Firearms History, Technology & Development

In our last post, we studied the invention of ballistite by Alfred Nobel in France. In today's post, we will study how Britain managed to obtain a similar smokeless powder: cordite.
As we saw previously, the French had managed to invent a smokeless powder for military use in 1884, which they called Poudre B and had developed a new rifle, the Lebel M1886 rifle in 1886, after which other governments became aware that the French had...

In our last post, we talked about developments of smokeless powders in France, leading to the invention of Poudre B smokeless powder. In today's post, we will study about another smokeless powder that was developed in France as well, but it wasn't developed...

In our last post, we studied some developments in powder technology advancements in France. In today's post we will study some further developments in the field.
In our last post, we studied how the team of Serrau and Vieille had made improvements in the process of measuring chamber pressures. In fact, Vieille invented a modification to the crusher gauge that enabled him to record the explosive strength over...

In our last post, we looked into the development of Schultze powder, one of the first smokeless powders. Today, we will look at developments in France at around the same time.
While the French were aware early on, of the discovery of gun cotton by Christian Schönbein, they stopped the use of gun cotton as an explosive material in 1852, as a result of a report by a military commission, which concluded that:...