Wall rifle
A wall rifle is a historical handgun that was mostly built as a muzzle loader . It was used in the fortress war and had a large caliber with appropriate penetration.
The projectiles of these "defensive rifles" should not only have a high hit ability at long distances, even against smaller targets, but also have sufficient penetration power so that lighter enemy cover could also be fought. In the early days of muzzle-loading there was only one possibility to do this: the use of heavy, large-caliber round balls with a powerful powder charge in conjunction with a rifled barrel . The violent recoil made it necessary to choose the weight of such a weapon so difficult that such rifles could only be fired when placed on a parapet or a goat . Corresponding compression or expansion projectiles were developed in the first half of the 19th century. The end of the development was z. In Prussia, for example, the Dreyse ignition needle wall rifle M65 with a caliber of 23.5 mm is represented. Wall rifles were used from the 15th to the end of the 19th century. In 1909 Wall rifles were already referred to as “old handguns for the fortress war”.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ortenburg: Arms of the Wars of Unification 1848–1871. 1990, p. 70
- ^ W. Eckhardt, O. Morawietz: The hand weapons of the Brandenburg-Prussian-German army 1640-1945. 1957, pp. 127-130
- ^ Theodor Fontane : The war against France 1870-1871 , Volume 1, complete edition in three volumes, Berlin 1873, p. 667 f., Reprint 2004, Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza
- ^ Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 20. Leipzig 1909, p. 346. [1]