after a few shots, while their own location would be obvious because of the cloud of smoke hanging over them. The higher power of the new powder gave a higher muzzle velocity, which in turn produced a flatter bullet trajectory and thus a longer range. It also required lesser volumes of gunpowder and allowed a smaller caliber, thus lighter bullets, so a soldier could carry more ammunition. The French Army quickly introduced a new rifle, the Lebel Model 1886 firing a new 8 mm calibre cartridge, to exploit these benefits. "Also black powder leaves a heavy residue in the bore. With the best conditions this residue causes a slight falling off of accuracy after from five to fifty shots have been fired from a rifle without cleaning, and when it was attempted to increase the velocity by decreasing the caliber, lengthening the bullet, and increasing the powder charge, the increase in the residue was so great as to destroy the accuracy unless the bore was cleaned after every shot." Stability and safety The earliest "Poudre B" tended to eventually become unstable, which has been attributed to evaporation of the volatile solvents, but may also have been due to the difficulty in fully removing the acids used to make guncotton. In the early years of their use both the original Poudre B and guncotton led to accidents. For example, two French battleships, the Iéna and the Liberté, blew up in Toulon harbour, in 1907 and 1911, respectively, with heavy loss of life. By the end of the 1890s, safer smokeless powders had been developed, including improved and stabilized versions of "Poudre B" (e.g. Poudres BN3F and BPF1), and ballistite and cordite from the late 1880s. The guncotton problem is not completely solved even today, as an occasional batch of smokeless powder will still deteriorate, although this is extremely rare. References External links Explosives Firearm propellants 19th-century inventions