Crespi breech loader

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Crespi breech-loading rifle was used by Austria for a short time from 1770 to 1779 , making it the first regular military breech-loading rifle .

Development history

Weapons with a flap bolt that opened upwards were known in England as early as 1660. A copy from around 1680 by Peter Duringer from Mainz has also been preserved . Later copies have not survived; Only in the 1760s did the Milanese Ambroglia Gorla and Giuseppe Crespi rediscover the principle. It is not known what role Gorla played in the development; the system was definitely named after Crespi.

Giuseppe Crespi was a locksmith by profession and presented his system to the Austrian Army in Milan. He was then invited to Vienna. Emperor Joseph II became aware of the weapon and ordered tests in October 1770. Two commissions saw the system as promising. Joseph II then ordered the change of rifles; 351 pieces had been completed by June 1771. In 1772 Austria started a tender for a further 2,000 rifles. This tender was won by a working group of gunsmiths from Ferlach . Crespi instructed the workers there in the production of his system.

Like many inventors of the time, Crespi found that governments were happy to take up inventions but were reluctant to pay for them. When Crespi saw that his help was no longer needed, he asked about government employment, an annuity, or a lump sum. At the end of 1772 they finally agreed on a lump sum and Crespi left Vienna.

Gorla, Crespi's former business partner, demanded a share and took legal action against Crespi in Milan. In February 1778 the court dismissed Gorla's claims. In any case, the invention did not bring financial success for Crespi; he died in poverty and his invention was forgotten.

Rifles with the Crespi system were made by the London gunsmith Urs Egg in 1784. A smaller number of these weapons were introduced into the British Army . Henry Nock , another London gunsmith, tried in 1787 on a variant of the breech. The American John H. Hall manufactured a rifle from 1811, which was constructed on the same principle but differed in technical details. A later version, the M1819 Hall rifle , was introduced in the United States Army . The M1819 Hall rifle was the first usable breech-loading rifle .

technology

Principle of the hinged
chamber lock: 1: Chamber folded in
2: Chamber is set up for loading
3: Powder and bullet loaded
4: Chamber folded back in

The Crespi system is a Aptierung the then usual muzzle loaders with flintlock . The rear part of the barrel, the chamber, was separated from the front part (flight). The chamber was movable by a hinge and could be placed vertically for loading. The black powder was poured into the set up chamber and the ball was placed on it. The rear part was folded down horizontally for firing. The two running parts were firmly held together by a lever that was locked in a holding device . However, the flat contact surfaces of the chamber and barrel were only pressed together; gas tightness was not guaranteed in this way.

The weapons issued to the cavalry had a long bayonet . If it wasn't planted, it was hung under the fore-end with the point upside down.

The typical length of the weapon was 123 cm with a caliber mm from 19th

commitment

Crespi rifles were used by parts of the Austrian infantry and dragoons from 1770 to 1779 . Some units fought with it in the War of the Bavarian Succession . The lack of gas tightness caused burns among the shooters , which is why the rifles were withdrawn. Due to the loss of pressure, the range was also shorter than that of contemporary muzzle-loaders.

Later the weapons were only given out temporarily, for example to volunteer organizations in the First Coalition War in 1793.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Jaroslav Lugs: Small arms . Volume I. 6th edition, Military Publishing House of the GDR , 1979, p. 52
  2. ↑ Helmut Neuhold : 1866 Königgrätz , Marix Verlag , 2016, ISBN 9783843805353 , p. 117 [1]
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Dwight B. Demeritt Jr. John H. Hall and the Origin of the Breechloader in: American Society of Arms Collectors , Bulletin # 42 (Spring 1980)
  4. ↑ a b c d Crespi Breech-loading Carbine , The Armourer's Bench
  5. ^ A b Robin Coupland, Markus Rothschild , Michael Thali: Wound Ballistics: Basics and Applications . Ed .: Beat Kneubuehl . Springer Science + Business Media , 2011, ISBN 978-3-642-20356-5 , pp. 329-330 ( [2] ).
  6. ^ Richard Bassett: For God and Kaiser: The Imperial Austrian Army, 1619-1918 , Yale University Press , 2015, ISBN 9780300178586 p. 173 [3]
  7. ↑ Flintlock breech-loading military carbine - Model 1770 : Royal Armories