Definition of "breechloading" []

• Designed to be loaded at the breech. Used of a gun or other firearm. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The guns known as breechloading rifles are from three inches to fourteen inches in calibre, that is, across the bore, and in length from twelve to over sixty feet."
• "The arrival of a given technology—whether breechloading rifles, tanks or computers—does not itself miraculously produce progressive change or induce soldiers to behave differently."
• "In - lines are set up with scope sights, flater trajectories, and other features that make them much closer to hunting with a modern bolt gun or breechloading single shot than a traditonal muzzleloader."