Sánta Ákos: Vadászfegyverek - A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum tárgykatalógusai 4. (Budapest, 2018)

numbers, but were not very popular among hunters as ammunition was difficult to acquire.

One of the greatest drawbacks of this construction is that the weight distribution of the firearm changes after discharge. This was improved upon by the last important structural invention of the period, the Lee magazine. Patented in 1879 by Scottish-born James Paris Lee, it involves a bolt action mechanism with a spring-loaded magazine containing five projectiles placed in a single column. This was the first successful construction that did not place the magazine at the főrend31 The differences in weight distribution were thus eliminated and the weapon became safer to handle. This principle was developed further by Ferdinand Mannlicher of Austria in 1895, several items of whose firearm in hunting version are kept in our collection. Similarly to the military version, the hunting weapon employs straight-pull bolt action. Cartridges are loaded into the internal magazine through the open bolt. In order to decrease the additional weight of projectiles the calibres were significantly reduced. The cartridges were mostly made with smokeless gunpowder. The hunting version of the basic Mannlicher gun was chambered for 8 and 11 mm calibres, and differs from the military version with small modifications. Its stock has a semi-pistol grip with a folding rear-sight. The advantage of the straight-pull bolt over the turn-bolt is that when repeating, the gun does not vary from the sight line. The Mannlicher gun had become widespread among hunters espeially after Schönauers modification of the turn bolt in 1900.32

The most widespread type of the bolt-action rifles is the Gewehr 98 made by Mauser. It was developed in Germany by 1898 and has not changed significantly since then.33 Our collection keeps several bolt action rifles made by Mauser or based on the Mauser bolt action system. The most valuable item of these is a 9.3 mm turn bolt hunting rifle made in the Budapest workshop of András Zauenroth in the final years of the 19th century. This particular piece was made specially for the Habsburg Archduke Joseph August. The turn bolt action includes a cock-on-opening firing pin solution. It contains a safety lug that protects against involuntary firing. The cartridges are placed in two alternating rows that partially cover each other. Loading happens through the open bolt. The Mauser had become one of the most widespread rifles in the world, both for miltary and hunting purposes. The Mauser bolt action remains the prototype used in modern rifles to this day.34

The invention of repeating also had a significant impact on the development of shotguns. In 1887 the Winchester repeating rifle was made in shotgun version as well, with lever action. The year 1889 saw the change in which repeating was effected by moving the főrend forwards and

backwards. After eliminating initial construction faults, the Winchester Model 1897 worked perfectly. The action is often referred to as slide action or more commonly pump action. After firing a round, the bolt is unlocked and the főrend is free to move. The shooter pulls back on the főrend to begin the operating cycle. The bolt unlocks and begins to move to the rear, which extracts and ejects the empty shell from the chamber, cocks the hammer, and begins to load the new ammunition.35 Hunters however rarely need such a rate of fire, which is significantly higher than that of lever action guns. The prototype of the self-loading shotgun was accomplished based on the design of John Browning in 1900. Apart from the well-known types our collection also includes a gun with a less widespread mechanism. The shotgun designed in the 1890s by Carl Sjögren in Sweden is based on a technology known as inertia operation, using the energy generated by the recoil of gunpowder gas. As the shotgun recoils after firing, inertia causes the bolt body to remain stationary while the recoiling gun and locked bolt head move rearward. This movement compresses the spring between the bolt head and bolt body, storing the energy required to cycle the action.36 The Sjögren shotgun was made in 1906.

A particular subgroup within our hunting collection is formed by an almost 150-piece collection of poacher’s guns, sent to the museum at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries from county and rural district offices by order of the Ministry of Agriculture. Most of them are muzzle-loading caplock guns both in rifle and shotgun versions. A smaller group have rimfire mechanisms, but there are also a number of percussion miltary guns. A few of both the hunting guns and the earlier military guns are characterised by sawn-off barrels and stocks, to make them easier to conceal. A high curiosity value in terms of firearm and technology history can be attached to those items in which a significant and versatile rural ingenuity manifests itself. Apart from the carved plates, the weapons often display intricate and tricky home-made lock mechanisms and actions. Identifying their working mechanisms may pose some challenges to researchers.

The 400-year history of the development of hunting firearms concludes with the era of self-loading hunting weapons. In the 20th century we can witness only the slight modification of existing types and the coming of mass production. In the present day the tried and tested constructions and mechanisms remain almost unchanged, but some of the traditional materials are replaced by modern basic materials and digital accesories. After this brief introduction readers are welcome to inspect closely this selection of our museum’s hunting firearms.

31 Zoltán, p. 70.

32 Kálmán Siklósi, “Steyr Mannlicher", Pannon Vadászvilág (2010: 1), pp. 56-59.

33 Szabolcs Simon, “A vadászfegyverek zárszerkezete 4.", Nimród (2002: 3), p. 38.

34 Zoltán, pp. 71-74.

35 Pál Benkő, A vadászat (Budapest, 1935), pp. 287-289. Also: Hans J. Heigel, Winchester 1866 bis heute. Geschichte und Technik, Waffe und Munition (n.l., 1998).

36 Benkő, p. 289.

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