Cordier & Minié
Rifle of
test Cordier-Minié, which with the characteristic to have the chimney very far
from the lock and whose starter is struck by a stem which is along the barrel.
It is the
commander Minié who, after having made ballistic studies about the relationship
between the calibre and the length of the barrel, had concluded into 1860 that
the ideal length of the barrel was 33 cm. At the time a weapon of shoulder was
to be “long”, it was out of question of making a weapon whose barrel would have
forty cm!!
In the
spirit of the military of the time the weapon was to be used as support with the
bayonet and “possibly” to draw from time to time!!
From
where the idea of Minié, in collaboration with Charles Cordier to develop this
curious weapon, even for the time!
Marking
CC on the weapon is extremely probably that of Charles Cordier.
Indeed it
is known that Minié was rather an inventor and Cordier a manufacturer!
