General Basile Gras (2 January 1836 – 14 April 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.