Austrian 1867/77 Werndle

[Aragorn243]

Found this at a local gun show I'd never gone to before. I spotted it pretty early but it was a bit more than I wanted to spend so I went through the entire show looking for something a bit more modern and less expensive. No luck with that so I went back to look at it one last time before leaving. The seller took pity on me and lowered the price substantially and here it is. A rifle I was aware existed but never knew I needed to have until today. Weird how that happens sometimes. I had no expectations of getting it. Figured there was no way he would accept the amount I was carrying.

This one was made in 1871 by the Steyr Works of J. Werndl & Co. The lockplate was made the same year by the AZF state arsenal in Vienna. Werndl did not make the lockplates for the rifles in the earlier production runs. In 1872, the barrel markings were changed from WERNDLE to OEWG. This one was modified in 1877 to take the more powerful round 11.15x58R cartridge as were most of the original rifles.

I'll need to find a bayonet for it as this is one of the few cartridge rifles I managed to never get a bayonet for. Needs a cleaning rod and ammunition obviusly as well. Hopefully I can track down some ammo at least at next week's Timonium antique arms show, possibly a bayonet also but they tend to want top dollar there.

To modify these, they had the chamber reamed out to the large cartridge, the rear sights swapped out with a ladder sight that extends out quite a bit and the rear was opened up to allow the larger cartridge to be inserted.

This one appears to be in good working condition with a bore with strong lands and grooves and some light pitting but nothing major. I did not know it at the time of purchase, but these were still used in limited quantities during WWI. Probably the usual guards, rear echelon troops, etc.

Information

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