M1832 French M. Demondion breechloading rifle,According to Rock Island Auctions…This is a rar

M1832 French M. Demondion breechloading rifle,According to Rock Island Auctions…This is a rare example of a very early Model 1832 single shot breech loading rifle as manufactured by M. Demondion, that uses the French J.A. Roberts patented paper cartridge. This cartridge eventually evolved into the patented European rimfire cartridge. The cartridge itself was all self-contained in that it held both the ball and the powder charge in a completely self-contained paper/cardboard type tube. At the rear of the cartridge protruded a small percussion tube that operated similar to a pinfire cartridge in that the firing sequence was initiated by the strike of the rifle hammer on the percussion tube, which lead to the firing of the cartridge. This all seems pretty simple/basic today, however, remember that this was “1832”, at this time the U.S Army/War Department was still using the type III 1816 pattern flintlock musket. We had not developed the Model 1841 muskets and was prior to the Mexican/American revolution. We didn’t even have any kind of self-contained cartridge at all in development, in fact this system was reviewed/evaluated by the U.S, Army at Harpers Ferry Arsenal in 1837 and obviously rejected. The significance of this rifle and cartridge is that in 1831 Abraham Moser was granted an English patent (6196) on using this cartridge with a centerfire cap base and later J.A. Roberts was granted a French patent (8061) in which he combined the two and developed the rimfire cartridge. The rifle itself is operated by lifting up on the upper tang to unlock or swing the breech open and exposing the rear of the barrel/chamber to load the cartridge. Then by closing/lowering the upper tang, it actually cocks the internal hammer, which then can strike the noted percussion firing tube on the rear of the cartridge. -- source link

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