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Cartridge (firearms)
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===Integrated cartridges=== [[File:Chassepot paper cartridge.jpg|thumb|[[Chassepot]] paper cartridge (1866)]] The first integrated cartridge was developed in Paris in 1808 by the Swiss gunsmith [[Jean Samuel Pauly]] in association with French gunsmith [[François Prélat]]. Pauly created the first fully self-contained cartridges:<ref name="Smyth">[https://books.google.com/books?id=dHbHS5GhCN4C&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly&pg=PA24 "Chemical Analysis of Firearms, Ammunition, and Gunshot Residue"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425212326/https://books.google.com/books?id=dHbHS5GhCN4C&pg=PA24&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly |date=25 April 2016 }} by James Smyth Wallace p. 24.</ref> the cartridges incorporated a copper base with integrated [[mercury fulminate]] primer powder (the major innovation of Pauly), a round bullet and either brass or paper casing.<ref name="sil.si.edu">http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/HistoryTechnology/pdf_hi/SSHT-0011.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119200042/http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/HistoryTechnology/pdf_hi/SSHT-0011.pdf |date=19 November 2015 }}.</ref><ref name="Pauly">[https://books.google.com/books?id=izGOfMdSm2IC&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly&pg=PA94 ''Firearms''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521112943/https://books.google.com/books?id=izGOfMdSm2IC&pg=PA94&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly |date=21 May 2016 }} by Roger Pauly p. 94.</ref> The cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle. The needle-activated centerfire [[breech-loading]] gun would become a major feature of firearms thereafter.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GmQVan-M3ykC&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly&pg=PA121 A History of Firearms] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507003545/https://books.google.com/books?id=GmQVan-M3ykC&pg=PA121&dq=Jean+Samuel+Pauly&lr= |date=7 May 2016 }} by W. Y. Carman p. 121.</ref> Pauly made an improved version, protected by a patent, on 29 September 1812.<ref name="Smyth"/> Probably no invention connected with firearms has wrought such changes in the principle of gun construction as those effected by the "expansive cartridge case". This invention has completely revolutionized the art of gun making, has been successfully applied to all descriptions of firearms and has produced a new and important industry: that of cartridge manufacture. Its essential feature is preventing gas from escaping the breech when the gun is fired, by means of an expansive cartridge case containing its own means of ignition. Previous to this invention shotguns and sporting rifles were loaded by means of [[powder flask]]s and shot bags or flasks, bullets, wads, and copper caps, all carried separately. One of the earliest efficient modern cartridge cases was the [[pinfire cartridge]], developed by French gunsmith [[Casimir Lefaucheux]] in 1836.<ref name="Pistols">Kinard, Jeff (2004) ''Pistols: An Illustrated History of Their Impact'', ABC-CLIO, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVnuHX_6bG0C&dq=Houllier+cartridge&pg=PA109 p. 109] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528211811/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVnuHX_6bG0C&pg=PA109&dq=Houllier+cartridge#PPA109,M1 |date=28 May 2016 }}</ref> It consisted of a thin weak shell made of brass and paper that expanded from the force of the explosion. This fit perfectly in the barrel and thus formed an efficient gas check. A small percussion cap was placed in the middle of the base of the cartridge and was ignited by means of a brass pin projecting from the side and struck by the hammer. This pin also afforded the means of extracting the cartridge case. This cartridge was introduced in England by Lang, of Cockspur Street, London, about 1845. In the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865) a breech-loading rifle, the [[Sharps rifle|Sharps]], was introduced and produced in large numbers. It could be loaded with either a ball or a [[paper cartridge]]. After that war, many were converted to the use of metal cartridges. The development by [[Smith & Wesson]] (among many others) of revolver handguns that used metal cartridges helped establish cartridge firearms as the standard in the United States by the late 1860s and early 1870s, although many continue to use percussion revolvers well after that.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cabelas.com/category/Pistols-Revolvers/104503680.uts |title=Cabela's still sells black powder pistols; remain in use for hunting |access-date=22 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322111737/http://www.cabelas.com/category/Pistols-Revolvers/104503680.uts |archive-date=22 March 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>
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