Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse

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Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse (November 20, 1787 - December 9, 1867), was a German firearms inventor and manufacturer born in Sömmerda, Germany, the son of a locksmith. He is most famous for producing the "Needle gun" in 1836, which was eventually adopted by the Prussian army for service in 1841 as the Dreyse Zundnadelgewehr, or Prussian Model 1849.

Dreyse worked from 1809 to 1814 in the Parisian gun factory of Jean-Samuel Pauly, a Swiss who designed several experimental breech-loading military rifles. Returning to Sömmerda, he in 1824 founded a company to manufacture percussion caps. It was there that he designed the needle rifle.

While the gun is thought of by some to be the first bolt-action rifle, in reality, this rifle bears very little resemblance to modern bolt-action rifles, but was distinct for its time.

It was used by the Prussians in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. By this time, the gun was fast becoming obsolete, and was outclassed by the French chassepot. Many other designs of bolt action rifles had emerged, and many countries had standardized on their own versions (the British notably had a contest with over a hundred different prototype weapons).

There remains some ambiguity about the activities of von Dreyse after he created the needle-gun, as he seems to have dropped the "Johann" part of his name and was known as Nikolaus von Dreyse.