The Dreyse needle gun is an single-shot bolt action, breech-loading rifle that was invented by Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse. It is famous for being the first bolt-action rifle that has been fielded by an national military, and serve as the design basis of all future bolt-action rifles that surpassed it. It entered in service as the main infantry weapons of the Prussian Army in 1841, toward the unification of the German Empire in 1871. After the unification, it was replaced by an improved version of it as the Mauser Model 1871, which further improvement of the design has led to the rise of the the Mauser rifle family, which its latest version is the Mauser 98.
Its military designation as the "ignition needle rifle" (German: Zündnadelgewehr) was based on its firing pin, since it passed like a needle through the paper cartridge to strike a percussion cap at the base of the bullet.
