# Needle Gun

A needle gun (or needle rifle or needle-fire for varieties with rifling) is a firearm that has a needle-like firing pin, which can pass through the paper cartridge case to strike a percussion cap at the bullet base. == Types == === Pauly === The first experimental needle gun was designed by Jean Samuel Pauly, a Swiss gunsmith. In 1808, in association with French gunsmith François Prélat in Paris, France, 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.