Nicolas-Noël Boutet (31 August 1761 – 1833) was a French gunsmith and bladesmith who was director of the Versailles state arms factory. More than 600,000 weapons were produced under his directorship. [1] [2]
Boutet was born in Paris, the son of the royal gunsmith Noël Boutet, and became his father's assistant. In 1788, he married Leonie-Emilie Desainte, the daughter of his father's colleague, which gave him an even better position at court and the title of "gunmaker-in-ordinary" to King Louis XVI of France. [3]
During the revolution he worked for Napoleon as director of the state arms manufactory. [4]
He died in Paris. [4]
The master who was responsible for these revolutionary changes in fire-arms design was Nicolas Noel Boutet, who was born on August 31st, 1761. His father was Noel Boutet, arquebusier des chevaux-légers du Roi.