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The Model 1866 Chassepot

The technological leap from muzzle-loading rifles to breech-loading rifles can be seen clearly in the Chassepot, of which a million and a half were eventually produced. Ian McCollum discusses it in this video.

The impact on warfare was enormous.

 

 

 

One reply on “The Model 1866 Chassepot”

I love Ian’s videos and did watch this one. Don’t believe this little factoid was included in it, though. The Chassepot was, at least in later Victorian times, very widely known even in non-military circles as the epitome of military rifles. Best example is that in the original text of the song “I am the very model of a modern Major General” in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance,” the hapless General Stanley extols his ignorance of things military by admitting he can’t tell “a Chassepot rifle from a javelin.” This is now usually changed to “Mauser rifle” for more modern audiences.

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