The M1867 Werndl–Holub was a single-shot breechloading rifle adopted by the

Austro-Hungarian army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

on 28 July 1867. It replaced the Wänzl breechloader conversion of the muzzle-loading

Lorenz rifle The Lorenz rifle was an Austrian rifle used in the mid 19th century. It was used in the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859 and the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, and also featured prominently in the American Civil War. History The Lorenz r ...

Josef Werndl Josef Werndl was a famous Austrian arms producer and inventor. His most famous rifle design was the M1867 Werndl-Holub. He also owned the Steyr-Mannlicher from 1855. References See also *Ferdinand Mannlicher Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher ...

(1831–1889) and

Karel Holub Karel may refer to: People * Karel (given name) * Karel (surname) * Charles Karel Bouley, talk radio personality known on air as Karel * Christiaan Karel Appel, Dutch painter Business * Karel Electronics, a Turkish electronics manufacturer * Gr ...

(1830–1903) designed and patented their rifle; Werndl later bought out all the rights, but was involved in name only. ÖWG (Österreichische Waffenfabriksgesellschaft) produced the Werndl and chambered it for the 11mm scharfe Patrone M.67 (11.15×42mmR) cartridge. In 1877, the military rechambered the Werndl for the bottleneck 11mm scharfe Patrone M.77 (11.15×58mmR) cartridge.

Production

In 1867, the army ordered 611,000 of the new rifles. The first batch of 100,000 rifles cost 5 million florins, or 50 florins per rifle. The army received 14 million florins in funding to acquire Werndl rifles and ammunition in 1868. The budget was then cut to just 1 million in 1869. As a result, by November 1870, only 316,650 Werndl breechloaders had been produced and the army still needed an additional 302,810 rifles to fulfill the needs of the regular troops, without taking into account the demands of the

Imperial-Royal Landwehr The Imperial-Royal Landwehr (german: kaiserlich-königliche Landwehr or ''k.k. Landwehr''), also called the Austrian Landwehr, was the territorial army of the Cisleithanian or Austrian half of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1869 to 1918. Its c ...

and the

Royal Hungarian Honvéd The Royal Hungarian ( hu, Magyar Királyi Honvédség) or Royal Hungarian (german: königlich ungarische Landwehr), commonly known as the (; collectively, the ), was one of the four armed forces (german: Bewaffnete Macht, links=no or ) of ...

. In February 1873, the war minister

Franz Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld Franz Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld (15 July 1817 – 25 May 1896) was an Austro-Hungarian military officer who fought against Giuseppe Garibaldi in the wars of Italian independence and served as Imperial and Royal Minister of War from 1868 to 1874. Duri ...

stated a need for 370,000 more Werndl rifles for the army.

Use

In spite of the Werndl being long obsolete by World War I, the Austro-Hungarian forces issued Werndl rifles to rear-echelon units to free up more modern rifles for use by front-line troops.

Comparison with contemporary rifles

Users

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Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

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(limited use) *

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Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historical ...

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Ukrainian Sich Riflemen Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (german: Ukrainische Sitschower Schützen; uk, Українські cічові стрільці (УСС), translit=Ukraïnski sichovi stril’tsi (USS)) was a Ukrainian unit within the Austro-Hungarian Army d ...

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Conflicts

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It was the deadlies ...

(Limited) * Krivošije uprising 1869 * Herzegovina uprising 1875–1877 * Montenegrin–Ottoman War 1876–78 *

Austro-Hungarian campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878 The campaign to establish Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina lasted from 29 July to 20 October 1878 against the local resistance fighters supported by the Ottoman Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Army entered the country in two large m ...

* Battles for Plav and Gusinje 1879-1880 * Argentine Civil War 1880 * Kurdish uprising 1880-1881 * Herzegovina uprising 1882 * First Italo-Ethiopian War 1894-1896 * First Balkan War 1912-1913 * Second Balkan War 1913 *

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(limited) * Ukrainian War of Independence 1917-1921 (limited) * Retaking of Czech Borderland 1918-1919 (limited) * Austro-Slovene conflict in Carinthia 1918-1919 (limited) * Revolutions and interventions in Hungary 1918-1920 (limited) * Hungarian–Czechoslovak War 1918-1919 (limited) * Polish–Ukrainian War 1918-1919 (limited) * Silesian Uprisings 1919-1921 * Polish–Czechoslovak War 1919 (limited) * Polish–Soviet War 1919-1921 (limited)

References

External links

Early rifles Weapons of Austria-Hungary Single-shot rifles 1867 introductions Rifles of Austria {{Rifle-stub