differs from the Prussian rifle cartridge, in which the needle must pass through the entire powder charge to strike the priming cap. We have explained at some length the advantages of initiating ignition at the top of the cartridge rather than at the bottom, as is standard practice. However, this arrangement required using a needle twice as long and consequently more fragile. This is what led France to decide against placing the cap at the top of the cartridge. The theoretical advantages of that ignition method enumerated above apparently could not outweigh the drawback of an excessively long needle. When the needle strikes the fulminate, the flame is communicated to the powder through two small holes pierced in the bottom of the primer cup.
The French cartridge is costly, and its manufacturing requires meticulous precautions; however, it functions admirably.
After these preliminary explanations, the two figures representing the mechanism of the Chassepot rifle will be better understood, along with the legends explaining the function of its various components. Figure 373 shows the rifle open for loading; Figure 375 shows the weapon at the exact moment the needle strikes the percussion cap.
The Chassepot rifle is far superior to the Dreyse rifle; it does not feature the complexity of the Prussian weapon, its movements are fewer, and loading is quick and easy. Since the needle is retracted into its sleeve during loading and can only emerge at the moment of firing, any accidental explosion of the cartridge during loading is rendered impossible. There is no longer any gas leakage or fouling, which previously contributed significantly to decreasing the rate of fire.
The Chassepot rifle is shorter than our former standard-issue service rifle; it weighs only 3 kilograms and carries a sword bayonet that is lighter than the old model. Its form is elegant and satisfies our soldiers’ pride. The barrel, which has an 11mm caliber, features 4 helical rifling grooves. Thanks to the complete absence of gas escape, these grooves retain their full effect, making the weapon a true rifle.
Marshal Niel addressed an highly interesting report to the Emperor on the results of firing trials with the new rifle. According to this report, the Chassepot rifle can fire 14 rounds per minute without aiming, and 10 rounds per minute when aiming. It is accurate up to 1,000 meters, reaching further with more certainty than the old rifle did at 400 meters. At this massive distance, a somewhat experienced soldier can put 24 out of 100 bullets into a target. An army of 20,000 men, equipped with this destructive machine, could fire 280,000 rounds per minute and strike down 56,000 enemies, if battlefield firing were as accurate as target practice.
With this prodigious weapon, victory and defeat can be decided in a matter of minutes. About twenty rolling volleys will end a battle. Armies will engage at a distance of a quarter-league, barely seeing one another. Before they can even close the distance, the new rifles will have done their work of extermination: the enemy, terrified and decimated, will be put to flight. Thus, even artillery is surpassed, and the soldiers, it can be said, hold lightning in their hands.
Marshal Niel’s report, upon which these astonishing conclusions are based, is of great importance to the matter at hand. We therefore feel it our duty to place most of this document before our readers’ eyes. In questions of this nature, figures and precise results alone shape opinion; it is therefore the figures that must be emphasized.
The purpose of Marshal Niel’s report to the Emperor is to summarize the overall results obtained since the transformation of our armament became an accomplished fact. After a few words of introduction, the author of the report expresses himself in these terms:
“Commenced in the month of September 1866, but as a trial, by the battalion of Chasseurs à Pied of the Imperial Guard designated to proceed with the first experiments, the actual issuing of the new rifle to the Guard regiments only truly dates from the end of March 1867.”
“Successively extended to the various infantry regiments of the Line as manufacturing progressed, this considerable operation was completed in April 1868, that is to say, within a span of time not exceeding a single year. However recent the introduction of the new rifle may still be—especially for many infantry regiments of the Line—the trials already conducted nevertheless allow us, as of now, to settle opinion on its real value as a weapon of war.”
“Its official effective range is 1,000 meters and can easily reach 1,100 meters. The projectile, driven by a muzzle velocity of 410 meters per second, travels along a trajectory flat enough that, at a distance of 230 meters, it rises no more than 0.5 meters above the line of sight—a flatness which constitutes one of the most favorable conditions for firing efficiency.”
“As a result of the simplicity and promptness of loading, which a man can execute with equal ease in all positions—kneeling, sitting, lying down, as well as standing—soldiers manage to fire 7, 8, and even 10 rounds per minute when aiming, and up to 14 rounds without aiming.”
“It is worth recalling here that for the former infantry rifle, the maximum effective range never exceeded 600 meters, with a muzzle velocity of only 234 meters per second; furthermore, under the normal conditions of regular firing, a well-trained soldier could barely fire more than two rounds per minute with a weapon whose muzzle-loading design, only permitting execution in a standing position, forced him to expose himself under all circumstances.”
“Thus: a considerable increase—nearly double the former standard—in effective range, a one-third increase in projectile velocity, and a much greater flatness of the trajectory; these, combined with a previously unknown rapidity of fire, are the essential qualities immediately revealed by the practical use of the 1866 rifle.”
“From the standpoint of accuracy, its advantages are no less satisfying. I have carefully compiled the records of the target practice sessions held across the various regiments since they came into possession of the new rifle.”
“As the armament could not be distributed to all army regiments at the same time, this part of the instruction—the progress of which is necessarily proportional to the time elapsed since the weapon was put into service—has, in a sense, only just begun for a fairly large number of infantry regiments of the Line. And yet, from the very beginning, the first reported results are already significantly superior to those obtained with the old rifled musket, which the men knew well and had practiced with for a long time. As for the results achieved by the Guard regiments, and especially by the battalion of Chasseurs à Pied—the regiment which, due to receiving its armament first, has had the most time to devote to these exercises—their rapid progress bears witness to the ease with which the men become familiar with their weapon, as well as to its great accuracy. The following table, indicating the average number of hits out of 100 placed on the target at various distances—first with the old rifle, then with the new—for each of the troop categories corresponding to the successive periods of armament, presents highly interesting comparisons in this regard, the details of which I request Your Majesty’s permission to lay before your eyes.”
“As of today, if we take the general average obtained with the Model 1866 rifle, it is easy to appreciate how much this weapon surpasses the old rifled musket in accuracy at the standard distances of 200, 400, and 600 meters.”
“At long ranges, specifically ,1,000 meters, the effective results exceed the average effect produced by the latter at 400 meters, and reach double those previously obtained at 600 meters, which was the extreme limit of the effective range for the firing of that time.”
“These results themselves are not yet the definitive expression of the new rifle’s capabilities. When the regiments that have recently been armed have had the time to complete their training, there is no doubt that the firing average of the infantry regiments of the Line will quickly rise, as it did for those of the Guard, by a large margin. Several drawbacks arising from various causes—mostly inherent to detailed defects in manufacturing, and for which remedies were promptly provided—manifested themselves during the trials and at the beginning of its introduction into service within the regiments.”
“These drawbacks—greatly exaggerated at first, and in all cases made more noticeable by our soldiers’ lack of familiarity in handling a weapon entirely new to them—consisted of broken needles and movable bolt heads, gas escaping, cracked wood, and misfires with both ball and, especially, blank cartridges.”
“None of these accidents present any serious severity today. By becoming familiar with their rifle, the men easily and in a very short time learn to avoid these issues on their own, which now scarcely occur except in newly armed regiments.”
“.The breaking of needles and movable bolt heads, which was quite frequent during the trial period, resulted from defective hardening and insufficient tempering. This was remedied by modifying the manufacturing process accordingly, and the average number of needles replaced in the regiments is now very low; it is lower than the breakage rate of nipples in the old percussion muskets, and furthermore, many of these accidents must be attributed much more to the clumsiness of certain men than to a defect in the weapon’s mechanism.”
“Moreover, replacing a broken needle under fire is an extremely simple operation, in which the soldiers are trained and which they perform on the spot with the utmost speed.“
“Gas leaks, when caused by a manufacturing defect in the weapon, are extremely rare; they are remedied by changing the receiver or the bolt cylinder. The same issue can be occasioned by defective washers; nothing is simpler than changing these washers.”
“Finally, under the influence of dropping temperatures, gas leaks have sometimes been observed, but only during quite severe cold, which deprives the obturator of its efficiency. Experience has shown that, in this case, gas escapes almost always disappear after the first shot is fired, as the obturator resumes its normal shape under the action of the heat generated by the ignition of the charge. These gas escapes, moreover, though perhaps liable to inconvenience the shooter, do not appear to be of a nature to injure him.”
“Some stocks have cracked due to a defective bedding; this flaw is currently avoided in production. By means of a minor repair, the cracked stocks remain fit for good service within the regiments.”
“The first cartridges used were slightly undersized; under the strike of the needle, they slipped forward, resulting in misfires whose numbers initially appeared rather high. These effects were particularly noticeable with blank cartridges, which were not held in place by the projectile like ball cartridges. This has been remedied by slightly lengthening both ball and blank cartridges, and by faintly increasing the diameter of the blank cartridge.”
“Coil springs that are too weak also cause misfires, which are avoided by employing stronger springs. Their replacement is executed with the greatest ease.”
“Despite some minor imperfections in details, unavoidable in the early stages of any new system, our overall armament is excellent. All regiments have welcomed it with the keenest sense of satisfaction.”
“The new rifle, being lighter than the old one and graceful in form, pleases the soldier; full of confidence in his weapon, he loves it, surrounds it with the most particular care—a very striking mark of preference that proves once more how, with their intelligent perspicacity, our soldiers spontaneously grasp and appreciate what is truly good and useful.”
“The Model 1866 rifle is easy to handle; its mechanism is simple and convenient, its maintenance easy. It requires only a very brief instruction to become familiar to the men, who assemble and disassemble it without difficulty, and quickly learn to replace the movable parts with which they are provided, such as the washers, the needle, the movable bolt head, and the coil spring. In a very short time, the least skillful soldier can be initiated into the operation of the entire system.”
“The experiments conducted with the greatest care last year at the Camp of Châlons, and then in Italy by the troops of the expeditionary force, under the most diverse and often least favorable climatic circumstances, have provided proof that, despite a somewhat delicate appearance, the new rifle fulfilled the best conditions to meet all the necessities of field service.”
“Studied from every standpoint, the rifle with which the French infantry has just been equipped combines, to the highest degree, an incomparable accuracy and rapidity of fire with qualities that must secure it the prime rank among the weapons of war in use today.”
End of citation from Marshal Niel’s report.
While pushing forward the manufacturing of Chassepot rifles with great activity, the French government was considering how to utilize the old service rifles that filled our arsenals. As converting these old rifles into Chassepot rifles was impossible to achieve due to the excessive expense it would have required, a search was made among the various known breech-loading weapon systems for the one that would lend itself most economically to a conversion into a breech-loading rifle. The choice fell upon a combination of two systems of English origin, the Enfield and Snider rifles.
End of transcription.
This article requires further development and study, the second article is available here : The rifle mle 1866 Chassepot 2/2
