Early 1850s German Percussion Rifle

mooncoon

mooncoon

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Thought that I would share some photos of my newest acquisition; a german rifled military carbine that I am guessing dates to the early 1850s. Reason for guessing that date is that Britain and the US tried rifling their percussion smoothbores about that time before dropping to 58 caliber. This one is about 72 caliber with fairly deep rifling. I hope to try it with both mini balls and round ball. Interesting aspect about the rear sight leaf is that the back part with the aperatures in it, is also a spring to keep the sight standing. I suspect these guns may have been used by sharp shooters working in small groups for reconasance as well as sniping high value targets like officers and cannon crew. I am guessing that Simon Schuilla is the stock maker. The lock shows that the gun is a conversion from a flintlock because I can see the plugged hole for the frizzen pivot screw

cheers mooncoon











 
mrclean89 said:
It looks very much like a lorenz to me doug. I believe there were several models of these some rifled and some not
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I don't mind accepting that it is Austrian rather than German but the Lorenz rifle was 54 caliber and this one is 72 caliber. I did see one photo of a Lorenz with what appears to be the same rear sight although most photos showed more conventional rear sights. I am guessing mine is a developmental predecessor of the Lorenz much like the P39 and P42 and P51 string of muskets and rifles lead to the 58 caliber Enfield. I think there have been a couple of Lorenz rifles floating around the gunshows for the last year or two. I tried looking on the web for a history of german and austrian percussion rifles but the web is strangely silent on the subject. It does show the flintlock predecessor of mine however

cheers mooncoon
 
I may be way off course - but there was a musket, obviously cut down, of apparent Austrian heritage that to my memory seemed a lot like what you have - bounced around on the EE repeatedly and surfaced at a couple island gun shows a few times. It had a very distinctive bell shaped ramrod. I remember handling it and seem to remember it being larger than 60 caliber in appearance.

Would it be worth researching their flintlock rifles as this one likely began as one? It seems like the Austrians and Germans recycled their guns for quite a while, case in point a percussion horse pistol I have that seems to have originally been manufactured as a flintlock or tube lock pistol some 50-75 or more years before conversion.

If the rifling is shallow, is it possible it was rifled from a heavy walled musket later in life when converted to percussion? Or maybe rebarreled with a rifled barrel? All unlikely, but worth pursuing.
 
D... How come you are on here posting about it when you should have been out testing it and providing us with a range report as well.....You get that at Heffley?

T..
 
MC One Shot said:
D... How come you are on here posting about it when you should have been out testing it and providing us with a range report as well.....You get that at Heffley?

T..
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I picked it up at Heffley but have been too busy unpacking etc to cast some balls and try it. I want to try it with a mini ball as well but am not sure if I have a mold that size :>( I still have to transfer some photos over to Photobucket and post them, of the Heffley rendezvous.

cheers mooncoon
 
MC One Shot said:
D... How come you are on here posting about it when you should have been out testing it and providing us with a range report as well.....You get that at Heffley?

T..
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I finally got around to testing the rifle a couple of days ago. I shot at 25 yards to be sure that I hit the target. The rear sight was way off, but the gun shot about 1 1/2" group at 25 yards using round ball. Now I want to cast a few more balls and go back and adjust the rear sight. I think I will try to do that shooting standing up and bracing sideways movement on a roof support. When I shot from the bench, the gun is decidedly uncomfortable. I used 70 grains of 2F and a patched .710 round ball. I shall try to report back in a few days.

cheers mooncoon
 
I have to cast a few minis to see what diameter my mold is; it is one that I picked up on Ebay years ago for another gun and have never actually cast anything out of. Since the round balls were fairly hard kicking when benched, I suspect a mini will be more so. I also don't feel that I am using a heavy charge by any means, when you consider that I used 2F and when you consider the large size of the bore

cheers mooncoon
 
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