Boer War: The Forefront of the Latest Weaponry!

The British Army and the armed forces of both Boer Republics went through an extensive rearmament programme during the last three decades of the century. The armies of both belligerent parties introduced breech-loading rifles that enhanced the rates of fire and allowed soldiers to fire from a prone position. Further sophistication—a bolt mechanism and magazine, smaller calibre ammunition, and smokeless propellants—enabled infantry to maintain rapid, aimed fire without powder obscuring the field of vision. The artillery of both armies also converted to breech-loading ordnance and adopted a smokeless propellant that had been available since the early 1890s.

Source: The Boer War: Army, Nation and Empire