Spartaner545
Senior Member
Hello everyone,
since there are already some dreyse needle rifles here in the forum and at least some of you seem to enjoy them i will do my part and show a few of my rifles here. As i mostly collect cavalry and jaegers and the M/57 cavlary carbine has been posted by Chris, i will cover some jaeger rifles starting with the M/54.
Barrel length: 73 cm
Overall length: 123 cm
Overall length with bayonets extended all the way: 166 cm
My rifle is all matching and in nice condition with the ram rod bayonet still present. Produced in 1858 in Spandau, serial number 5772. It is unit marked to the 2nd Matrosen-Division (2nd sailor division). Unknown "IV" marking on the butt. The M/54 was never updated with the Beck conversion.
Please enjoy and with kind regards
Vincent
For those who are interested, a bit of interesting background history: Jägerbüchse M/54.
This was the first dreyse rifle for the 8 regular jaeger bataillons of the prussian army since only the two guard bataillons had been issued the dreyse Jägerbüchse M/49. This rifle was adopted in 1855 as the M/54 and within four years, nearly all jeager units were equipped with this new rifle. It was the standart jaeger weapon for the wars of 1864 and 1866. In the mid to late 1860's the jaeger bataillons had their new rifle given to them, the Jägerbüchse 1865. Now the old M/54's were either given to the navy or were reworked into the pioneer rifle UM for the pioneer bataillons. This may be the reason why the Jägerbüchse M/54 is a rare dreyse rifle to find.
To say that the very proud and traditionally focused jeagers didnt liked this new rifle really is an understatment. They actually hated it!
In their eyes this rifles was not a Jägerbüchse at all. Several important characteristics of a typical Jägerbüchse were missing. The barrel was round, not octagonal and it was fixed to the stock with bands rather then pins. There was no set trigger system, the brass elements were under-decorated and worst of all, there was no bayonet lug for the Hirschfänger, the traditional jaeger bayonet due to the "built in" ram rod bayonet. If it was not for the sling attachment behind the hand guard the rifle would look like a typical prussian line infantry weapon. When reading battle reports from 1864 the jeagers stated that this new ram rod bayonet was a complete failure. It was weak and broke or bend when used to parry a sabre blow from enemy cavalry.
If those reports are true and the ram rod bayonet was a real combat issue and not just the injured pride of the angry jaegers speaking, is not known to me. Because the prussian navy also got their hands in those Jägerbüchse M/54 and they liked them a lot and used them for many years without complaining about weak bayonets. But then again, most boarding actions usually do not involve getting charged at by mass cavalry formations... Between 1859 and 1875 the prussian and later imperial navy ordered and used 1,348 M/54 rifles. Those navy rifles had their barrels in the white although there are some rare navy examples with blued barrels.
99,9 percent of the surviving Jägerbüchse M/54 are from the navy contracts of 1859 and 1868/1869. It is only in one old book from the 1970's were i have seen a M/54 with jaeger unit markings.
since there are already some dreyse needle rifles here in the forum and at least some of you seem to enjoy them i will do my part and show a few of my rifles here. As i mostly collect cavalry and jaegers and the M/57 cavlary carbine has been posted by Chris, i will cover some jaeger rifles starting with the M/54.
Barrel length: 73 cm
Overall length: 123 cm
Overall length with bayonets extended all the way: 166 cm
My rifle is all matching and in nice condition with the ram rod bayonet still present. Produced in 1858 in Spandau, serial number 5772. It is unit marked to the 2nd Matrosen-Division (2nd sailor division). Unknown "IV" marking on the butt. The M/54 was never updated with the Beck conversion.
Please enjoy and with kind regards
Vincent
For those who are interested, a bit of interesting background history: Jägerbüchse M/54.
This was the first dreyse rifle for the 8 regular jaeger bataillons of the prussian army since only the two guard bataillons had been issued the dreyse Jägerbüchse M/49. This rifle was adopted in 1855 as the M/54 and within four years, nearly all jeager units were equipped with this new rifle. It was the standart jaeger weapon for the wars of 1864 and 1866. In the mid to late 1860's the jaeger bataillons had their new rifle given to them, the Jägerbüchse 1865. Now the old M/54's were either given to the navy or were reworked into the pioneer rifle UM for the pioneer bataillons. This may be the reason why the Jägerbüchse M/54 is a rare dreyse rifle to find.
To say that the very proud and traditionally focused jeagers didnt liked this new rifle really is an understatment. They actually hated it!
In their eyes this rifles was not a Jägerbüchse at all. Several important characteristics of a typical Jägerbüchse were missing. The barrel was round, not octagonal and it was fixed to the stock with bands rather then pins. There was no set trigger system, the brass elements were under-decorated and worst of all, there was no bayonet lug for the Hirschfänger, the traditional jaeger bayonet due to the "built in" ram rod bayonet. If it was not for the sling attachment behind the hand guard the rifle would look like a typical prussian line infantry weapon. When reading battle reports from 1864 the jeagers stated that this new ram rod bayonet was a complete failure. It was weak and broke or bend when used to parry a sabre blow from enemy cavalry.
If those reports are true and the ram rod bayonet was a real combat issue and not just the injured pride of the angry jaegers speaking, is not known to me. Because the prussian navy also got their hands in those Jägerbüchse M/54 and they liked them a lot and used them for many years without complaining about weak bayonets. But then again, most boarding actions usually do not involve getting charged at by mass cavalry formations... Between 1859 and 1875 the prussian and later imperial navy ordered and used 1,348 M/54 rifles. Those navy rifles had their barrels in the white although there are some rare navy examples with blued barrels.
99,9 percent of the surviving Jägerbüchse M/54 are from the navy contracts of 1859 and 1868/1869. It is only in one old book from the 1970's were i have seen a M/54 with jaeger unit markings.
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