Werder rifle M / 1869

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Werder rifle M / 1869
Werder rifle M / 1869
general information
Civil name: Werder rifle
Military designation: M / 1869
Country of operation: Bavaria
Developer / Manufacturer: Werder
Development year: 1867
Manufacturer country: Bavaria
Production time: 1869 to 1877
Model variants: M / 69 carbine, M / 69
gendarmerie carbine
Weapon Category: rifle
Furnishing
Overall length: 1320

1318 ("new type")
815 (carbine)
962 (gendarmerie carbine )
375 (pistol) mm

Weight: (unloaded) 4.25

4.59 ("new type")
2.73 (carbine)
3.02 (gendarmerie carbine )
1.67 (pistol) kg

Barrel length : 889

882 ("new type")
397 (carbine)
545 (gendarmerie carbine )
205 (pistol) mm

Technical specifications
Caliber : 11 × 50 mm R , 11 × 60 mm R 11 × 35
Ammunition supply : Single loader
Cadence : 18 rounds / min
Fire types: Single fire
Number of trains : 4 / right
Twist : 1 turn to 915 mm
Visor : open sights
Closure : Drop block lock
Charging principle: Breech loader
Lists on the subject

The Bavarian Werder rifle M / 1869 was the first breech-loading rifle of the German states with metal cartridge and center-fire percussion. It was introduced in various versions as the official long weapon for the Bavarian Army from 1869 .

development

The German War of 1866 had shown the superiority of breech- loading rifles over the muzzle-loading guns that had been in use until then . In 1867, the technical director of the Cramer-Klett machine factory in Nuremberg, Johann Ludwig Werder , presented a new breech-loading rifle with a drop block bolt to the Royal Bavarian Small Arms Trial Commission under the direction of Feldzeugmeister Prince Luitpold of Bavaria . It was a single loader for metal cartridges with center fire ignition . The Werder breech allowed the high rate of fire of up to 18 rounds per minute, which could only be achieved by very experienced shooters.

On April 18, 1869, the Werder rifle was introduced into the Bavarian Army by the “highest resolution” of the twenty-three year old King Ludwig II . Werder received the "Knight's Cross First Class of the Order of Merit of St. Michael " for its rifle construction .

Werder demanded the sum of 15,000 guilders for its construction as well as the right to use it elsewhere.

production

The Werder rifle was manufactured in the Royal Bavarian Rifle Factory in Amberg , as well as in Suhl . According to the files, 106,000 Werder rifles were produced, but weapon numbers around 120,000 are also known. The total number of all Werder rifles manufactured between 1869 and 1873 is estimated at around 127,000 pieces. In 1875 it was decided to purchase a “new type” of Werder rifles. The existing rifles were to be modernized, including the adaptation to the 11 × 60 mm R caliber. To this end, the stock of modern infantry rifles should be increased to 200,000. The “new kind” rifles were mainly obtained from the weapons factory in Steyr (approx. 20,000) and from Amberg (approx. 5,000). In 1877, however, it was decided to add 53,000 Mauser M / 71 rifles to the arsenals. At the same time, this was the end of the Werder rifle, which Bavaria could go it alone. From 1882 the uniform armament of the infantry of the German army was almost achieved.

Executions

  • Werder rifle M / 1869 (old model)
  • Werder rifle M / 1869 (new model)
  • Werder carbine M / 1869
  • Werder pistol M / 1869
  • Werder gendarmerie rifle M / 1869/1873

Originally the model M / 1869 for the Werder cartridge has a sliding sight, the modified model for the more powerful M71 cartridge has a frame sliding sight with 2 rear sights up to 1200 meters. However, the drop block lock was not designed for the much stronger cartridge and malfunctions and lock jams often occurred. Reworking the weapons did not help.

A Yatagan shape, which was common at the time, was used as the bayonet , and later it was changed to accommodate the Prussian M71 bayonet.

variants

Around 4,000 M / 69 carbines (twist 785 mm) were made for the cavalry, including an equally large number of Werder pistols. The gendarmerie received gendarmerie carbines M / 69 in a number of about 2,639 pieces. These rifles were ordered from the Francotte company in Liège.

ammunition

Originally, the Werder rifle was designed for an appropriately adapted Werder cartridge ( 11 × 50 mm R ) with 4.3 g black powder filling. The carbine and pistol received a case shortened to 35.05 mm with a charge reduced to 2.5 g black powder. The bullet remained the same as the rifle. After the Empire the weapon was 1875/1876 in order to standardize on the Mauser M71 cartridge ( 11 × 60 mm R ) aptiert , the cartridge chamber has been consumed and another visor for the larger shot size attached to the M71 cartridge. Rifles that were set up for the 11 × 60 mm R cartridge from the start were given the designation M / 69 nM (new pattern).

The projectile of the cartridge M / 69 reached a muzzle velocity of 385.5 m / s, with the cartridge 71 432.6 m / s were achieved. The maximum firing range increased from 2200 to 3000 meters.

The bullet diameter of the projectile of the "Scharfen Patrone M / 69" for the Werder rifle was 11.51 mm, the lead bullet weighed 21.96 g. The case length was 49.69 mm, the powder charge 4.3 g (66 grs), the entire cartridge weighed 36 g. An infantryman carried 80 cartridges with him, which, together with the insert boxes, weighed 3.2 kg.

War 1870/71

When the war against France broke out in 1870, only four battalions of hunters were armed with Werder rifles; when the war ended, there were 12 of 58 battalions. All other formations carried the Podewils rifle M57 / 67 , a muzzle-loader adapted for breech loading. Due to the rapid rate of fire, the Werder rifle generally earned the name "Bavarian Blitzgewehr".

Even contemporaries attributed the good shooting precision to "small differences of no more than ± 7 meters in the initial speed of the bullet", which were based on the regularity and therefore even combustion of the black powder used.

Curiosities

The Werder gendarmerie carbine gained a certain prominence when Mathias Kneißl was arrested on March 5, 1901, when the gendarmerie Lieutenant Karl Küster had a total of 20 gendarmes in two groups alternately shot at Kneißl 's hiding place: With 772 cartridges fired, there were 267 jams and 37 failures, so 40% failure rate. Some of the cases had to be driven out of the cartridge chamber with the unloading sticks so that the audience got the impression that they were muzzle-loaders. Nevertheless, Kneißl was seriously injured.

In his film Räuber Kneißl , Marcus H. Rosenmüller made the gendarmes carry the rifle 88 , i.e. not the gendarmerie carbine 88, which is actually correct for gendarmes. For this purpose, the carbine 88 was not introduced later in the Bavarian gendarmes either (there was only one Prussian and one Baden model ), an anachronism in two respects.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Werder rifle in a clear presentation for the K. Bavarian Infantry together with an overview of the return systems in general . 2nd Edition. Krüll'sche Buchhandlung, Eichstätt 1870, p. 8–9 ( Google Books [accessed June 27, 2014]).
  2. ↑ Henry Darapsky: The Werder rear-loading rifle. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 192, 1869, p. 193. “The rate of fire was 14-15 shots per minute with very experienced crews when loading from the pocket. In Amberg, trained shooters scored 18 hits with 18 shots per minute against a 4-foot-wide, 9-foot-high target at 200 paces. "
  3. ^ Dieter Storz: From the Werder rifle to the model 71/84. P. 88.
  4. ^ Dieter Storz: From the Werder rifle to the model 71/84 . In: German military rifles. Catalogs of the Bavarian Army Museum Ingolstadt . tape 1 , no. 8 . Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-902526-43-4 , pp. 70 .
  5. ^ Dieter Storz: From the Werder rifle to the model 71/84 . In: German military rifles. Catalogs of the Bavarian Army Museum Ingolstadt . tape 1 , no. 8 . Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-902526-43-4 , pp. 54 .
  6. ^ Hans Dieter Götz: The German military rifles and machine guns 1871-1945 . 4th edition. Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 978-3-87943-350-6 , pp. 14 .
  7. ^ Dieter Storz: From the Werder rifle to the model 71/84 . In: German military rifles. Catalogs of the Bavarian Army Museum Ingolstadt 8 . tape 1 . Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-902526-43-4 , pp. 68 .
  8. ↑ Anonymous: The German Reichsgewehr (model 1871) . In: Dinglers Polytechnisches Journal 1875 . tape 216 , p. 233 .
  9. ^ Dieter Storz: From the Werder rifle to the model 71/84 . In: German military rifles. Catalogs of the Bavarian Army Museum Ingolstadt . tape 1 , no. 8 . Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-902526-43-4 , pp. 106-107 .

Web links

Commons : Werdergewehr  - Collection of images, videos and audio files