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breech-loading

British  
/ ˈbriːtʃˌləʊdɪŋ /

adjective

  1. (of a firearm) loaded at the breech

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

European and U.S. soldiers were armed with breech-loading, repeating rifles and handguns that could be loaded quickly and fired with greater accuracy.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

In the 1860s, the first breech-loading rifles were developed, first seeing widespread use in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 in which Prussian infantry utterly overwhelmed Austrian soldiers armed with older muskets.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020

Thanks to helpful and knowledgeable curators, I was able to operate the loading and firing mechanism of item No. 222,349: a breech-loading Peabody-Martini rifle produced almost 150 years ago.

From Slate • Oct. 24, 2019

Conservators for Blackbeard’s ship the Queen Anne’s Revenge found the 16 fragments of paper wedged inside the chamber for a breech-loading cannon, with the largest piece being the size of a quarter.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 15, 2018

That same summer, Roosevelt also received his first gun, a double-barrel, breech-loading pinfire shotgun.

From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple