Casimir Lefaucheux (; 26 January 1802 – 9 August 1852) was a French

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very ...

. He was born in

Bonnétable Bonnétable () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire, northwestern France. Bonnétable is twinned with Horncastle in rural Lincolnshire. The towns' relationship is commemorated by a ''Rue Horncastle'' in Bonn ...

and died in Paris. Casimir Lefaucheux obtained his first patent in 1827. In 1832, he completed a drop-barrel sporting gun with paper-cased cartridges. Lefaucheux is credited with the development of one of the first efficient self-contained cartridge systems. This 1836 invention, featuring a

pinfire A pinfire cartridge is an obsolete type of metallic firearm cartridge in which the priming compound is ignited by striking a small pin which protrudes radially from just above the base of the cartridge. Invented by Frenchman Casimir Lefaucheux ...

mechanism, followed the pioneering work of

Jean Samuel Pauly Jean Samuel Pauly (1766 – c. 1821), born Samuel Johannes Pauli, was a Swiss inventor and gunsmith of the early 19th century. Parish records show that he was baptised in Vechigen near Bern, Switzerland on 13 April 1766, the son of Johann Pauli a ...

in 1808-1812. The Lefaucheux cartridge had a conical

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. Bullets are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax. Bullets are made in various shapes and ...

, a cardboard powder tube, and a copper base that incorporated a primer pellet. Lefaucheux thus proposed one of the first practical

breech-loading weapon A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition ( cartridge or shell) via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front ( muzzle). Modern firearms are generally b ...

s. In 1846 Benjamin Houllier improved on the Lefaucheux system by introducing an entirely metallic cartridge of copper brass. In 1858 the Lefaucheux

pistolet A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, a ...

-revolver became the first metallic-cartridge revolver to be adopted by a national government, becoming the standard sidearm of the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in th ...

. It is thought likely that the gun with which the Dutch painter

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

fatally shot himself in a field in 1890 was a 7 mm Lefaucheux

revolver. The pistol was found, extremely corroded, in 1960 and is on display at the

Van Gogh Museum The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened o ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. A 7 mm Lefaucheux revolver, used by

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and F ...

to shoot and wound

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he sta ...

in 1873, sold for €435,000 at a 2016 Paris auction.

Gallery

File:Revolver Lefaucheux IMG 3108.jpg, Belgian-made Lefaucheux service revolver, c. 1860–1865 File:Pepperbox IMG 5238.jpg,

Pepper-box The pepper-box revolver or simply pepperbox (also "pepper-pot", from its resemblance to the household pepper shakers) is a multiple-barrel firearm, mostly in the form of a handgun, that has three or more gun barrels in a coaxially revolving ...

in Lefaucheux system File:Pocket revolver Lefaucheux.jpg, Pocket revolver in Lefaucheux system

Notes

References

* Henrotin, Gerard ''Lefaucheux 7mm pinfire revolver explained'', HLebooks.com, 2013 * Henrotin, Gerard ''European percussion & pinfire shotguns explained'', HLebooks.com, 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lefaucheux, Casimir Gunsmiths 1802 births 1852 deaths Burials at Montmartre Cemetery