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Wänzl rifle
Type	Breech-loading rifle
Place of origin	Austrian Empire
Service history
In service	1867–1918
Used by	Austrian Empire Qing Empire Kingdom of Dahomey
Wars	Herzegovina Uprising (1882) Boxer Rebellion Balkan Wars World War I (rear echelon troops)
Production history
Designer	Franz Wänzel
No. built	70,000
Variants	Wänzel Infanterie Gewehr M1854/67 Wänzel Infanterie Gewehr M1862/67 Wänzel JägerStutzen M1854/67 Wänzel JägerStutzen M1862/67 Wänzel Extra-Corps Gewehr M1854/67 Wänzel Extra-Corps Gewehr M1862/67 Wänzel WallGewehr M1872
Specifications
Length	41.4 in (1,050 mm) to 52.6 in (1,340 mm)
Cartridge	14×33mmRF (rimfire) 14×33mmR (centerfire)
Action	Front-hinged trapdoor
Feed system	Single-shot

The Wänzl or Wänzel rifle was a breechloading conversion of the Lorenz M1854 and M1862 rifles. The Austro-Hungarian Empire used the Wänzel as their service rifle until they had enough Werndl-Holub M1867 rifles to arm the military.

The rifle was a lifting block breechloader chambered for the 14×33mmRF cartridge. The Austrians converted a total of 70,000 Lorenz muskets to Wänzels.

See also

• Trapdoor mechanism
• Snider-Enfield rifle
• Springfield model 1873
• Tabatière rifle
• Green M1867, a Serbian conversion of Lorenz M1854
• Weaponry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

References

1. Kea, R. A. “Firearms and Warfare on the Gold and Slave Coasts from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries.” The Journal of African History, vol. 12, no. 2, 1971, pp. 185–213. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/180879. Accessed 2 Jan. 2024
2. Никола Гажевић, Војна енциклопедија 7, Војноиздавачки завод, Београд (1974), стр. 548-550
3. Никола Гажевић, Војна енциклопедија 10, Војноиздавачки завод, Београд (1976), стр. 676-679

Sources

• Manowar's Hungarian Weapons

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