Needle Gun Country Germany Type Rifle Manufacturer Dreyse Introduction 1836 Specifications Weight 4.7 kg (10.4 lb) Length 142 cm Barrel length 91 cm Cartridge acorn shaped lead bullet in paper cartridge Action Bolt action Rate of fire 10 – 12 round/min Muzzle velocity 305 m/s (1,000 ft/s) Effective range 600 m (650 yd) Feed system single-shot Sights V-notch and front post

The Dreyse needle-gun (German Zundnadelgewehr or figuratively firing-pin rifle) was a military breechloading rifle, famous as the main infantry weapon of the Prussians, who adopted it for service in 1841 as the Dreyse Zundnadelgewehr, or Prussian Model 1841. Its name comes from its 0.5-inch (13 mm) needle-like firing pin, which passed through the paper cartridge case to impact a percussion cap at the bullet base. The Dreyse rifle was also the first breech-loading rifle to use the bolt action to open and close the chamber, executed by turning and pulling a bolt handle. The rifle was the invention of the gunsmith Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse (1787—1867). Beginning in 1824, he conducted multiple experiments that in 1836 resulted the needle-gun. Dreyse was ennobled in 1864.