Tabatière Model 1867
French State Arsenals · Rifle · Discontinued · 1867
Also known as: Fusil à Tabatière, Tabatière rifle, M1853/67 Tabatière, Snuffbox rifle
Overview
The Tabatière Model 1867 is a single-shot, breech-loading service rifle created by converting France's stock of muzzle-loading percussion rifle-muskets to fire a self-contained 17.8mm centerfire cartridge. Spurred by the Prussian victories of 1864-1866, French ordnance fitted a hinged, side-swinging breechblock, nicknamed the 'tabatière' (snuffbox) for the way it flipped open, to existing barrels, in a system closely paralleling the British Snider conversion. Over 350,000 were converted, mostly by commercial gunsmiths, and the rifle armed second-line and Garde Mobile units during the Franco-Prussian War while the superior bolt-action Chassepot equipped front-line troops.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 4450 g (157.0 oz) |
| Overall Length | 1422 mm (55.98") |
| Barrel Length | 958 mm (37.72") |
| Action Type | Break Action |
| Firing Mechanism | Hammer Fired |
| Trigger Type | Single Action |
| Magazine Capacity | 1 rounds |
| Magazine Type | None |
| Muzzle Velocity | 370 m/s (1214 fps) |
| Muzzle Energy | 3286 J (2424 ft·lbf) |
| Effective Range | 300 m (328 yd) |
| Maximum Range | 600 m (656 yd) |
| Rate of Fire | 8 rpm |
| Barrel Rifling | Right Hand |
| Number of Grooves | 4 |
| Frame Material | Steel |
| Barrel Material | Steel |
| Stock Material | Walnut |
| Finish | Blued |
Calibers
- 17.8mm Tabatière · primary — also known as 17.8x35R, 17.8mm Tabatiere, 11mm Tabatière (bore)
Features
- Firing modes: Manual
- Feed systems: Single Shot Breech Loading
- Safety mechanisms: Half Cock Notch
- Features: Hinged Snuffbox Breechblock, Converted Muzzleloader, Swinging Breechblock, Rear Sight To 600m, Open Sights
Service history
Operators
- French Army · adopted 1867 · as Fusil modèle 1867 à Tabatière
- Garde Nationale Mobile · adopted 1870
Conflicts
- Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871)
Production
Estimated total produced: 350,000 · Production years: 1867-1871
Over 350,000 muzzleloaders converted by 1870, primarily by commercial French gunsmiths rather than state arsenals.
Origin
Country of origin: France
Discontinued: 1874
Notes
The 17.8mm round used a coiled brass case wrapped in paper with a flat-nosed lead Minié-style ball and a modified Boxer primer. Ballistically inferior to the Chassepot, the rifle was relegated to rear-echelon and defensive use, and after the war many were sold off and bored out into the inexpensive 'Zulu' civilian shotguns.
Background
The 'snuffbox' nickname came from the breechblock's hinged lid, which flipped up and to the side just like the lid of a gentleman's tabatière (snuffbox). A stopgap born of urgency after Königgrätz, it gave France a quick breechloader to back up the Chassepot, but its slow black-powder ball was no match for modern rifles, and many ended their lives as cheap surplus shotguns sold to colonial markets, where the 'Zulu' name stuck.