Austrian Lorenz .577 Caliber Rifle

By Crusader1307

Considered to be Austria's first ''modern'' weapon in terms of military firearms technology, The Lorenz Rifle was designed by Austrian Army Lieutenant Joseph Lorenz in 1854. The Rifle was seen as being remarkably effective in combat. As such, The Austrian Government ordered far more Models that Lorenz's Production needs could furnish. As a result, he ''farmed'' out much of his contracted work to private sources. The vast majority of these Gunsmith Producers were too worried with quantity and not quality. Many of The Lorenz Rifles requested were poorly made and suffered from issues on the battlefield. Many large shipping stocks were mixed and confused with the product released by the smaller Firearms concerns. This became difficult to determine the poorly made ones from the better quality without actual firing. Through these short comings, The Austrian Government still issued and used The Lorenze. Comparable to Britain's Enfield .577 Rifle, over 400,000 were sold to both The US and Confederate States (Rebel) Governments. This quickly made The Lorenz the third most popular Rifle of The ''American'' Civil War. A percussion weapons, The Lorenz fired the then ''standard'' .54 Caliber lead round (or Minie). Roughly 37-inches in length, the weapon had a maximum effective range of 250-yards. A smaller version (Carbine) – called The Jager, was also popular in many European Armies. Both versions could be fitted with various types of Bayonets. Some would be modified into fully jacketed (brass and copper) firearms in the later part of the 19th Century, with these versions seen in military use as late as 1883.