This is a pretty wild one I thought I would share, as I know we have several needle rifle fans here. I picked this up, along with a few other rarities, from a good friend that was funding another large purchase. I'd wanted one of these for a long time to go in my needle rifle collection, but they are legitimately very rare and typically go for big money when they do come up.
The system was developed by Joeseph Doersch and Cramer von Baumgarten and underwent trials in both Württemberg and Bavaria. I am aware of 5 types, plus a carbine and pistol (!!!) that were designed. The design of the action was deemed to be excellent, but expensive and complicated to manufacture. By then, the Dreyse system was also well-entrenched. In the end, only the small Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe (population in 1861: 29,000) chose to adopt the design in 1862. A number of rifles were produced for Schaumburg-Lippe in a several different models. Production was performed by an as-yet-unamed Suhl company. While attempts were made at a proprietary ammunition, the descision was eventually made to utilize the Prussian m55 Dreyse cartridge. I would image fewer than 1,000 of all models combined were made, but that is just a guess. Despite its adoption, the system was eventually overshadowed by the Dreyse action and fell into obscurity. There were modest attempts by Belgian companies to sell copies of the action commercially, but these too are farily scarce. Information about these is sparse, though I found some information on a French website and there is a small write-up in the A-R West Dreyse book.
This particular rifle appears to be the gendarmerie version. It is not clear whether this was a factory model or a later modification of a diffferent initial model (like the Prussian pioneer mods of the M54 Dreyse). It sports an ammo trip in the buttstock with an ornate "AG" cypher (for Anton-Georg, prince of Schaumburg-Lippe) The number is the gendarmerie serial number and ties back to the rifle's SN (in this case 80). I have seen an identical rifle (#200) on a French website, but have not seen any other examples of this variant. A different model (Infantrygewehr) was posted on another forum several years back, without ammo trap and a three band stock mounting system.
The design is handly and appears to be very well-made. The barrel and receiver are a combined unit, and despite its age, the bore is an absolute mirror. The metal finish is a lovely rust blue. The bayonet lug is directly attached to the barrel. Other than some damage and a sliver missing of the left side of the stock, the wood is in pretty good shape. The bolt is much smaller than the Dreyse bolt; and the needle is fortunately intact.
In any case, here are the pics. If anyone has more information, let me know. These are not well-documented, but happy to own one.
The system was developed by Joeseph Doersch and Cramer von Baumgarten and underwent trials in both Württemberg and Bavaria. I am aware of 5 types, plus a carbine and pistol (!!!) that were designed. The design of the action was deemed to be excellent, but expensive and complicated to manufacture. By then, the Dreyse system was also well-entrenched. In the end, only the small Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe (population in 1861: 29,000) chose to adopt the design in 1862. A number of rifles were produced for Schaumburg-Lippe in a several different models. Production was performed by an as-yet-unamed Suhl company. While attempts were made at a proprietary ammunition, the descision was eventually made to utilize the Prussian m55 Dreyse cartridge. I would image fewer than 1,000 of all models combined were made, but that is just a guess. Despite its adoption, the system was eventually overshadowed by the Dreyse action and fell into obscurity. There were modest attempts by Belgian companies to sell copies of the action commercially, but these too are farily scarce. Information about these is sparse, though I found some information on a French website and there is a small write-up in the A-R West Dreyse book.
This particular rifle appears to be the gendarmerie version. It is not clear whether this was a factory model or a later modification of a diffferent initial model (like the Prussian pioneer mods of the M54 Dreyse). It sports an ammo trip in the buttstock with an ornate "AG" cypher (for Anton-Georg, prince of Schaumburg-Lippe) The number is the gendarmerie serial number and ties back to the rifle's SN (in this case 80). I have seen an identical rifle (#200) on a French website, but have not seen any other examples of this variant. A different model (Infantrygewehr) was posted on another forum several years back, without ammo trap and a three band stock mounting system.
The design is handly and appears to be very well-made. The barrel and receiver are a combined unit, and despite its age, the bore is an absolute mirror. The metal finish is a lovely rust blue. The bayonet lug is directly attached to the barrel. Other than some damage and a sliver missing of the left side of the stock, the wood is in pretty good shape. The bolt is much smaller than the Dreyse bolt; and the needle is fortunately intact.
In any case, here are the pics. If anyone has more information, let me know. These are not well-documented, but happy to own one.
