The Greek Army followed the footsteps of its European counterparts regarding its armament. From smoothbore muskets, it was equipped with front-loading rifled rifles and finally, in 1868, the first breech-loading rifles.
The first breech-loading rifle in service with the Greek Army was the French Chassepot M. 1866. The decision to acquire them was a consequence of the lessons of the Seven Weeks War (Austro-Prussian War 1866), when those armed with breech-loading Dreyse rifles routed those armed with front-loading rifles barrel rifles.
Chassepots were single-shot, needle firing guns – they fired one ball at a time and had a movable tail. They were 1.31 m long for the rifle, 1.175 m for the short-barreled version for the artillery and 99 cm for the cavalry arabida. Accordingly, their weight was 4.26, 3.5 and 3.2 kg. They put an 11mm caliber bullet with an initial projectile velocity of 375, 350 and 300 meters per minute, respectively.
The gun was later modified to fire all-round Grass rifle metal cased cartridges. The weapons were used in the ill-fated war of 1897.
The Greek rifle Mylonas
The rifle built by Artillery Master Technician Efstathios Mylonas and known as the Model 1872 Mylonas Rifle was based on the Belgian Comblain M. 1870 rifle. It had a caliber of 11mm and chambered the same cartridge as the Grass. It had a depressor bolt and fired one fireball at a time. The rifle was 1.23 m long and the short-barreled arabida was 945 cm long. Their weight respectively was 4.5 and 3.5 kg.
The guns were made in Belgium and 5,000 rifles were initially ordered which were received in 1876. An additional order for at least 3,000 guns was placed later. But soon the rifle began to go out of service due to the purchase of the French Grass rifles.
The Grass Rifles
The Greek Army began to be equipped with the Grass M. 1874 rifle in the period 1877-78. Later there were new orders as a result of which the number of Grass, rifles and assault rifles in the Greek Army exceeded 150,000 weapons. During the First World War, Grass M 1877/80/14 8mm rifles were issued by France, instead of the 11mm that all the others had.
And Grass was fed one cartridge at a time. They were used in the war of 1897, but also until World War II – the M 1874/80/14 models – in front-line units, until the advent of the Mannlicher-Schönauer and then in auxiliary units.
The rifle was 1.305 m long, while the short-barreled version of the Artillery was 1.175 m long and the cavalry arabesque 99 cm. The weight was respectively 4.19, 3.56 and 3.6 kg. Initial projectile exit velocity was respectively 440, 428 and 406 meters per second. The equivalent of the Grass M 1874/80/14 rifle that used the 8mm cartridge was clearly improved reaching 770 meters per second.
Chassepot Rifle.
Mylonas rifle.
Rifle Grass M 1874.