Everything about Breech-loading Rifle totally explained
A
breech-loading weapon is a
firearm (a
rifle, a
gun etc.) in which the
bullet or
shell is inserted or loaded at the rear of the
barrel, or breech; the opposite of
muzzle-loading.
Modern
mass production firearms are breech-loading (though
mortars are generally all muzzle-loaded). Early firearms were almost entirely muzzle-loading. The main advantage of breech-loading is a reduction in reloading time; it's much quicker to load the projectile and charge into the breech than to force them down a long tube, especially when the tube has spiral ridges from
rifling. In field artillery, breech loading allows the crew to reload the muzzle without exposing themselves to enemy fire, and it allows turrets and emplacements to be smaller.
History
Although breech-loading weapons were developed as far back as the late 14th century in
Burgundy, the 1400's in
Spain and
Portugal, and the 1500's in
England and
China, breech-loading became more successful with improvements in precision engineering and
machining in the
19th century.
Patrick Ferguson, a
British Army officer, developed in
1772 the
Ferguson rifle, a breech-loading flintlock weapon. Roughly two hundred of the rifles were manufactured and used in the
Battle of Brandywine, during the
American Revolutionary War, but shortly after they were retired and replaced with the standard
Brown Bess musket.
Later on into the mid 1800s there were attempts in Europe at an effective breech-loader. There were concentrated attempts at improved cartridges and methods of ignition. The low-powered copper
Flobert cartridge was invented in
1836, as was the
pinfire cartridge (
Lefaucheux), although this required fixative work by
Houiller in
1846 to produce a workable cartridge.
Rimfire cartridge (1850s).
Centrefire cartridge (Pottet, 1857. Berdan or Boxer priming). See
Cartridge.
The
Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr or
Dreyse needle gun, was a single-shot breech-loader
rifle using a
rotating bolt to seal the breech. It was so called because of its .5-inch needle-like firing pin which passed through a
paper cartridge case to impact a
percussion cap at the bullet base. It began development in the 1830s under
Dreyse and eventually an improved version of it was adopted by
Prussia in the late 1840s. The paper cartridge and the gun had numerous deficiencies; specifically, serious problems with gas leaking. However, the rifle was used to great success in the Prussian army causing much interest in Europe for breech loaders.
During the
American Civil War many breech loaders would be fielded. The
Sharps rifle used a successful dropping block design. The
Greene Rifle used rotating bolt-action, and was fed from the breech. The
Spencer, which used lever-actuated bolt-action, was fed from a 6-round detachable
tube magazine. The
Henry rifles and
Volcanic rifles used rimfire metallic cartridges fed from a tube magazine under the barrel. These held a significant advantage over muzzle-loaders. The improvements in breech-loaders had spelled the end of muzzle-loaders. To make use of the enormous number of war surplus muzzle-loaders, the Allin conversion Springfield was adopted in 1866. General Burnside invented a breech-loading rifle before the war.
The French adopted the new
Chassepot rifle in 1866, which was much improved over the Needle gun as it had dramatically fewer gas leaks. The British initially took the existing Enfield and fitted it with a
Snider breech-action (solid block, hinged parallel to the barrel) firing the
Boxer cartridge. Following a competitive examination of 104 guns in 1866, the British decided to adopt the
Peabody derived
Martini-Henry with trap-door loading, adopted in 1871.
Single-shot breech-loaders would be used throughout the latter half of 19th century, but they were slowly replaced by various designs for
repeating rifles, first used – and heavily – in the American Civil War. Manual breach-loaders gave way to manual magazine feed and then to
self-loading rifles.
Further Information
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