Editing Cartridge (firearms) (section)

===Modern metallic cartridges===
[[File:Snider-Martini-Enfield Cartridges.JPG|thumb|(From Left to Right): A [[.577 Snider]] cartridge (1867), a [[.577/450 Martini-Henry]] cartridge (1871), a later drawn brass .577/450 [[Martini-Henry]] cartridge, and a [[.303 British]] Mk VII SAA Ball cartridge.]]
[[File:Fusil Gras M80 1874 metallic cartridge.jpg|thumb|French Army [[Fusil Gras mle 1874]] metallic cartridge.]]
[[File:8mm Lebel Tarbes-01.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|The [[8 mm Lebel]] ammunition, developed in 1886, was the first [[smokeless powder|smokeless gunpowder]] cartridge to be created and adopted by any country.]]

Most of the early all-metallic cartridges were of the [[pinfire]] and [[rimfire ammunition|rimfire]] types.

The first centerfire metallic cartridge was invented by [[Jean Samuel Pauly]] in the first decades of the 19th century. However, although it was the first cartridge to use a form of [[obturation]], a feature integral to a successful breech-loading cartridge, Pauly died before it was converted to percussion cap ignition.

Frenchman [[Louis-Nicolas Flobert]] invented the first [[rimfire ammunition|rimfire metallic cartridge]] in 1845. His cartridge consisted of a percussion cap with a bullet attached to the top.<ref>[http://www.firearmsadvantage.com/history_of_firearms.html "History of firearms"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222090129/http://www.firearmsadvantage.com/history_of_firearms.html |date=22 December 2015 }} (fireadvantages.com)</ref><ref>[http://www.firearmsadvantage.com/how_guns_work.html "How guns work"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222103328/http://www.firearmsadvantage.com/how_guns_work.html |date=22 December 2015 }} (fireadvantages.com)</ref> Flobert then made what he called "[[gallery gun|parlor guns]]" for this cartridge, as these rifles and pistols were designed to be shot in indoor shooting parlors in large homes.<ref>{{cite book|title =Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms and Their Values|page=775|first= Norm |last=Flayderman |edition= 9|publisher =F+W Media, Inc|year= 2007 |location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn =978-0-89689-455-6 }}</ref><ref name="BarnesBodinson2009">{{cite book|last1=Barnes|first1=Frank C.|author-link=Frank Barnes (gunsmith)|last2=Bodinson|first2=Holt|title=Cartridges of the World: A Complete and Illustrated Reference for Over 1500 Cartridges|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3_-kUkNXTNwC&pg=PA441|access-date=25 January 2012|year=2009|publisher=Gun Digest Books|location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn=978-0-89689-936-0|page=441|chapter=Amrerican Rimfire Cartridges}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> These [[6mm Flobert]] cartridges do not contain any powder. The only [[propellant]] substance contained in the cartridge is the percussion cap.<ref>[http://www.arquebusiers.be/section-tir.htm Shooting section (''la section de tir'')] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110001815/http://www.arquebusiers.be/section-tir.htm |date=10 November 2013 }} of the official website (in French) of a modern indoor shooting association in Belgium, ''Les Arquebusier de Visé''.</ref> In English-speaking countries, the 6mm Flobert cartridge corresponds to [[.22 BB Cap]] and [[.22 CB Cap]] ammunition. These cartridges have a relatively low muzzle velocity of around 700&nbsp;ft/s (210&nbsp;m/s).

French gunsmith [[Benjamin Houllier]] improved the Lefaucheux pinfire cardboard cartridge and patented in Paris in 1846, the first fully metallic pinfire cartridge containing powder in a metallic cartridge.<ref name="Pistols"/><ref>''[http://trabuc.perso.sfr.fr/mapage/les-lefaucheux.pdf Les Lefaucheux] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008064628/http://trabuc.perso.sfr.fr/mapage/les-lefaucheux.pdf |date=8 October 2013 }}'', by Maître Simili, Spring 1990 (in French)</ref> He also included in his patent claims rim and centerfire primed cartridges using brass or copper casings.<ref name="sil.si.edu"/> Houllier commercialised his weapons in association with the gunsmiths Blanchard or Charles Robert.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.littlegun.info/arme%20francaise/artisans%20e%20f%20g%20h%20i%20j/a%20houllier%20blanchar%20gb.htm |title=An example of a Benjamin Houllier gun manufactured in association with the gunsmith Blanchard |publisher=Littlegun.info |access-date=4 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823172928/http://www.littlegun.info/arme%20francaise/artisans%20e%20f%20g%20h%20i%20j/a%20houllier%20blanchar%20gb.htm |archive-date=23 August 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.littlegun.info/arme%20francaise/artisans%20e%20f%20g%20h%20i%20j/a%20houllier%20blanchar%20et%20ch%20robert%20gb.htm |title=An example of a Benjamin Houllier gun manufactured in association with the gunsmiths Blanchard and Charles Robert |publisher=Littlegun.info |access-date=4 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823161754/http://www.littlegun.info/arme%20francaise/artisans%20e%20f%20g%20h%20i%20j/a%20houllier%20blanchar%20et%20ch%20robert%20gb.htm |archive-date=23 August 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the United States, in 1857, the Flobert cartridge inspired the [[.22 Short]], specially conceived for the first American revolver using rimfire cartridges, the [[Smith & Wesson Model 1]]. A year before, in 1856, the [[LeMat revolver]] was the first American breech-loading firearm, but it used pinfire cartridges, not rimfire. Formerly, an employee of the [[Colt's Manufacturing Company|Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company]], [[Rollin White]], had been the first in America to conceive the idea of having the revolver cylinder bored through to accept metallic cartridges ([[wikt:circa|circa]] 1852), with the first in the world to use bored-through cylinders probably having been Lefaucheux in 1845, who invented a pepperbox-revolver loaded from the rear using bored-through cylinders.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DjWpnQEACAAJ&q=Early+Percussion+Firearms|title=Early Percussion Firearms|publisher=Spring Books|date=25 October 2015|access-date=7 November 2020|archive-date=10 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310102435/https://books.google.com/books?id=DjWpnQEACAAJ&q=Early+Percussion+Firearms|url-status=live}}</ref> Another possible claimant for the bored-through cylinder is a Frenchman by the name of Perrin, who allegedly produced in 1839 a pepperbox revolver with a bored-through cylinder to order. Other possible claimants include Devisme of France in 1834 or 1842 who claimed to have produced a breech-loading revolver in that period though his claim was later judged as lacking in evidence by French courts and Hertog & Devos and Malherbe & Rissack of Belgium who both filed patents for breech-loading revolvers in 1853.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SzEwAQAAMAAJ&q=Perrin+1839+Arme&pg=PA186|title=Annales de la propriété industrielle, artistique et littéraire|date=10 April 1863|publisher=Au bureau des Annales|via=Google Books|access-date=7 November 2020|archive-date=10 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310102427/https://books.google.com/books?id=SzEwAQAAMAAJ&q=Perrin+1839+Arme&pg=PA186#v=snippet&q=Perrin%201839%20Arme&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> However, [[Samuel Colt]] refused this innovation. White left Colt, went to Smith & Wesson to rent a license for his patent, and this is how the S&W Model 1 saw the light of day in 1857. The patent didn't definitely expire until 1870, allowing Smith & Wesson competitors to design and commercialize their own revolving breech-loaders using metallic cartridges. Famous models of that time are the Colt [[Colt Model 1871-72 Open Top|Open Top]] (1871–1872) and [[Colt Single Action Army|Single Action Army "Peacemaker"]] (1873). But in rifles, the [[lever-action]] mechanism patents were not obstructed by Rollin White's [[patent infringement]] because White only held a patent concerning drilled cylinders and revolving mechanisms. Thus, larger caliber rimfire cartridges were soon introduced after 1857, when the Smith & Wesson .22 Short ammunition was introduced for the first time. Some of these rifle cartridges were used in the American Civil War, including the [[.44 Henry]] and [[56-56 Spencer]] (both in 1860). However, the large rimfire cartridges were soon replaced by [[centerfire]] cartridges, which could safely handle higher pressures.<ref>[[Cartridges of the World]], various editions and articles.</ref><ref name="Williamson">{{citation|first=Harold F. |last=Williamson |title=Winchester: The Gun that Won the West |date=1952 |publisher=A. S. Barnes |isbn=978-0498083150 <!--1961 is second printing not second edition --> |page=66 |quote=The rimfire cartridge, which was used so successfully in the Henry and the Model 66, was limited to relatively weak loads of powder and comparatively lightweight bullets.  These limitations, which still apply, came from the construction of the rimfire cartridge and from the action of the priming mixture.  Rimfire cartridges must be made of thin metal or the firing pin cannot indent the head and explode the primer.  This thin-walled cartridge case limits the pressure developed by the powder charge and consequently the weight of the bullet.  If too much powder is used, there is a danger that the cartridge case will burst at the folded rim when it is fired, and that the primer flash, passing laterally across the rear of the powder charge, will not ignite a large load sufficiently to consume all of the powder before the bullet leaves the cartridge case. These limitations were overcome with the development of the centerfire cartridge....}}</ref>

In 1867, the British war office adopted the [[Eley Brothers|Eley]]–[[Edward Mounier Boxer|Boxer]] metallic centerfire cartridge case in the [[Pattern 1853 Enfield]] rifles, which were converted to [[Snider-Enfield]] breech-loaders on the Snider principle. This consisted of a block opening on a hinge, thus forming a false breech against which the cartridge rested. The priming cap was in the base of the cartridge and was discharged by a [[Firing pin#Firing pin vs. striker|striker]] passing through the breech block. Other European powers adopted breech-loading military rifles from 1866 to 1868, with paper instead of metallic cartridge cases. The original Eley-Boxer cartridge case was made of thin-coiled brass—occasionally these cartridges could break apart and jam the breech with the unwound remains of the case upon firing. Later the solid-drawn, centerfire cartridge case, made of one entire solid piece of tough hard metal, an alloy of copper, with a solid head of thicker metal, has been generally substituted.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

Centerfire cartridges with solid-drawn metallic cases containing their own means of ignition are almost universally used in all modern varieties of military and sporting rifles and pistols.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

Around 1870, machined tolerances had improved to the point that the cartridge case was no longer necessary to seal a firing chamber. Precision-faced bolts would seal as well, and could be economically manufactured.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} However, normal wear and tear proved this system to be generally infeasible.