Welcome to in the present day’s Picture of the Day! Right here now we have a rifle that we had touched on briefly prior to now. I ought to say we touched just a little on the design in a earlier Picture of the day article however that was on the literal rifle. This Mannequin 1857 Dreyse Needle-Fireplace gun is a scarce carbine variant and the one pictured is serial quantity 3 nonetheless. The Dreyse needle-fire system was fairly easy. It makes use of a paper cartridge that’s inserted into the breech and when it’s closed up and able to go a literal needle acts as a firing pin and punctures into the cartridge, via the black powder, and right into a primer. This units off the cartridge and is a fast and environment friendly approach of capturing. It was an engineering marvel on the time and a few international locations adopted it on the spot. The draw back? The needles are likely to get burned up and brittle and break in consequence.
“Crown/Ok” proofs are marked on a number of parts. A “crown/A” proof is marked on the barrel, and a “crown/W” proof is marked on the buttplate tang. The quantity “3” is stamped on the bolt deal with, bolt, receiver, barrel and set off meeting. There are not any different markings. The barrel is fitted with inverted “V” entrance and two leaf rear sights. The buttplate and set off guard are brass. Saddle rings are mounted behind the set off guard. The total size inventory has a raised cheekpiece. The Prussian navy adopted the Dreyse needle-gun, the primary breech loading rifle to make use of a bolt to open and shut the chamber, in 1841 as their major infantry weapon. The Mannequin 1857 carbine is among the rarer examples.”
Lot 218: Prussian Mannequin 1857 Dreyse Needle-Fireplace Bolt Motion Carbine – Uncommon Prussian Mannequin 1857 Dreyse Needle-Fireplace Bolt Motion Carbine Serial Quantity 3. (n.d.). Rock Island Public sale Firm. {photograph}. Retrieved September 14, 2022, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/element/71/218/prussian-model-1857-dreyse-needlefire-bolt-action-carbine.