Lefaucheux ignition

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Pen cartridge calibers 15 mm, 12 mm, 9 mm, 7 mm, 5 mm and 2 mm. Description displayed on the side of the file.

The Lefaucheux ignition is a cartridge ignition .

history

The inventor of the pin fuse or Lefaucheux cartridge was the Parisian gunsmith Casimir Lefaucheux . The cartridge is said to have been designed as early as 1830. It was patented in 1835 and was used in double-barreled shotguns from around 1836. In 1846 the invention received an English patent, among other things. At the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, Casimir Lefaucheux presented his first handgun  - a pepper box - which fired full- bullet cartridges with copper cases.

Three years later, his son Eugène Lefaucheux patented the use of the pen-fuse cartridges in revolvers. The Lefaucheux pen-fire revolvers were easier to load than the muzzle-loading revolvers of the time and were produced in large numbers, especially in Belgium. Lefaucheux weapons were manufactured until the end of the 19th century, the manufacture of cartridges was discontinued a little later.

functionality

The primer is located inside the cartridge and is supported on the inserted ring made of cardboard, which is reinforced with a brass ring on some cartridges; there are also cartridges in which the primer is at the bottom of the case. The firing pin protrudes from the side of the cartridge, mostly made of brass, more rarely iron. A variation is the Gevelot cartridge from 1866, in which the firing pin does not protrude from the side of the cartridge, but runs directly on the longitudinal axis of the cartridge in the bottom of the cartridge. If the tap falls on the pin, the primer is struck from the inside and thus ignites the charge.

The case of the Lefaucheux shotgun shells is made of cardboard and has a raised metal bottom (as is the case with today's shotgun shells ). In 1846, Benjamin Houllier improved the Lefaucheux system by replacing the two-piece sleeve with an all-metal sleeve made of copper or brass. Sleeves made of tombac and steel were also made later .

With almost all pin ignition systems, there was a risk that, if the weapon was dropped on a hard surface, one of the protruding ignition pins could be struck, which could trigger a shot. In order to avoid such misfiring with revolvers, the diameter of the frame area behind the drum was enlarged except for a gap in the area of ​​the hammer (see picture: loading opening of a Lefaucheux revolver M1858).

In order to make transport safer, some manufacturers put cardboard inserts in the pistol and revolver boxes so that each cartridge was individually fixed. Another method was to fill the boxes with sawdust or bits of cork to hold the cartridges in place. Shotgun shells were mostly sold unloaded in mostly 100-piece boxes and then loaded by gunsmiths and dealers. They were given to the end user in packs of 10 or 25. They were also loaded very often by the shooters themselves. Because of the sensitive ignition, the mailing of pen fuze cartridges was banned in Germany.

  • Lefaucheux cartridge 11 mm

  • Lefaucheux cartridge, variant

  • Lefaucheux revolver including assembly of a pen fire cartridge

  • Lefaucheux revolver, 1865-1870

  • Loading opening of a Lefaucheux revolver M1858

  • Double shotgun, lock with Lefaucheux ignition

literature

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Forgotten Weapons of December 9, 2017: Presentation of a Gevelot rifle with an explanation of the cartridges on YouTube , last accessed on December 9, 2017.
  2. ↑ Pistols by Jeff Kinard, 109