後膛槍械

後膛槍械也稱後裝槍（breechloader），是指任何從槍管後方（後膛）裝填彈藥的槍械，而不是像前膛槍那樣將彈藥從槍口裝入。現代的後膛槍械通常使用一體化的定裝彈藥，在準備射擊時將其裝入槍管後方的膛室內待發，然後用一個可以逆轉閉合的機構（槍機）將後膛封死，然後擊發彈藥進行射擊。在單發槍械中，這個閉合機構是一整個剛性的部件，叫做膛閂（breechblock）；在連發槍械中，膛閂被可動態鎖死的槍栓取代，並通常帶有可以在運作時抽離彈殼的退彈設計。

早期的後膛槍械和前膛槍一樣使用火帽擊發，通常採取中折式設計，後來出現了螺絲閉鎖式的弗格森式步槍和槍管上翹的霍爾步槍。之後在彈殼上配有底火和紙殼彈藥的後膛槍出現，比如使用下落閉鎖式的夏普斯步槍和使用栓動式槍機的德萊賽針發槍，以及開始使用金屬殼定裝彈藥的毛瑟1871型步槍。而現今的槍械（包括火器和氣槍）基本上都是後膛槍，只有少數輕武器（如迫擊炮、槍榴彈、一些榴彈發射器和一些火箭筒）還保留前裝設計。

與每次射擊都要用搠杖將發射藥和彈丸分別夯到槍管後端的前膛槍械相比，後膛槍械的裝彈時間要快得多，而且不受膛線和槍膛積垢的影響。此外，前膛槍在裝填時射手必須站立並將槍體直立，而後膛槍則可以在任何姿勢（包括臥姿）進行裝填和射擊，這使得後膛槍在交火時無論是射速還是戰場適應性都比前膛槍有壓倒性的戰術優勢，著名的案例就是1866年7月3日在普魯士和奧地利之間的柯尼希格雷茨戰役。而在火炮中，後膛炮的這種優勢更加明顯，因為炮兵不用像前膛炮那樣跑到炮口前方或像風帆炮艦那樣將火炮後拉才能裝填新彈。

## 歷史

雖然在14世紀早期，勃艮第公國和其它歐洲國家就開始發展後膛火器，但當時的材料技術和製造能力不足無法滿足可靠性，因此直到19世紀精確工程學和機械加工的進步才使得後裝槍械變得成功。

後膛槍械最大的技術挑戰是如何保障後膛的閉合。最終這個問題因為金屬殼定裝彈藥在19世紀中期出現而解決。對於無法使用定裝彈藥的火器（比如大型火炮），這個問題也在斷隔螺閂發明後得以解決。

### 後裝迴旋炮

後膛裝填的迴旋炮（swivel gun，一類裝在旋轉支柱上的滑膛炮）在14世紀就被發明，通常用來發射反步兵的彈藥。

### 輕兵火器

Breech-loading firearms are known from the 16th century. Henry VIII possessed one, which he apparently used as a hunting gun to shoot birds. Meanwhile, in China, an early form of breech-loading musket, known as the Che Dian Chong, was known to have been created in the second half of the 16th century for the Ming dynasty's arsenals. Like all early breech-loading fireams, gas leakage was a limitation and danger present in the weapon's mechanism.

More breech-loading firearms were made in the early 18th century. One such gun known to have belonged to Philip V of Spain, and was manufactured circa 1715, probably in Madrid. It came with a ready-to load reusable cartridge.

Patrick Ferguson, a British Army officer, developed in 1772 the Ferguson rifle, a breech-loading flintlock firearm. Roughly two hundred of the rifles were manufactured and used in the Battle of Brandywine, during the American Revolutionary War, but shortly after they were retired and replaced with the standard Brown Bess musket. In turn the American army, after getting some experience with muzzle-loaded rifles in the late 18th century, adopted the first standard breech-loading rifle in the world, M1819 Hall rifle, and in larger numbers than the Ferguson rifle.

About the same time and later on into the mid-19th century, there were attempts in Europe at an effective breech-loader. There were concentrated attempts at improved cartridges and methods of ignition.

In Paris in 1808, in association with French gunsmith François Prélat, Jean Samuel Pauly created the first fully self-contained cartridges: the cartridges incorporated a copper base with integrated mercury fulminate primer powder (the major innovation of Pauly), a round bullet and either brass or paper casing. The cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle. The needle-activated central-fire breech-loading gun would become a major feature of firearms thereafter. The corresponding firearm was also developed by Pauly. Pauly made an improved version, which was protected by a patent on 29 September 1812.

The Pauly cartridge was further improved by the French gunsmith Casimir Lefaucheux in 1828, by adding a pinfire primer, but Lefaucheux did not register his patent until 1835: a pinfire cartridge containing powder in a cardboard shell.

In 1845, another Frenchman Louis-Nicolas Flobert invented, for indoor shooting, the first rimfire metallic cartridge, constituted by a bullet fit in a percussion cap. Usually derived in the 6 mm and 9 mm calibres, it is since then called the Flobert cartridge but it does not contain any powder; the only propellant substance contained in the cartridge is the percussion cap itself. In English-speaking countries the Flobert cartridge corresponds to the .22 BB and .22 CB ammunitions.

In 1846, yet another Frenchman, Benjamin Houllier, patented the first fully metallic cartridge containing powder in a metallic shell. Houllier commercialised his weapons in association with the gunsmiths Blanchard or Charles Robert. But the subsequent Houllier and Lefaucheux cartridges, even if they were the first full-metal shells, were still pinfire cartridges, like those used in the LeMat (1856) and Lefaucheux (1858) revolvers, although the LeMat also evolved in a revolver using rimfire cartridges.

The first centrefire cartridge was introduced in 1855 by Pottet, with both Berdan and Boxer priming.

In 1842, the Norwegian Armed Forces adopted the breech-loading caplock, the Kammerlader, one of the first instances in which a modern army widely adopted a breech-loading rifle as its main infantry firearm.

The Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr (Dreyse needle gun) was a single-shot breech-loading rifle using a rotating bolt to seal the breech. It was so called because of its .5-inch needle-like firing pin, which passed through a paper cartridge case to impact a percussion cap at the bullet base. It began development in the 1830s under Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse and eventually an improved version of it was adopted by Prussia in the late 1840s. The paper cartridge and the gun had numerous deficiencies; specifically, serious problems with gas leaking. However, the rifle was used to great success in the Prussian army in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. This, and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, eventually caused much interest in Europe for breech-loaders and the Prussian military system in general.

In 1860, the New Zealand government petitioned the Colonial Office for more soldiers to defend Auckland. The bid was unsuccessful and the government began instead making inquiries to Britain to obtain modern weapons. In 1861 they placed orders for the Calisher and Terry carbine, which used a breech-loading system using a bullet consisting of a standard Minié lead bullet in .54 calibre backed by a charge and tallowed wad, wrapped in nitrated paper to keep it waterproof. The carbine had been issued in small numbers to English cavalry (Hussars) from 1857. About 3–4,000 carbines were brought into New Zealand a few years later. The carbine was used extensively by the Forest Rangers, an irregular force led by Gustavus von Tempsky that specialized in bush warfare and reconnaissance. Von Tempsky liked the short carbine, which could be loaded while lying down. The waterproofed cartridge was easier to keep dry in the New Zealand bush. Museums in New Zealand hold a small number of these carbines in good condition.

During the American Civil War, at least nineteen types of breech-loaders were fielded. The Sharps used a successful dropping block design. The Greene used rotating bolt-action, and was fed from the breech. The Spencer, which used lever-actuated bolt-action, was fed from a seven-round detachable tube magazine. The Henry and Volcanic used rimfire metallic cartridges fed from a tube magazine under the barrel. These held a significant advantage over muzzle-loaders. The improvements in breech-loaders had spelled the end of muzzle-loaders. To make use of the enormous number of war surplus muzzle-loaders, the Allin conversion Springfield was adopted in 1866. General Burnside invented a breech-loading rifle before the war, the Burnside carbine.

The French adopted the new Chassepot rifle in 1866, which was much improved over the Dreyse needle gun as it had dramatically fewer gas leaks due to its de Bange sealing system. The British initially took the existing Enfield and fitted it with a Snider breech action (solid block, hinged parallel to the barrel) firing the Boxer cartridge. Following a competitive examination of 104 guns in 1866, the British decided to adopt the Peabody-derived Martini-Henry with trap-door loading in 1871.

Single-shot breech-loaders would be used throughout the latter half of the 19th Century, but were slowly replaced by various designs for repeating rifles, first used in the American Civil War. Manual breech-loaders gave way to manual magazine feed and then to self-loading rifles.

### 火炮

第一款現代後膛線膛炮是瑞典發明家馬丁·馮·瓦倫道夫（Martin von Wahrendorff，1789～1861）於1837年發明的。在1850年代和1860年代，英國工程師約瑟夫·惠特沃斯（Joseph Whitworth，1803～1887）和威廉·阿姆斯特朗（William George Armstrong，1810～1900）先後發明出了改良的後膛火炮。

由沙俄奧布霍夫工廠生產的M1867艦炮是一款後裝火炮，其設計使用了克虜伯的技術。