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CHASSEPOT

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 957 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHASSEPOT , officially " fusil modele 1866," a military See also:

breech-loading See also:rifle, famous as the See also:arm of the See also:French forces in the Franco-See also:German See also:War of 1870-71. It was so called after its inventor, See also:Antoine See also:Alphonse Chassepot (1833-1905), who, from 1857 on-wards, had constructed various experimental forms of breech-loader, and it became the French service weapon in 1866. In the following See also:year it made its first See also:appearance on the battlefield at Mentana (See also:November 3rd, 1867), where it inflicted severe losses upon See also:Garibaldi's troops. In the war of 1870 it proved very greatly See also:superior to the German See also:needle-See also:gun. The breech was closed by a See also:bolt very similar to those of more See also:modern rifles, and amongst the technical features of See also:interest were the method of obturation, which was similar in principle to the de Bange obturator for heavy guns (see See also:ORDNANCE), and the retention of the See also:paper See also:cartridge. The See also:principal details of the chassepot are:—weight of rifle, 9 lb 5 oz.; length with See also:bayonet, 6 ft. 2 in.; calibre, •433 in.; See also:weight of See also:bullet (See also:lead), 386 grains; weight of See also:charge (See also:black See also:powder), 86.4 grains; muzzle velocity, 1328 f.s.; sighted to 1312 yds. (1200 M.). The chassepot was replaced in 1874 by the Gras rifle, which had a See also:metal cartridge, and all rifles of the older See also:model remaining in See also:store were converted to take the same See also:ammunition (fusil modele 1866/74) .

End of Article: CHASSEPOT

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