Werndl M1873/77

About the Werndl M1873/77

The Werndl M1873/77 was the full-length single-shot service rifle of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the standard infantry arm of the line before the introduction of the Mannlicher repeaters. It is built on Josef Werndl's rotating cylindrical breechblock, the so-called 'Tabernakelverschluss' drum breech, worked by a thumb-piece on the right of the receiver, with the M1873 pattern's internal hammer pivoting inside the wrist of the stock and flattened receiver sides for a stronger action. The /77 update rechambered the M1873 infantry rifle from the older 11x42mm black-powder round to the more powerful 11x58mmR Werndl centerfire cartridge. With an 846 mm barrel and roughly 1280 mm overall length it carried a saber bayonet and served as Austria-Hungary's principal foot-soldier's rifle into the late 1880s.

Josef Werndl built Steyr into one of Europe's greatest arms works on the back of his rotating-breech rifle, and when he electrified the town of Steyr for an 1884 exhibition it became one of the first places on the continent lit by electric light.

Werndl M1873/77 specifications

The M1873/77 is the full-length infantry rifle, distinct from the shorter Extra-Korps-Gewehr and the cavalry carbine on the same action. Early M1873 arms fired the 11mm M.67 black-powder cartridge; the M1873/77 conversion adopted the 11x58mmR (M.77) round. Sights were graduated in paces. Made by Österreichische Waffenfabriks-Gesellschaft at Steyr.