Metallic cartridge (rimfire and centrefire)
Cartucho metálico (fuego anular y central)
- Date
- 1846-1866 · confidence medium
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Casimir Lefaucheux (pinfire, 1836); Louis-Nicolas Flobert (rimfire, 1845-1846); Clément Pottet and François Schneider (centrefire, 1855-1858); Berdan and Boxer (1866)
- People
- 👤 Jean Samuel Pauly1766–1821
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A metal case that brought together bullet, powder and primer in a sealed unit which also sealed the chamber on firing (obturation). It made breech-loading and repeating firearms practical.
A collective Franco-British-American development: Lefaucheux, Flobert, Houllier, Pottet, Schneider in Paris; Berdan (United States) and Boxer (United Kingdom) fixed the centrefire primer design in 1866.
What it led to
- Repeating firearms (the Spencer, the Henry, the Winchester)
- Mass-produced ammunition and industrial military logistics
- Machine guns
- Hunting and sport shooting with commercial cartridges
Built on
- Percussion cap and priming1807 (cápsula c. 1814-1822)
- Bolt-action breech-loading rifle (Dreyse needle gun)1836-1841
- Percussion cap
- Paper cartridge
- Drawn brass (precision rolling)
Made possible
- Lever-action repeating rifle (Henry and Spencer)1860
- Gatling gun1861-1862
- Maxim machine gun1884
- Semi-automatic pistol (Borchardt C-93)1893
- Magazine bolt-action rifle (Mauser 98)1893-1898
- Winchester repeating rifle
- Smith & Wesson revolver
- Mauser rifle