retain more kinetic energy and be lethal at greater ranges. It was these requirements that drove military thinking in the years prior to the First World War. 1898 France The spitzer bullet design was first introduced in 1898 as the Balle D by the French Army. The Balle D bullet was designed by Captain Georges Raymond Desaleux, in order to improve the ballistic performance of the existing French 8×50mmR Lebel service cartridge of 1886. The original 1886 pattern 8×50mmR Lebel cartridge was an innovative service cartridge design, since it was the first military cartridge to use single-base smokeless, nitrocellulose based, (Poudre B) gunpowder as developed by Paul Vieille in 1884. The original 1886 pattern 8×50mmR Lebel was loaded with a cupro-nickel-jacketed lead-cored flat-nosed wadcutter-style Balle M bullet designed by lieutenant colonel Nicolas Lebel achieving a muzzle velocity of . The new 1898 pattern 8×50mmR Lebel cartridge loaded with Desaleux's new lighter Balle D brass mono-metal spitzer bullet achieved a muzzle velocity of , providing a somewhat flatter trajectory and a greatly improved maximum effective range. Besides having a pointed nose section the Balle D was also the first military rifle projectile that had a boat tail – a streamlined tapered base – to further minimize air resistance in flight. Downrange performance The 1898 pattern 8×50mmR Lebel Balle D spitzer nose profile combined with the boat tail resulted in a ballistic coefficient (G1 BC) of 0.568 to 0.581 (ballistic coefficients are somewhat debatable). Fired at muzzle velocity the Balle D bullet retained supersonic velocity up to and past (V800 ≈ Mach 1.13) under ICAO Standard Atmosphere conditions at sea level (air density ρ = 1.225 kg/m3) and had a maximum terminal range of approximately . Even by 21st century standards typical effective supersonic range is regarded as normal for a standard military rifle round. The above downrange performance tables show the superior velocity retention of the Balle D compared with its Balle M predecessor Note: The air density ρ used to correlate these tables is unknown. In 1932 8×50mmR Lebel Balle N ammunition was introduced, which featured a lead-cored, cupro-nickel-over-steel-jacketed, pointed boat-tail bullet weighing 15.0 g (232 grains). It had been designed to improve the long-range performance of the issued Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine guns. 1902–1918 German Empire In Germany the Gewehr-Prüfungskommission (G.P.K.) (Rifle Testing Commission) was responsible for improving the accuracy and performance of the 1888 pattern military M/88 ammunition