Chassepot

Chassepot, Antoine Alphonse, who was bprn in 1833, was at first a workman in the small arms factory at St. Thomas, near Paris, but greatly improved his position in consequence of his successful efforts to develop the principle of Dreyse's needle-gun. His rifle, known as the Chassepot, and now superseded by the Lebel type, was adopted by the French army in 1866. Its weight was 8 lb. 14 oz. 13 dr.; its calibre, -.433 inch; the weight of its cartridge, 578.4 grains; the weight of its bullet, 370.4 grains; and the weight of its charge of powder, 84.8 grains. It was rifled with four grooves. M. Chassepot died in 1886.