Tabatière rifle

The Tabatière system was developed from 1864 as a way to convert numerous muzzle-loading weapons (usually Minié rifles) into breech-loading ones, in a process similar to that of the Snider-Enfield in Great Britain, Wänzl rifle in Austria, and the Springfield Model 1866 in the United States.

[1] By July 1870, roughly 358,000 rifles had been converted, while 1.4 million muzzleloaders stayed in their original configuration.

[2] The ammunition was a center fire cartridge closely resembling a shortened 12 gauge shotgun shell.

This weapon system was recognized as ballistically inferior to the Chassepot rifle, therefore it was used by second line troops and in defensive roles.

[1] These are commonly encountered today as "Zulu Guns", after rifles were converted into shotguns and sold cheaply in the late 1800s.

French Tabatière carbine, 1867.
French Garde Mobile soldier with Tabatière rifle, 1870.
French Tabatière mechanism, 1867.