General Basile Gras (January 2, 1836 – April 14, 1901) created the Gras rifle for the French Army in 1874 by converting the Mle 1866 Chassepot rifle to fire metallic cartridges. Gras, who was a colonel at the time, played a very important role in the formulation and industrial production of the Lebel rifle. He was an alumnus of Ecole Polytechnique, then a shooting instructor at l'École Normale de Tir at Châlons . Eventually he supervised the three weapon manufacturing facilities at St Etienne, Châtellerault and Tulle. Finally he became Secretary of War for France.