Development of Power in the Modern Military Rifle

Abstract

In 1842, a large part of the Prussian Infantry was armed with the Needle Gun, which may properly be termed the original of the modern military rifle. Its existence was, of course, known to the military world but failed to disturb the equanimity of those using the old muzzle-loading system. The new rifle was criticized because it permitted the escape of gas at the breech; and it allowed the soldier to waste his ammunition, - the latter, especially, being looked upon as a fatal defect. For more than twenty years, the soundness of these criticisms was scarcely questioned and individual enterprise was mainly directed towards an improvement in the bullet, whereby certainty and sufficiency of rotation could be given it, and excessive fouling of the bore prevented.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1887
Accession Number
AD1130743

Entities

People

  • Beverly W. Dunn

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Ammunition
  • Army
  • Ballistics
  • Breech Mechanisms
  • Cartridge Cases
  • Civil War
  • Combustion
  • Explosives
  • Exterior Ballistics
  • Fires
  • Guns
  • Materials
  • Munitions
  • Projectiles
  • Rifles
  • Small Arms
  • Trajectories
  • United States
  • War
  • Weapons

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Educational Psychology
  • Marksmanship and Weaponry.