This is a handmade, single shot needle fire pistol (zündnadelpistole) made by a German gunsmith named A. Knoch in Munich in 1850. I have been unable to find any documentation about the man, but the gun is an interested example of the needle fire system that existed as one of the intermediate technologies between the percussion cap and the self-contained metallic cartridge. This example is in unfortunately rough condition, but on disassembly we can see how everything was supposed to work.
Light MGs
Heckler & Koch’s Modular Machine Gun: the HK21E
In 1961, Heckler & Koch introduced a new light machine gun based on their roller-delayed blowback system as a companion piece to the G3/HK91 rifle. While the German military was quite happy with its MG3 […]
Semiauto pistol
Walther Model 3: A Tiny Early .32
Walther was founded as a rifle making company in the 1880s, and expanded into the flourishing market for semiautomatic pocket pistols around 1910. The Model 3 was the company’s first .32 ACP caliber pistol, and […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth
So, I was browsing through the catalog for Rock Island Auction’s upcoming Premier Auction (I’ll have more next week on the various neat things available), and found one item in particular that jumped out at […]
“K.B. PRIVILEGIERT” most probabaly stands for Königreich Bayern P…, that is privilege granted by the Kingdom of Bavaria. Meaning a patent granted for the design. The date is thus most probably not the date of manufacture, but the date of the patent.
Interesting and well made pistol it looks like. Makes me wonder if the design could have been adapted to use a hammer and cap to ignite the paper cartridge instead of the pinfire needle breaking every few shots taken?
I think this period with needlefire pinfire capping breech loaders and even Paulies cartrige ignited by compressed air to be one of the most interesting periods in EUROPEAN firearms development
Trust the americans to stick with and perfect the rimfiire and centrefire cartriges or did they just learn from french and german mistakes
“(…)americans(…)perfect the rimfiire and centrefire cartriges or did they just learn from french and german mistakes(…)”
Not, they also made odd cartridge which were metallic but far from either rim-fire or center-fire, as we know them today. Few examples:
.58 Schubarth https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/07/19/potd-58-schubarth-an-egg-of-brass-lead/
.50 Crispin http://www.oldammo.com/july09.htm
Lipfire system http://www.littlegun.info/arme%20americaine/artisan%20a/a%20allen%20and%20weellock%20lipfire%20gb.htm
Burnside http://www.lodgewood.com/Burnside-Brass-Cartridge-Case_p_14.html
.32 TEAT FIRE http://www.ammo-one.com/32TEATFIRE.html
and do not forget about .41 Volcanic Rocket Ball
Not one of, and not only european(btw XIX USofA was probably more european than Europe itself).
IMHO it is most interesting period(ex equo with forties to sixties of XX century).