"… they seeing do not see, and hearing do not hear, and do not understand"
(Gospel of Matthew 13:13)
In the two previous articles, we examined the genesis of the sliding gate and saw that its development proceeded along two paths almost simultaneously. In the first case, a sliding bolt in the form of a piston was used in rifles for the most common paper cartridges for primer shotguns at that time. In the second, they were used in rifles that already fired metal cartridges with ring and primer ignition. The intermediate type is paper cartridges for Dreise, Chasspo and Carcano needle rifles. However, such cartridges were soon finally replaced by cartridges with metal sleeves. The latter, also at the beginning, as, for example, the American cartridge of Barnside, although they had a sleeve, did not have a primer. However, they did not last long either, since the cartridges with central battle primers were definitely better than them. Nevertheless, the sliding shutter at the turn of the 60-70s. XIX century. still has established itself as the most rational and technically perfect bolt for a mass army rifle!
Lorenz Dorn fitting, model 1854, produced in Austria-Hungary to equip its army.
Well, now, as promised, we will go on a journey across countries and continents and see what rifles with what sliding bolts their armies were armed with in the last quarter of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The very first country on our way will be Austria, which was called Austria-Hungary at that time and had a very funny state flag with two coats of arms and three horizontal stripes at once: the upper one is red, the middle one is white, and the lower one is double, first red (Austria), behind then green (Hungary).
To begin with, the industrial base for the production of small arms in Austria-Hungary was created by Leopold Verdl. By the end of 1840, more than 500 workers were employed at his enterprise. He traveled to the United States, visited the factories of Colt, Remington and Pratt and Wheatley and organized a business after their model. After Leopold's death in 1855, his business was succeeded by his two sons, one of whom is Joseph, in 1863 he again went to America to the Colt and Remington factories. Returning to his hometown of Steyr, he reorganized production and eventually created a first-class arms company in 1869 - the Oesterreichische Waffenfabriks gesellschaft (OEWG) in Vienna.
He was also engaged in design activities. The single-shot carbine with a crane valve designed by him was adopted by the Austro-Hungarian army. After him, a successful project was the work of the Viennese gunsmith Ferdinand Fruvirth, who created an 11-mm carbine with an under-barrel magazine and a sliding bolt with locking by turning. In total, it contained 8 rounds, which, if desired, could be fired in 16 seconds, and loaded with six rounds in 12. This was the first magazine carbine chambered for the central battle. Tests lasted from 1869 to 1872, when it was officially adopted by the border guards and gendarmes. But for the army, it turned out to be too fragile, so already in 1875 its production was discontinued.
Ferdinand Fruvirt's carbine device.
At first glance, there was nothing special about Fruvirt's design. Similar rifles were offered by many designers and firms. However, despite the fact that the carbine was criticized for being too weak a Root cartridge from Hungary, it should be emphasized that it embodied many original solutions that could later be used in other, later designs, but … no, it was truly said: "Have eyes and do not see!"
Fravirt's carbine. Noteworthy is the very long length of the bolt handle.
For example, Fruvirt's sliding bolt had a very long "L"-shaped handle, turned 180 degrees, which was attached to the bolt from the side on the right at a right angle. That is, it was enough to turn it to a horizontal position in order to disengage the bolt from engagement with the receiver. In addition, the long length is a large lever, so it was very convenient to work with such a handle. And what is interesting is that it was only many years later that they began to use exactly the same long bolt handles, but what prevented them from doing this from the very beginning, as soon as it first appeared on the Fruvirt carbine? Patent Rights? But they could be obtained by the method of attaching it to the shutter, but not by the length!
The device of a Mannlicher rifle with an underbarrel magazine in 1882.
Whatever it was, but Austria-Hungary in 1880 began to look for such a sample of a rifle so that it could serve for many years. And then Ferdinand Mannlicher took the stage. By education, he was a track engineer. Weapons were his hobby - that's how, but a hobby of such a level that in 1876 he specially went to the World's Fair in Philadelphia to get acquainted with the latest models of small arms. In 1880, he designed his first rifle with a tubular magazine in the buttstock, then in 1881 a rifle with a middle magazine and a pusher based on a cylindrical spring, and then in 1885 his first rifle with a middle magazine and a direct action bolt, which was put into service. next year. The cartridge for it was originally adopted in caliber 11, 15x58R, but then it was replaced by 8x50R on the M1886 / 90 conversion model.
It should be noted that Ferdinand Mannlicher was a very creative person and offered new rifles literally one after another. I didn't like a rifle with an under-barrel magazine - here's one with a middle one, but located on top (М1882) - fig. up. Seven rounds, you can fill in loose, and no springs, and magazines. Convenient, isn't it? Too many bullets? Here's a model from 1884 - fig. at the bottom. That is, everything that was popular at least for a short time - like, for example, Fosbury and Lindner stores, he immediately put on his rifles and tested them, trying to find the best option.
The device of the Mannlicher M1886 rifle.
M1886 rifle. (Army Museum, Stockholm)
And this is how cartridges 11, 15x58R and the clip for this rifle looked. The corrugation at the top made it easier to remove it from the store.
Improving this model, Ferdinand Mannlicher designed the M1888 rifle, planning it for the new 8x50R cartridge with smokeless powder from the very beginning.
The device of the Mannlicher M1888 rifle.
M1888 rifle. (Army Museum, Stockholm)
Carbine devices 1890
Cavalry carbine 1890 (Army Museum, Stockholm)
Consistently improving his rifle, Mannlicher developed a model of 1895, also adopted for service. With this rifle, Austria-Hungary participated in the First World War and produced it until 1916, when it was replaced in production by the more technologically advanced Mauser rifle. A characteristic feature of all Mannlicher rifles was a direct action bolt with a handle at the level of the trigger and a pack falling out through a hole in the magazine. The unused cartridge pack could be removed through the open bolt after pressing the latch located in the rear of the store, aligned with the trigger guard. It was the lightest and one of the fastest-firing rifles of the First World War.
The bolt to the Mannlicher rifle 1895
As can be clearly seen in the graphic diagrams given here, the Mannlicher rifle bolt consisted of two parts: internal and external. The outer one had a handle and, when moving "back and forth", turning the inner one due to the presence of corresponding grooves and protrusions on them. At the same time, the striker was cocked and the cartridge was locked in the chamber due to two lugs located in the front of the rotating part of the bolt. This design, of course, increased both the rate of fire and the convenience of working with the rifle, although it was quite sensitive to pollution. However, the Austrians themselves did not complain about this, as well as about the supposedly possible contamination of the store through the holes for the clips to fall out. How many Russian officers criticized this hole, but in real life it turned out that as it gets there, the dirt itself is removed through it. Whereas in stores where there was no such hole, without proper care, it accumulated in unacceptable quantities. Thanks to the use of the pack, the rifle did not require any "cut-off-reflectors" that complicated the design, although the volume of metal lost on each pack was somewhat larger than on the clip. In 1930, it was converted to use 8x56R cartridges and received the designation М1895 / 30.
Rifle device 1895.
M1895 rifle. (Army Museum, Stockholm)
Austro-Hungarian soldier of mountain shooters with a carbine (the Austrians themselves called this sample a short rifle) of the 1895 model.
It is interesting that Werndl himself, engaged in the mass production of modern weapons, continued to engage in design work, and even invented a rifle with a double-row underbarrel magazine. However, she had no success.
The Verndl rifle with a double-row barrel magazine.
