Johann Nicholas Von Dreyse

Dreyse worked from 1809 to 1814 in the Parisian gun factory of Jean-Samuel Pauly , a Swiss who designed several experimental Breech-loading military rifles. Returning to Sömmerda, he in 1824 founded a company to manufacture Percussion Cap s. It was there that he designed the needle rifle.

While the gun is thought of by some to be the first Bolt-action Rifle , in reality, this rifle bears very little semblance to modern bolt-action rifles, but was distinct for its time.

It was used by the Prussians in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. By this time, the gun was fast becoming obsolete, and was outclassed by the French '' Chassepot ''. Many other designs of bolt action rifles had emerged, and many countries had standardized on their own versions (the British notably had a contest with over a hundred different prototype weapons).

There remains some ambiguity about the activities of von Dreyse after he created the needle-gun, as he seems to have dropped the "Johann" part of his name and was known as ''Nikolaus von Dreyse''.

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Johann Nicholas Von Dreyse