Is a beast, issued to trumpeters and waggon drivers”

the Bavarian military was that of Ludwig Werder. He was a clever chap who worked as a locksmith, an orthopaedic limb maker, spinning mill manager, civil servant and technical director for the engineering firm Cramer-klett.

Werder’s rifle was a single shot of

11mm calibre with a dropping block like the famous British Martini-henry. However, his design added a spring-loaded mechanism to the block making it very fast to use. When the front trigger was pressed, the block snapped downwards ejecting the empty cartridge case and exposing the chamber for loading. The soldier slipped in a cartridge and lifted the block with the large ‘hammer’ spur. This also cocked the action and the rifle was ready to go. A proficient soldier could fire about 20 aimed shots a minute giving the rifle its nickname of ‘Blitzgewer’ or Lightning rifle.

The rifle was adopted in 1869 but only four regiments were equipped with it during the Franco-prussian war of 1870-71; most Bavarian infantry were still armed with the M1858/67 Lindner-podewils rifle. After the war, Bavaria issued a short Werder carbine for its cavalry and 4,000 pistols built on the carbine action. These were intended to arm trumpeters, sergeantmajors and waggon drivers who needed a firearm for personal protection but for whom a carbine would get in the way.

The Werder pistol is a beast of a gun with a short barrel and awkward-looking grip that is surprisingly comfortable. It was chambered for the carbine cartridge making it powerful. I fired mine when I first bought it using cartridges adapted from US .45-70 cases. The weight tamed the recoil and it was pleasant and accurate. You may have had just the one shot but nobody was going to get up after being hit by it.

I took the grips off, intending to address the odd rust spot that had formed. To my delight, I discovered a Regimental Marking stamped onto the grip straps. My pistol had been issued to the 1st Royal Bavarian Uhlan Regiment (uhlan is German for ‘lancer’). It is always nice to say which unit had been issued with your gun, it opens all kinds of avenues for further research.

So some good has come from this tiresome lockdown – I have found out something I didn’t know. I shall look at all my guns more closely in future.

“The Werder pistol

After the Franco-prussian War, around 4,000 Werder pistols were produced for the Bavarian army