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, France and died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. Casimir Lefaucheux obtained his first patent in 1827. In 1832, he completed a drop-barrel sporting gun with paper cartridges. Lefaucheux is credited with the development of one of the first efficient self-contained cartridge systems. This 1835 invention, featuring a

pinfire The pin-fire (or pinfire) is an obsolete type of metallic cartridge used in firearms, where the priming compound is ignited by striking a small pin that protrudes radially from above the base of the cartridge. Invented by Frenchman Casimir ...

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 ...

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. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constru ...

, 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 from the breech end of the barrel (i.e., from the rearward, open end of the gun's barrel), as opposed to a muzzleloader, in which the user loads the ammunition from the ( muzzle ...

s. In 1846, Benjamin Houllier improved on the Lefaucheux system by introducing an entirely metallic cartridge of copper brass. In 1858, the Lefaucheux pistolet-revolver became the first metallic-cartridge

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

to be adopted by a national government, becoming the standard sidearm of the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

. In May 1866,

Ferdinand Cohen-Blind Ferdinand Cohen-Blind (March 25, 1844 – May 8, 1866) was a Jewish people, Jewish German people, German student who attempted to assassinate Otto von Bismarck, the Minister President of Prussia. Cohen-Blind committed suicide shortly after his arr ...

attempted to assassinate

Otto Von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...

with a

Pepper-box The pepper-box pistol 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 each holding a single shot. ...

in Lefaucheux pistol 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 Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...

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 s ...

in 1873, sold for €435,000 at a 2016 Paris auction. 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 is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

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 ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Gallery

File:1838 pepperbox pistol French pinfire revolver.jpg, 1838 pepperbox pistol French pinfire revolver File:Revolver Lefaucheux IMG 3108.jpg, Belgian-made Lefaucheux service revolver, c. 1860–1865 File:Pepperbox IMG 5237.jpg,

in Lefaucheux system-used in 1866 assassination attempt on Otto Von Bismarck File:Pocket revolver Lefaucheux.jpg, Pocket revolver in Lefaucheux system File:Pepperboxrevoler för patron med stiftantändning, s.k - Livrustkammaren - 61384.tif, Comparison of a pepperbox with a percussion pistol

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