The basic rifle and its 
supporting cast of weapons 
experienced significant 
evolution throughout its 
period of dominance.  Each 
innovation, from the needle 
gun to the gas operated 
machine gun, in turn forced 
changes in military strategy 
and tactics.  By the end of 
the Age of Rifles, the art of 
warfare was dramatically 
transformed.

The dawn of the Age of Rifles 
can be linked to the work of 
Alexander Forsyth, who 
perfected the percussion 
method of gunpowder ignition, 
in 1807.  Within a few years, 
copper caps containing mercury
fulminate came into use, 
greatly reducing misfires 
due to wind and water.  
Forsyth's discovery was 
possibly the most important 
advance in firearms since 
Roger Bacon's announcement 
of gunpowder in 1249; however,
due to the conservative 
nature of European military 
science, Forsyth's advances 
were not embraced until 1836.

In 1841, Prussia adopted the
"needle gun." This weapon 
was characterized by a thin 
steel needle in the bolt, 
which was driven to strike 
the percussion cap at the 
pull of the trigger.  Its 
shortcoming was the tendency 
of the needle to break, due 
to corrosion from the residue 
of repeated firings.  This 
necessitated the replacement 
of the entire bolt.  In spite 
of this drawback, for the 
next two decades the Prussians
enjoyed a tremendous advantage
over their enemies, who still 
relied on outdated muzzle-
loaders.

The American Civil War 
featured the first extensive 
use of weapon and tactical 
elements found on the modern 
battlefield.  Railways, 
telegraphs, steamships, 
ironclads, torpedoes, machine 
guns (the legendary "gatling 
gun"), even land mines, hand 
grenades, and balloons were 
employed throughout the war.
However, the most notable 
tactical advancement made 
during the Civil War was the 
end of the Napoleonic 
formation structure - a 
necessary response to the 
increased range and accuracy 
of the rifle.

The French "chassepot" rifle 
was also introduced in 1866.  
A breach-loading rifle with 
double the effective range 
and a faster firing rate 
than the needle gun, the 
chassepot additionally used 
smaller caliber ammunition 
than the norm for the time; 
.43 as opposed to .66.  This 
change meant that the French 
soldier could carry 90 rounds 
of ammunition at the same 
weight allowance as just 75 
rounds of shot for larger 
caliber weapons.  The 
chassepot proved its 
effectiveness during the 
Franco-Prussian war.  The 
French were outnumbered more 
than 2 to 1 in both infantry 
and artillery at the battle 
of Worth in 1870.  Through 
the advantages of the 
chassepot, the French managed 
to hold their position for 
over eight hours.

The first machine gun to be 
used in Europe, the French 
"mitrailleuse," had its less 
successful debut in the 
Franco-Prussian war, as well.  
The mitrailleuse had as many 
as thirty barrels as compared 
to the gatling gun's ten, but 
because the weight 
necessitated a horse drawn 
carriage, the French generals 
thought of it as an artillery 
piece rather than an infantry 
weapon.  Inadequate training 
resulted in its crew 
frequently firing while 
the enemy was still out of 
range.  The Prussians quickly 
learned to bring their field 
pieces up to knock the 
mitrailleuse out of commission
well before the machine gun 
could be used effectively.

In 1871, while the Prussians 
were still relying on their 
needle guns, and the chassepot
was testing its metal for 
the French, the British 
first introduced the Martini-
Henry rifle.  While not truly 
an innovation, this single 
shot breech-loading weapon 
was the combined result of 
many of the recent advances 
in firearms technology.  It 
used a .45 caliber brass 
cartridge, far superior to 
the paper cartridge in use 
throughout most of the world, 
which was liable to 
deteriorate in wet 
conditions.  As well, it 
utilized a lever-action 
loading technique that 
increased the firing rate; 
in the hands of an experienced
soldier, up to twelve aimed 
or twenty-five un-aimed shots 
could be fired in a minute.  
Additional refinements in 
the production and tooling 
processes allowed for more 
precise rifling of the bore, 
which improved accuracy in 
trained hands to 1,000 yards 
and more.  However, the 
Martini was suffered from 
some serious defects from a 
military point of view.  It 
had a vicious recoil which 
could cause inexperienced 
trops to flinch and spoil 
their aim, and was also 
susceptible to jamming with 
a tendency to severely 
overheat after prolonged 
use.   In spite of these 
flaws, by 1879 it had proven 
its effectiveness in the 
Second Afghan and the Ninth 
Kaffir Wars.

A major revolution in 
ammunition occurred in 
1877, with the advent of 
smokeless powder.  This new 
powder released only trace 
amounts of smoke after firing,
so that the gunman's position 
was not revealed; an obvious 
practical and strategic 
advantage over previous 
powder.  A secondary benefit 
was that the new powder 
burned in a much more 
controlled fashion.  This 
allowed a uniform passage of 
the bullet down the barrel 
of the gun, and therefore a 
smoother exit.  This in turn 
resulted in less strain on 
the gun, a flatter trajectory,
longer range, higher velocity 
with a smaller projectile, 
and of course, increased 
accuracy.  

Rifle technology advanced 
rapidly at the close of the 
19th century.  In 1886, 
France started manufacturing 
the .310 Lebel magazine 
rifle; a few years later, 
Germany developed a .30 
caliber bolt-action repeating 
rifle.  After that, the 
Japanese introduced a .25 
caliber rifle which allowed 
the Japanese soldier to carry 
almost double the rounds of 
ammunition of other infantry.  
These new rifles altered 
battleground tactics even 
further; with ranges of 3,000 
yards, enemy artillery pieces 
were forced to keep a more 
respectful distance - though 
they, too, had made their 
own advances.

The beginning of the end for 
the Age of Rifles was the 
advent of the machine guns 
that would provide the 
mechanism for the trench 
warfare seen in the first 
World War.  Hiram Maxim 
developed the first automatic 
machine gun where loading, 
firing, and ejecting the 
cartridge were performed 
mechanically, using the force 
of the recoil.  The Maxim 
machine gun, which was cooled 
by a water jacket, was brought
one step forward by John M.  
Browning, who found a way to 
use the propellant gases for 
cooling, thereby bringing 
into play the air-cooled 
machine-gun.  Although both 
recoil-operated and gas-
operated machine guns were 
invented prior to the Spanish-
American War, neither found 
general acceptance until the 
Russo-Japanese War in 1905.