Breechloader

Breechloader, any firearm, great or small, the charge of which is admitted into the barrel at the rear and not at the forward end. The majority of modern rifles, sporting guns, machine-guns, quick-firing guns, and heavy guns are breechloaders. Breechloaders are not a modern invention. The British Government possesses a breech-loading forged iron patararo of about 1470, which is of about 2-1/2in. calibre, and weighs 125 lbs.; and Lord Nelson possessed a breechloading pistol. The first breechloading rifle introduced to the British service was the Snider, which was adopted in 1864; but the German army had used a breechloader, the famous needle gun, the invention of Dreyse in 1829, since 1848, and certain troops were armed with it as early as 1841. Heavy breechloading guns did not come into favour until after the Crimean war.