Rifles of France

The Chassepot (pronounced ; ), officially known as '''''', was a bolt-action military breechloading rifle. It is famous for having been the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. It replaced an assortment of muzzleloading Minié rifles, many of which were converted in 1864 to breech loading (the Tabatière rifles). An improvement to existing military rifles in 1866, the Chassepot marked the commencement of the era of modern bolt action, breech-loading military rifles. The fucil Gras modèle 1874 was an officially adopted successor to the Chassepot. Although based on and

19th century French service rifle

French breech-loading rifle

type of black-powder, muzzle-loading rifle invented by Louis-Etienne de Thouvenin