Breech-loading weapon

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Image:Interrupted breech screw.jpg A breech-loading weapon, usually a gun or cannon, is one where the bullet or shell is inserted or loaded into the gun at the rear of the barrel, or breech; the opposite of muzzle-loading.

Modern mass production firearms are breech-loading (though mortars are generally all muzzle-loaded). Early firearms were almost entirely muzzle-loading. The main advantage of breech-loading is a reduction in reloading time; it is much quicker to load the projectile and charge into the breech than to force them down a long tube, especially when the tube has spiral ridges from rifling. In field artillery, breech loading allows the crew to reload the muzzle without exposing themselves to enemy fire, and it allows turrets and emplacements to be smaller. Breech-loading became more successful with improvements in precision engineering and machining in the 19th century.

The first successful breech-loader, or at least the first patented one, and the first one adopted for use as a military service arm, was patented by John H. Hall and William Thornton in 1811. The design went on trials by the US Department of War (as it was then called) during the 1810s, which lead to its adoption and production during the 1820s. It was among the first firearms to have interchangeable parts as well. The key was finely-crafted components which kept gas leaks to a minimum. Hall types were originally flintlock, but later types were made with caplock. The Hall types worked fairly well, but were expensive, so muzzle-loaders remained common. In all, over 20,000 were made.

Later on into the mid 1800s there were attempts in Europe at an effective breech-loader. There were concentrated attempts at improved cartridges and methods of ignition. The low-powered copper Flobert cartridge was invented in 1836, as was the pinfire cartridge (Lefaucheux), although this required fixative work by Houiller in 1846 to produce a workable cartridge. Rimfire cartridge (1850s). Centrefire cartridge (Pottet, 1857. Berdan or Boxer priming). See Cartridge.

The Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr or Dreyse needle gun, was a single-shot breech-loader rifle using a rotating bolt to seal the breech. It was so called because of its .5-inch needle-like firing pin which passed through a paper cartridge case to impact a percussion cap at the bullet base. It began development in the 1830s under Dreyse and eventually an improved version of it was adopted by Prussia in the late 1840s. The paper cartridge and the gun had numerous deficiencies; specifically, serious problems with gas leaking. However, the rifle was used to great success in the Prussian army causing much interest in Europe for breech loaders.

During the American Civil War many breech loaders would be fielded. The Greene Rifle used rotating bolt-action, and was fed from the breech. The Spencer, which used lever-actuated bolt-action, was fed from a 6-round detachable tube magazine. The Henry rifles and Volcanic rifles used rimfire metallic cartridges fed from a tube magazine under the barrel. These held a significant advantage over muzzle-loaders. The improvements in breech-loaders had spelled the end of muzzle-loaders. To make use of the enormous number of war surplus muzzle-loaders, the Allin conversion Springfield was adopted in 1866.

The French adopted the new Chassepot rifle in 1866, which was much improved over the Needle gun as it had dramatically fewer gas leaks. The British initially took the existing Enfield and fitted it with a Snider breech-action (solid block, hinged parallel to the barrel) firing the Boxer cartridge. Following a competitive examination of 104 guns in 1866, the British decided to adopt the Peabody derived Martini-Henry with trap-door loading, adopted in 1871.

Single-shot breech-loaders would be used throughout the latter half of 19th century, but they were slowly replaced by various designs for repeating rifles, first used – and heavily – in the American Civil War. Manual breach-loaders gave way to manual magazine feed and then to self-loading rifles.de:Hinterlader nl:Achterlader sv:Bakladdare