Another "Whatisit" military muzzleloading rifle

[jmoore]

Saw this the other day and might bring it home, but haven't the foggiest as yet what is is:














Have been offline since Friday and haven't had opportunity to search makers.

Information

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[gsimmons]

JM, is it rifled?

[Patrick Chadwick]

JM, it's got me puzzled. Looks like a French-style butt and trigger guard, with a back-lock as used on some French percussion rifles (and by some German states) but a non-French hammer and a definitely German name. Top word is FABRIK = factory.
Bottom word is ?????NHAU, maybe ????FENHAU

If you could really, really try hard to get a better photo of that word, from various angles, it might be possible to deduce the rest. It all hangs on the ????


At present, I'm guessing it's something Swiss - since I have a lot of info on German and Austrian guns, and cannot find a match!

[gew8805]

Not Swiss, maybe Belgian-made.

[yoopercollector]

Could it be OLBERNHAU?

[Patrick Chadwick]

Could it be OLBERNHAU?

BRILLIANT!

Olbernhau is in Saxony. And Saxony is one of the states that used back-locks on percussion rifles. The only type I have illustrated is the "Schützengewehr Modell 1850".
JM: see if any of this matches your example!
The bore was 14.63mm (0.576") with 4 deep grooves. Twist 1 in 65". So minié bullets for the 3-band P1853 Enfield should go well.
And it was a "Dorngewehr" i.e. pillar-breech rifle. Like my "Pickelgewehr".

- Welcome to the club JM!

Flip-up sight.
The pillar was probably removed in the 1850s.
BUT it was a 3-band rifle. And I have not found a mention of a shorter, 2-band model. So it looks like it must be a cut-down version. Since the lock is openly marked as "FABRIK OLBERNHAU" it could be an "official" alteration. ...er no, it's more interesting...

Looking at the book as I write this...

GOT IT...

"On 15 March 1850 the Saxon War Ministry in Dresden place orders for rifles with OLBERNHAU and Chemnitz..."

...it gets better...

"In 1861 it was reported that United States purchasers had acquired the entire stock of Saxony's rifles via the French trading house of Ladé & Co. in Paris. This came about as a result of the efforts at standardization of the weapons of the German Confederation."

YOU HAVE FOUND A US-GOVERNMENT IMPORTED CIVIL WAR RIFLE. GET IT NOW

---------- Post added at 06:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:47 PM ----------

"Saw this the other day and might bring it home"


Might? MIGHT?
You must be joking.
I hereby request and require that you buy it instanter and get it banging again.

[jmoore]

Thanks, y'all!


OK, then. Hopefully, it'll still be there tomorrow. Price wasn't hideous, bore is uniformly rusty, but probably usable with some work. The main downsides: replaced rear sight with single fixed leaf, extra checkering on the area between the bands that doesn't at all match the checkering in the usual spot, and somebody attempted to remove the breech plug with a pipe wrench on the barrel.


The flintlock musket I was more interested in probably is already spoken for. The drama with not being a regular customer...

[jmoore]

Went and looked some more. It's sort of "death by many cuts". Barrel was indeed shortened, and not too many years ago. Probably less than 20, as the ram rod end is still bright. A well done shortening, but...


Rear sight looks miles too tall. Bore is uniform, dropped a small flashlight down the length of it, but not useful without work.


Dunno, for US$630 some odd for what is now nothing more than a "maybe" shooter, I'm thinking the money can be better squandered elsewhere. US$400 or so, might be worth the annoyances, maybe. Some of the northeastern US shows or stores would probably have better, even if it's twice or more as much it'd probably be worth it

[Patrick Chadwick]

"Dunno, for US$630 some odd for what is now nothing more than a "maybe" shooter, I'm thinking the money can be better squandered elsewhere."


A pity, but you're right!