The Dreyse Needle gun, named the Zundnadelgewehr (Needle Ignition Rifle) in German, was a breechloading rifle which, unlike the percussion rifles of the time, used a firing pin (shaped like a needle) to pierce the paper cartridge and strike the percussion cap within it. It was designed in Prussia by Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse for the Prussian army and was a revolutionary step in the development of firearms.