One of the most cutting edge pieces of weaponry that modernized warfare, the French Chassepot was the best rifle created by any army. Unfortunately, I couldn't save the French from the Prussians who used the short ranged Dreyse Rifle. How unfortunate. I still like the weapon though.
DeLax Supreme The Last Samurai movie is inaccurate because in the movie the Imperials were using muzzle-loaders. When in real life they were using more advanced rifles like these.
The leftover burnt powder and unburnt paper bits form a layer of grime on the parts and it makes the bolt stick where tolerances are tight. You would most likely be able to shoot 20 shots before having to clean it based on the videos on the Forgotten Weapons channel. Apparently most skirmishes used under 20 shots per rifle, so there is almost no worry about having to clean your rifle in the depths of battle.
+skintrade also used in ww2 by Greek army as i know.They were used between 1940-1941/2.Thing they were using this rifle versus the german karabiner 98k aka kar98 :/ !!
+skintrade I would think they would have been the later conversions of the Chassepot to metallic cartridge in 11mm Gras, not the original needle fire. However, I'm no expert in French military arms... Almost anything is possible in wartime.
Anyone Hear of ROBLOX Well I own a Group Called Army of Imperial Croatia Which has 1000 Member And we have a Fort Which Uses the Needle Rifle I wanted to know more about it so I can edit it.
rifleman If it had been produced and adopted in the 1840s like its Prussian counterpart it would have been. But by 1866 when it was adopted, breech loading and repeating weapons using metallic cartridges had been in use for several years(like the Spencer)or were being adopted and mass produced (the Allin/Wanzel, Snyder/Tabatierre conversions, Remington Rolling Block, etc.). In truth, after the fall of Napoleon III and his Empire, when the French were down to around a quarter million Chassepots to equip the 800,000 + men still willing to fight, many of these more advanced designs were bought and issued to replace muzzle loaders that the reserves were stuck with. And although they didn't have the mystique that the Chassepot had built up for itself and some like the Tabattiere conversions were too heavy and short ranged, most could load as fast as the Chassepot and had the advantage of sturdier water proof ammo.
Chassepot devastated the German infantry in every encounter where the Germans didn't have their artillery with them. It was far superior to the Dreyse rifle. German Artillery was on the other side far superior to the French one, and it won the war.
...the dude who invented the Gatling gun invented that gun to make the war be short to prevent further losses but it backfired and caused more carnage....
After all your effort, I hated to see that one cartridge dropped into the scrub when you began. I sure hope you found it before leaving. Easy to see why the rifle was significant in the evolution of warfare.
That sword bayonet tradition continue to exist through WWI and WWII. As you may already know, sabre were still used in WWI so sword bayonette wasn't that weird either. German's M1898 is gorgeous. In WWII it was still used but it's a lot rarer now.
@@MariusThePaladin It was useless in the battlefield unless it was close quarters combat for officers, its main reason was to show the officer's rank prety much for flexing
@@mustard4762 Close quarters combat wasn't really reserved for officers only. For example trench warfare and urban warfare. You wouldn't want to be caugth in the same room as a guy with a sword if all you have is a bolt action rifle without bayonet. You missed once and all you have to protect yourself against a sword is a glorified club. Also during WW1, before trenches, people still do open field battle napoleonic style with bolt action rifles. That leave some windows still for the cavalry to charge at a group of riflemen reloading/cocking their bolt. During WW2 some part of the world/some battlefield theatre like China still lack modern weaponry. Soldiers were still armed with swords,glaive and other close range weapons as a supplement to musketss or single shot rifles due to lack of options.
this could be my favorite gun of all time! really wish they implemented this system to the earlier revolvers. i hate having cap and load at the same time!
Saw a good chassepot for sale the other day, $800 au, sadly there's state by state disparities in Australian firearms laws so I would need a license buy it in the sale state but not in my home state.
Murphy, you're a jerk. This series of videos cost me $$$ last weekend. 1871 Ste. Etienne, all matched but cleaning rod, broken needle. Are you still shooting it? What happened to the accuracy testing you were going to do?
+rangerstl07 Yup, still shooting just havent gotten around to doing another video. Been wanting to pull it out again, but making needle cartridges is a lot of work! If your needle still protrudes you may be able to get it to fire.
I just got a Chassepot and in shooting, it is always more than 18 inches high at 50 meters. I have the rear sight flipped over to the lowest setting and the previous owner had the front sight raised. He was shooting at 100 meters and did well with it. I don’t have a place to shoot 100 meters at this time. Does yours shoot high? Have you figured out how to correct for it? Thanks
I'm about to buy my French needle rifle, and start making ammo for it. Do you think that dipping the paper sheets in the Borax saturated solution, then cutting the small rectangles and rolling the tubes might work?, it seems more easy than spraying the paper cases AFTER rolling them.. Very nice video and very nice rifle!
basically you can do it yourself. But there are full kits for the papercadrige for sale. i know a german onlinestore that sells them, there must be a couple in the US too
It is pity French didn't utilize this weapon better against Germans, not because their tactics sucked but because their imperial generals were morons. This powerful rifle inflicted carnage to Germans at Gravelotte-St Privaat and instead of making final push all that good work in defense amounted to nothing. French doctrine was bad, French Chassepot was magnificent. Without good leadership good rifle is not gonna save you.
+rangerstl07 French cannons were rifled, they had a range of about 3500 to 3800 meters. Krupp cannons had range of about 4500 meters and were better. But do not forget of all casualties Germans inflicted on French artillery did only 25% and rifles did 70-75%. As for French their rifles did 80% of German casualties. Read more about that transitional period, arty was not the real killer before invention of hydraulic brake and modern explosives. In Franco-German war artillery shells were filled still with black powder whose power was not sufficient to inflict greater casualties to modern troops with modern infantry tactics of loose skirmish line.
I have one of these Chassepot but the breech seal is missing. Any ideas on locating one? Or making one? I don't dare fire it without the seal. Thanks for any help you can offer
