Help Identifying This Old Rifle - *Extremely Pic Heavy*

lockon223

lockon223

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Good day everyone,

All help is appreciated. I'm looking to identify this old rifle that my grandfather gave to me. I believe he received it as payment a long time ago so we do not know its origins.

I am curious about:
-Its country of origin?
-Any kind of history related to it?
-What it may have been used for and by whom?
-Age?
-Value? (although I will never sell it)
-How many people have one?

I took many many photos so hopefully all you guys have seen this and can give me any information you know about this gun.

Thank you for your time and help,
Enjoy the photos

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Lockon
 
Looks to be a Dreyse Needle Gun. Pictures match what come up on Google. I'm no expert, but I'm sure they'll be along shortly with more info.
From what I understand it's Prussian (North Eastern German State prior to Germany being a state on its own). They used it to kick the snot out of the Danish, Austrians, and French in short succession.

...Looks beautiful you lucky SOB
 
AMAZING condition and a rare rifle...Well done Id say.

hows the bore??? If her insides are as nice as her outsides you will have yourself a beautiful shooter!
 
Thanks for the links and info!
I cannot even imagine where I'd find that ammunition,
The outsides are beautiful! The bore and rifling appears to be good condition but I ran some oil and clothe through the barrel and there's definitely a rusty color but doesn't seem as bad as I'd thought.
I think it's missing the firing pin/needle :(
 
The needles often snapped off, part of the problem with the design. Also had issues with blowback in your face because of the gasket :p

Still very neat guns. Never seen one up here, nevermind in that condition.
 
Very neat, very rare rifle, although sorry to say yours has been reblued which hurts the value somewhat.
 
green said:
Shot one of these and did not notice any gas leakage.
Click to expand...

As the gasket wears out it begins to leak more and more. If it's an original rubber style seal then after some amount of use it will begin to fail and leak. Never experienced it first hand but gathered this from several reputable sources.
 
Needles can be fabricated....Sometimes there is a spare unter the buttplate.....That might be optimistic after 140 or so years.

If you do find one under there do not install it, use it for a pattern to make more.


Hope you post lots of pictures of the process.
 
H Wally said:
As the gasket wears out it begins to leak more and more. If it's an original rubber style seal then after some amount of use it will begin to fail and leak. Never experienced it first hand but gathered this from several reputable sources.
Click to expand...

There is no gasket on the M1841 Dreyse. The seal depends on the metal to metal fit of the male cone on the barrel seating into the female recess on the bolt.
Many of the later M1862,M1865 and M1869 rifles were retrofitted with the "Beck conversion" from 1869-73 which did use a leather gasket.
 
I have shot a Westley Richards monkey tail which uses a gasket behind the charge. When I shot the gun, I punched the gaskets (wads) out of prelubed muzzle loading shotgun wads and made the wad about 1/3 of a wad thick rather than the full 1/2" or so that they come as. They sealed the breach well and could be re used about twice (the used originals were pushed forward by the next paper cartridge and shot out of the gun with the bullet.

Point is that you might try making a 1/4" thick wad from muzzle loading shotgun wads and punch a hole in the center for the firing pin. If the gun is 45 caliber then use a 1/2" punch to cut the wad. (I can't remember what caliber the dreyse was)

cheers mooncoon
 
green said:
There is no gasket on the M1841 Dreyse. The seal depends on the metal to metal fit of the male cone on the barrel seating into the female recess on the bolt.
Many of the later M1862,M1865 and M1869 rifles were retrofitted with the "Beck conversion" from 1869-73 which did use a leather gasket.
Click to expand...

hickstick_10 said:
No gasket in the Dreyse. You're thinking of a Chassepot most likely

Get more reputable sources.
Click to expand...

Hmm - I stand corrected. Back to my books :p
 
Thats a very nice Zündnadelgewehr M 1841 from Nicolaus Dreyse aus Sömmerda.
As a matter of fact, this is the first time somebody posted one on this site.
Gratulations.
 
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