„Die Gartenlaube“ (Gazebo), 1868 , page 629
Dedicated to my wife
Finze, Wolfgang: Prussian Needle Guns, Guideline For prospective Collectors and Shooters. . - 1. Auflage. –
Translation: Vermaat, Piet
Norderstedt : Books on Demand GmbH, 2021. - 204 S.
ISBN 9783753449876
Herstellung und Verlag: BoD – Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt
„Die Gartenlaube“ (Gazebo), 1868 , page 629
It is the pleasant duty of the author to thank everyone that contributed to the realization of this book.
I am also indebted to the following persons that supplied information and images for this book. Without them, this book could never have been realized.
Inhalt
The years between 1848 and 1876, in which the Prussian army was armed with Needle guns, are the years between the “Ölmützer Punktation” and the creation of a German nation under Prussian leadership. The “Ölmützer Punktation” treaty meant that Prussia had to waive its ambitions for the leadership in Germany. The German nation was created in 1871 after Prussia had won three wars, despite this treaty.
Prussia took the nearly revolutionary decision to adopt the needle gun. At that time other armies had just finished the conversion from flintlock to percussion lock. The infantry of these nations was, for the most part, armed with smoothbore muzzleloaders. The needle gun was not only a breech-loader but it also used a paper cartridge. The actual introduction of the needle gun in the Prussian army started in 1848. The decision was taken to equip the army in its totality with needle guns.Prussia achieved a technical advantage over other nations that lasted nearly 20 years. Prussia’s infantry became after 1850, partly because of the adoption of a breech-loader, the best and most powerful army in Europe.
This book limits itself to the needle guns that were developed by Nikolaus (von) Dreyse and that were adopted by the Prussian army. Patterns that never left the trial stage (for instance the Needle pistol) are not discussed. Wall guns and other needle gun systems adopted by other nations are also not addressed. In this book, a lot of information, that can only be found in difficult to assess contemporary literature and Prussian instruction manuals is brought together.
A large part of this book is about needle gun ammunition and information about training. This book also provides information about the combat use of the needle gun.
In most of the previous publications about needle guns, this kind of information is treated briefly or not at all.
Furthermore, this book tries to create a link between collectors and shooters. Some collectors will never shoot their needle guns. But others will participate enthusiastically in matches.
This book also describes where needle gun matches are held, who can help with technical problems with a rifle and how to make needle gun ammunition.
Rostock, February 2021
Wolfgang Finze
“Your Royal Highness, 60.000 soldiers, armed with this rifle under the leadership of a talented general and the leadership of Your Majesty the King, will determine where Prussia’s Borders will be situated.”
(Major Prien, At an audience of the Crown Prince, later King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, 1838)
Prussia adopted the needle gun developed, by Nikolaus von Dreyse in 1841. It was the best military rifle of its time and far superior to any other military rifle. The adoption in 1841 did not mean however that the Prussian army was immediately equipped with the needle gun in its totality. The changeover for the army started in 1848 and was not even finished in 1866.
Nikolaus (also written as Nicolaus) Dreyse, 20/11/1787 – 09/12/1867 in Sömmerda, was nominated “Komissionsrat” in 1846 and „Geheimen Komissionsrat“ in 1854 and became, therefore „Hoffähig“ (right of presentation at Court). Because of his outstanding merits, he was ennobled in 1864 and could change his name to von Dreyse.
Dreyse experimented with cartridges and needle ignition since 1827. His goal was to simplify loading by using a cartridge consisting of a bullet, the powder charge, and a primer. The Prussian army followed these developments with a lot of interest. The Crown Prince (later King Friedrich Wilhelm I) and the Prince of Prussia (later King Wilhelm I) supported Dreyse. The breakthrough came in 1836 when Dreyse presented a breech-loader with a rifled barrel. Prussia adopted this rifle for its “Füsilier” battalions, after some improvements and successful troop trials.
Dreyse transferred the rights of his invention to the Prussian state for a yearly salary1 of 1200 Taler and a one-time payment of 10.000 Taler. On the 4th of December 1840, he received orders for 60.000 rifles and 500 cartridges for each rifle. He also obtained a loan of 90.000 Taler for the construction of the rifle factory. The rifle and ammunition were a state secret. The rifles were called light percussion rifles because of this. This name was kept until March 22, 1855, when it was changed to “Zündnadel-Gewehr” (Needle rifle).
The rifles built in Sömmerda were put into storage under strict secrecy until enough rifles were available for the Füsilier battalions. +/- 45.00 rifles were in storage in the arsenals of Berlin and Magdeburg at the start of 1848. Twenty-two million cartridges were stored separately in other arsenals. On June 6, 1848, the King ordered that the Foot Guard regiments no. 1 and 2, the Reserve Guard regiment and the Füsilier battalions of the Infantry regiments 2, 9 and 32 were to be equipped immediately with needle rifles. The issuance of the rifle took some time, however.
The regimental history of Infantry regiment No.32, for instance, mentions the issuance of the rifles in 1849.
“A significant event for the Füsilier battalion of the regiment in this year (1849) was the conversion from Percussion rifles to breech-loaders.
The regiment was equipped with the “Zündnadelgewehr” M/41.”
The arsenal in Berlin was stormed on June 14, 1848. The revolutionaries seized the stored needle rifles. They did not get any cartridges because the cartridges were stored separately in the Artillery Laboratory near the Oranienburg Gate. The long-kept secret was not a secret anymore!
All of the captured weapons were recovered except for 30 rifles. Some of them certainly found their way to other countries. The needle rifle did not receive a favorable opinion. Everyone saw the weaknesses (that were present without a doubt). The cartridges were also considered to be far too dangerous for military use.
Ploennis2 writes:
“Because they couldn’t see anything new in the locking mechanism or the ignition pill the crux of the matter was overlooked, namely the independent decision by the Prussian government to adopt an advanced breech-loading rifle, with the systematic and methodical consequence that the care and conservation of the proper weapon and its cartridge could be taken care of by domestic establishments. It ensures that the last details are taken into consideration and that the integration into the army structure is seamless.”
On June 20 the Prussian King ordered the allocation of needle rifles to an additional 14 Füsilier battalions.
The first use in combat of needle rifles was in 1849 during the fighting in Dresden and the suppression of the revolt in Baden. Five Füsilier battalions equipped with needle rifles were deployed in Schleswig-Holstein on July 23—26 to test the new rifle under combat conditions. Additional Füsilier battalions3 were equipped with needle rifles in 1849 (Dreyse delivered 1200 rifles in 1849). In 1852, 32 Füsilier battalions were armed with Zündnadel rifles. The “Musketier” battalions that still used the smoothbore musket M/39 were not equipped with needle rifles until 1852.
The capacity of the factory in Sömmerda was too small to complete all orders. Dreyse had already licensed the Prussian state factories in 1849.
Prussia took over the privately-owned arms factories in Danzig and Potsdam and tooled them up for needle rifle production. The state factories could produce needle rifles from 1855 onwards.
Prussia used the years after 1849 to include the tactical possibilities of the needle rifle in the training of the army. The Prussian Military calculated that the firepower of the needle rifle was equal to the firepower of 900 muzzleloaders.
Dreyse developed new rifle models in the years after 1845. These new developments took the operational experience into account. The Prussian military, however, did not adopt all these new designs. The acceptance process for a new rifle model was as follows:
This means that several years lie between the model year and the year of introduction. The artisanal manufacture of the rifle made high production numbers impossible. The publication date of the manual for the rifle is a good estimate for the introduction date of the rifle model.
The accuracy of the Füsiliers needle rifle was on a par or even better than the accuracy of the muzzleloading Jäger carbine.
Therefore, the Jägerbüchse M/49 (also called “the light percussion rifle”) for the “Jäger” units was developed first. The first rifles were issued in 1852 and were used until 1856 by the Garde-Jäger battalion and until 1867 by the Garde-Schützen battalion. It is quite likely that the M/49 was only used for an extended army trial to gain experience for the design of carbines. The rifles were only produced in Sömmerda. The rifle did not meet the expectations. The literature of the period provides no data on why it was not satisfactory.
On June 19, 1851, the King issued the order that “Zündnadelgewehre” were going to be produced exclusively in Prussia. The adoption of the needle rifle Zündnadelgewehre was not uncontroversial, however. The thought process of many generals was still stuck in the era of the Napoleonic wars. These wars were thought to be the perfection of the art of war. The generals opposed any change to the current regulations. Prussia was in the middle of the changeover when the Crimean war broke out between Russia on one side and England, France and somewhat later the kingdom of Sardinia on the other side. The infantry of the Guards and about half of the Line regiments were armed with Zündnadelgewehre. The other units were armed with smoothbore muzzle-loading M/39 muskets.
Analysis of the war had shown that units armed with smoothbore muskets (Russian army) stood no chance against units with rifled muzzleloaders (England, France). This analysis also concluded that a part of the Prussian army would have been armed with an inferior weapon if Prussia would have become involved in the Crimean war.
The magazine from Berlin the “Kladderadatsch” (unholy mess) commented this as follows:
The introduction of a new rifle in Reuss-Schleiz-Greiz-Lobenstein-Eberndorf (nonsensical description of a fictional German state)
A new rifle/ breech-loader/without a hammer/ It needs a new regulation, “Kladderadatsch,” August 8, 1852
There was a shortage of at least 267.300 rifles4. Three solutions to solve this problem were considered.