pinfire

plural pinfires

1. engineeringAn obsolete kind of brass cartridge in which the priming compound is ignited by striking a small pin which protrudes radially from just above the base of the cartridge.

   1 more example

   "An early French make, I should say; one of Lefaucheux's probably," said Carrados. "You have removed the cartridges?" "Why, yes," admitted the sergeant, producing a matchbox from his pocket. "They're pin-fire, you see, and I'm not too fond of carrying a thing like that loaded in my pocket as I'm riding a young horse."

   1914, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados