M1867/77 Werndl jaeger (light infantry) rifle. Except for the pistol grip trigger guard, it is identical to the regular infantry rifle. This is the rifle that got Styerwerks off the ground.
Werndl rotating breech block in the open position.
Werndl rotating breech block in the closed position.
This is a rotating drum-action breech loader that can't easily be missed for anything else. When the hammer is drawn back the longitudinal drum breechblock is rotated on a central pin by means of a flat lever protruding from and integral with the drum. The drum has a section cut out to allow loading of a fresh round and, when loaded, the drum/ block is rotated back, the cut-out being replaced by the solid face of the block. The firing pin is located offset within the block in a manner reminicent of the Snider and Trapdoor blocks and recessed within the block allowing the block to pivot within the receiver.
When trials for the new rifle were held in Vienna, the competition broke down to a duel between the Werndl and the Remington No. 1 rolling block. The Remington was judged to be the clear winner, but when the results were presented to the King, he chose the homegrown design of Karel Holub and Josef Werndl. (In the immortal words of Gomer Pyle, USMC, "Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!")
The rifle was orginally chambered for an 11.15x42R round, but in 1877 they were rechambered for a superior 11.15x58R bottlenecked round.
The rear sight on the Werndl. It is interesting to note that this sight is virtually identical to the one chosen for the M1879 Argentine Remington rolling block.
The Werndl was replaced in 1886 by a Mannlicher straight pull bolt action 11mm rifle, which in turn was supplanted by a small bore Mannlicher design in 1888 using an 8x50R round.
Jethro
