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

even after the introduction of smokeless cellulose-nitrate gunpowder.

The application of the so-called choke bore, the narrowing of the bore of shotguns, is also associated with Greener, who introduced this solution in the mid-1870s. From the 1870s an increasing number of gunsmiths started to use cast steel bores for their shotguns.

In 1877 Henri Pieper started to manufacture cast steel bores for shotguns in Liege. He used them for the

Archduke Friedrich at a snipe-shooting, Karapancsa, c. 1925.

making of his own invention, the double-barrelled Diana shotgun dating from around 1880.24 Piepers factory also supplied weapon parts on the orders of other gunsmiths. Many of these, like Mathias Huzella in Budapest, assembled, calibrated, sold and even serviced these guns. On the shotgun assembled by Huzella the bore carries the name H. Pieper while the bar is stamped with Huzella’s name. The gun has a treble-wedge fast of the Greener type, with a locking system in the front, an oblique firing pin and rebounding hammer. This latter invention is a remodelled solution within the lock mechanism, which makes the hammer rebound to its starting position from the firing pin after discharge, making it possible for the firing pin to pull back from the chamber and not impede the movement of the muzzle.

Lancaster type firearms were also made with combination barrels. An outstanding item in our collection is a combination (both shot and bullet projecting) gun

set from circa 1890 made by Wenzel Maschek of Vienna. It includes an almost complete cartridge-making tool set that accompanies the long levered Lancaster gun with an exposed hammer and inlaid gold decoration. Combination guns were also known as twin barrels in the 19th century.

In the 1870s several break-action hunting guns were made with a concealed hammer - known as hammerless guns - with a self-opening system. Even from the mid-century there were attempts to develop a self-cocking action system. The most successful hammerless construction was invented by Anson and Deeley in Birmingham in 1875. The lock system was built within the forward-placed boxlock in which the inner concealed hammer is cocked automatically when the barrel is broken. This solution was further improved by several constructors. Greener invented in 1878 a self-acting cartridge ejector, while William Scott introduced the top lever to hammerless guns. This type quickly became highly popular, and by the turn of the century most hunters used it. Our collection contains several hammerless guns. A number of them were made by the famous J. P. Sauer und Sohn company in Suhl, but we can also mention the the Monte Carlo type designed by Rudolf Frommer.25

Among breech-loading rifles the different types of action, i.e. the lock systems, can be considered characteristic. Rolling block action guns, with their simple structure and fast discharge, spread fast. Their main part was a steel block closing the barrel in loaded state, which rolls downwards when loading and opens the chamber. The firing pin, which will strike the integrated cartridge, is located within the block. The cartridge was loaded into chamber manually, and after discharge the shell was removed from the chamber with an extractor that was fastened on the barrel. Our collection includes an 1871 model Martini-Henry rifle made in Birmingham. By pulling the lever the action falls, the chamber is ready to load, and at the same time the firing mechanism placed within the block comes under tension. Since it has a concealed hammer, the loaded and cocked state of the weapon is shown by a cocking indicator mounted on the receiver. Compared to muzzle-loading firearms an important improvement was the decrease of the calibre (to 11.5 mm). This was the result of the necessity to increase the gunpowder charge in order to improve velocity as the projectile fitted more in the rifling, which often led to intolerable recoil. The smaller calibre reduced not only the force of the recoil but the weight of the weapon as well. This was a major advantage both for military and hunting guns.

A particular version of the rolling block was the rotating bolt of the Werndl-Holub rifle, designed by Joseph Werndl in 1867, which became a regulation rifle in the Austro-Hungarian imperial army. The block could be rotated along its own axis that made the chamber ready to load. This firearm was chambered for 11 mm calibre and was a highly popular weapon among Hun24 “A Diana fegyver”, Vadász-lap, 25. Sept. 1883, pp. 403-405.

25 Temesváry, p. 53.