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The ''Kammerlader'', or "chamber loader", was the first Norwegian breech-loading rifle, and among the very first breech loaders adopted for use by an armed force anywhere in the world. A single-shot black-powder rifle, the ''kammerlader'' was operated with a crank mounted on the side of the receiver. This made it much quicker and easier to load than the weapons previously used. ''Kammerladers'' quickly gained a reputation for being fast and accurate rifles, and would have been a deadly weapon against massed ranks of infantry. The ''kammerlader'' was introduced in 1842, and it is thought that about 40,000 were manufactured until about 1870. While the first flintlock breech-loading rifles, such as the Ferguson, were launched decades before 1842 Norway was the first European country to introduce breech loaders on a large scale throughout its army and navy, although the United States had been the first in the world with the M1819 Hall rifle. The ''kammerladers'' were manufactured in several different models, and most models were at some point modified in some way or other. The ''kammerladers'' were phased out as more modern rifles were approved for use. They were either modified for rimfire cartridges, sold off to civilians or melted for scrap. Rifles sold to civilians were often modified for use as shotguns or hunting firearms. Today it is hard to find an unmodified ''kammerlader'', and collectors often pay high prices for them. == Development == In the early 19th century, the Norwegian Army decided that the nature of warfare was changing away from the massed ranks firing in volleys towards smaller units advancing and firing independently. This conclusion was reached after having observed the American Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars and the short Swedish campaign against Norway in 1814. Lessons were also learned from the Gunboat War, where small, mobile gunboats outmaneuvered larger, more heavily armed ships. It was decided that a breech loaded rifle was needed, more accurate than the old smoothbore muskets, yet quicker to load than the rifles issued to the Norwegian ''Jeger'' and ''Skijeger'' units. A special committee was created, and it started considering various firearm actions in 1837. It was soon clear that the desired weapon should: * have a reduced caliber compared to the then standard musket; * have reliable ignition, with the means of the caplock mechanism (earlier muskets had been equipped with the flintlock mechanism); * be quicker to load than the musket, and therefore be a breech loader; and * be more accurate than the old smoothbore muskets. The end result was that a modern, breech-loading rifle was approved for use on the 18 May 1842. The caliber chosen for the new rifle was 18 ''lødig'' (gauge); in other words, one could manufacture 18 round bullets out of one Norwegian pound of lead. In modern terms this means the caliber of the rifle was 17.5 mm. From 1842 until the Remington M1867 was approved in 1867, more than 40,000 kammerladers in more than 80 different models were manufactured. In 1860 the caliber was reduced again, to four Swedish Linjer, or about 11.77 mm. When some of the ''Kammerladers'' were modified to rimfire after 1867, this meant that the barrels had to be bored out to 12.17 mm to accept the new cartridge. During a military sharpshooting competition held in Belgium in 1861, the ''Kammerlader'' was proven to be among the most accurate military long arms in Europe. The Norwegian rifles were shown to be accurate to a range of about , which is quite an achievement even by today's standards. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kammerlader」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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