Gunroom

If there’s one advantage to lockdown, it’s the opportunity to get organised. You might be surprised what a bit of tidying will reveal

One positive aspect to lockdown is the opportunity to do all those things you know you needed to do but never got around to doing. And with additional time on our hands, there is really no excuse for procrastination.

I decided to use the extra time to make a catalogue of all my antique firearms. As I am working from home there are plenty of opportunities to take a break from my work for BASC to do one or two guns. It has been a pleasant experience and I am nearly done. As well as the self-righteous feeling one gets from putting one’s affairs in order, renewing an intimate acquaintanceship with my collection has been most enjoyable.

Whilst rummaging in the gunroom, I came across a box file that felt suspiciously heavy. On opening it I found a large pistol nestling in some acid-free tissue paper. It was an 11mm Bavarian Model 1869 breechloading cavalry pistol that I had bought in Birmingham in the 1980s and had placed in the box file when we moved in 1990. I hadn’t ‘played’ with it in 30 years and it was exciting to handle it after all that time.

The Kingdom of Bavaria had its own army and indigenous firearms. Its infantry was armed with a 13.9mm rifle musket designed by Philipp von Podewils, director of the Royal Arms Factory at Amberg.

This came into service in 1858 and in 1867 the Podewils rifles were converted to breechloading by the Lindner system.

This was a stopgap: Bavaria was looking for a purpose-built, centre-fire, metallic rifle to replace its obsolescent Lindner-podewils breech-loaders. The design chosen by