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The lead
illustration to this article (not shown here) is of a European Military
copy of the .44 Henry Rifle. Little is know of these German-made rifles, they
are extremely rare, and only five or six examples are known to exist today. It was
difficult to find much factual information on this rifle. In 1864 Winchester
sold some .44 Henry rifles to Prussia, and from these examples it must have been
thought the design had some military potential. During the
early 1870’s, Spanenberg & Sauer, Suhl, Thuringen manufactured a small
quantity of similar rifles to be submitted for Bavarian Army tests. The rifles
could not have created much interest with the Bavarian army as only the trial
run, probably not exceeding 400 in total, were manufactured. The sample rifle
illustrated here is from this trial run. Mechanically
these rifles are identical to the Winchester made Henry, except for the magazine
loading system and external fittings. To load
this rifle, the follower is pushed to the front of the magazine tube and turned into a locking slot. This movement pushes back a sliding cover to expose a
cartridge profile cut-out in the tube through which the cartridges are placed.
It would seem to be quite an improvement on the Henry system where the front of
the magazine was turned sideways, and the cartridges dropped into the tube. Other
differences from the Henry are that the sling fittings are on the right hand
side, and a full length cleaning rod is fitted to the left hand side. Workmanship
on the sample rifle is of a high standard. It is chambered for the .44 Henry
Rimfire cartridge, and has a brass receiver. The firing pin has double strikers
as in the Henry, the barrel is 27½" in length, rifled with six grooves and
lands of equal width, and having a left hand twist. There are no manufacturer’s
markings, but the barrel and receiver have numerous proof marks of the Royal
Bavarian Armoury. The serial
number is 300, with no alphabetical prefix. As in normal European practise all
the parts are so numbered. Numbers all match except the cleaning rod, which is
numbered 324. The rifle has not seen great use, and the hammer still has traces
of case hardening. The screws under the action, in the butt, etc. are all
undisturbed, and all face ‘North South’ as expected in a quality German
firearm. The rifle is from the collection in the Dunedin Settlers Museum, and
was donated in the 1930’s. What is
interesting is the donor’s description, ‘Rumanian Military rifle’. The
donor was obviously aware that it came from Europe and that it had a military
provenance. Most people would have assumed it was just another Winchester
sporting rifle. What
continues to amaze this writer is the great variety of firearms which are to be
found in New Zealand. It seems at least one example of every firearm design ever
made can be found here somewhere. We remind
readers that when next in Dunedin to call and visit the Settlers Museum. While
not many firearms are on display, they have one of the best collections of early
European artifacts in this country.
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