The Tabatière rifle was a breech-loading rifle of the French Army.
The Tabatière system was developed from 1864 as a way to convert numerous muzzle-loading weapons (usually Minié rifles) into breech-loading ones, in a process similar to that of the Snider-Enfield in Great Britain, Wänzl rifle in Austria, and the Springfield Model 1866 in the United States. The name "Tabatière" comes from the fact that the breech-loading mechanism looked like a snuff box.
Most of the conversion work had been accomplished by the time of the Franco-Prussian War. By July 1870, roughly 358,000 rifles had been converted, while 1.4 million muzzleloaders stayed in their original configuration.
The ammunition was a center fire cartridge closely resembling a shortened 12 gauge shotgun shell. This weapon system was recognized as ballistically inferior to the Chassepot rifle, therefore it was used by second line troops and in defensive roles.
These are commonly encountered today as "Zulu Guns", after rifles were converted into shotguns and sold cheaply in the late 1800s.
Models
- Tabatière rifle model 1867.
Users
- Argentina: Acquired small amounts during the Paraguayan war. A number were imported from Germany and France by Buenos Aires in 1/6/1800 along with 500.000 cartridges. Those rifles were shipped without bayonets, and were adapted to use old muzzleloader bayonets.
- France
Conflicts
- Paraguayan War (limited use)
- Argentine Civil Wars
- Franco-Prussian War
Notes
- ^ Stephen Shann French Army 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War (2), p. 38
- "Namslauer Stadtblatt. Zeitschrift für Tagesgeschichte" (PDF). bibliotekacyfrowa.pl (in German). Retrieved 18 April 2023.
- Stephen Shann French Army 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War (2), p. 45
- ^ Esposito, Gabriele, The Paraguayan War 1864–70: Osprey Publishing (2019)
- ^ "Unidades y armas durante el sitio de Buenos Aires de 1880" (PDF).
Preceded byMinié rifle | French Army rifle 1864–1870 |
Succeeded byChassepot |
French weapons of the 19th century | ||
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Small arms | ||
Machine guns | ||
Cannons | ||
Warships | ||
Ammunition | ||
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Operational usage |