The well-known Victorian Era is officially considered to be from 1837 to 1901, in which decades The Great Britain Empire made vital military developments particularly in weapon designs under Queen Victoria’s reign. It is true about how grandiose and involuted battlefields can be in recent decades whereas many infantries were using muskets to go up against one another back in the centuries before the 20th. So, you may be curious about how guns evolved from simple muskets to a variety of kinds nowadays, and the whole thing all started from 1860s.
Fundamentally, the technical revolution began with many details like the percussion cap, bolt action designs, lever action designs, smokeless powder, self-contained cartridge and basically every meaningful improvement happened during the time.
(1) Disassembly diagram of the gun lock
(2) Ammo structure
More specifically, muskets had its dominant place in the military before the 1860s, but they were being massively replaced by rifles owing to many tactical demands afterwards. Made in the year 1888, Lee-Metford was an unprecedent innovation which provided irreplaceable strategic significance and soon became widely used by the British army. The advantages compared with muskets are listed as following:
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Redesigned barrel structure improved shooting accuracy and effective range allowed soldiers to deal better with more complicated situation.
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Epoch-making reloading speed and ammunition fill gained by the magazine and bolt-action technology brought the exclusive firing rate which facilitates an army to pin down the opponent.
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Smokeless nature of ammo enabled shooters to remain concealed when firing.
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Light design with less weight and smaller size makes it easier for soldiers to manipulate.
