As you've probably seen, I enjoy going back into the antique breech loaders. Werders, like needle rifles are a passion. The last Bavarian Werder I needed for my collection was the M69 Gendarmerie Carbine.
These are the rarest Werder variant with approx 2,600 made, according to production statistics. These were used by police and borderguards in Bavaria until after WWI. The carbines were subcontracted primarily through Francotte in Belgium, but some later batches were made at Amberg for the customs/border guards.
One particularly interesting episode involving this model occured right after the turn of the century in Bavaria. Mathias Kneißl was a bandit (among other things) and developed a storied reputation for his crimes and his ability to evade the police. (Think of the mythos around names like Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, Jesse James, etc.. and you'll get the parallel) At one point, Kneißl even tried to quit crime, but was still hounded by the police and his reputation prevented him from finding legitimate work. Returning to crime, he was eventually cornered by the police on 11/30/1900 and shot and killed two policemen during a gunfight.
Three months later he was cornered in a barn and surrounded by 60 policemen, armed with aged Werder police carbines. A total of 772 rounds were fired at Kneißl. Here is where the carbine became famous-- in a bad way. Of the 772 rounds fired, 267 loading jams occured and 37 failures to fire on the first strike. Of the 60 carbines only 8 functioned properly. Due to the jams, officers frequently had to use the cleaning rod to clear the chamber, leading local observers watching the carnage to think the police were using muzzleloaders!
After the shootout, the investigation showed that the rifles, now nearly 30 years in service, had chambers which had expanded after extensive use leading to major functional issues. The incident was an embarrassing one for the police and talk of implementation of a new weapon was renewed. The M69 carbine was not officially retired fully until after WWI. One of the last uses noted in Storz is its failed use against a band of Gypsies (ironically armed with superior weapons)
It's interesting to think that maybe this carbine was present that fateful day against Kneißl. No way of ever knowing....
What about Kneißl? He was wounded during the shootout and was captured and executed by guillotine shortly after. His reputation as an outlaw is still present today in Bavaria and movies and songs have been written about him. I'm hoping some of our German brethren can chime in on the story more.
In any case, sorry for the long post, but this was a major find for my antique breechloader collection!
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These are the rarest Werder variant with approx 2,600 made, according to production statistics. These were used by police and borderguards in Bavaria until after WWI. The carbines were subcontracted primarily through Francotte in Belgium, but some later batches were made at Amberg for the customs/border guards.
One particularly interesting episode involving this model occured right after the turn of the century in Bavaria. Mathias Kneißl was a bandit (among other things) and developed a storied reputation for his crimes and his ability to evade the police. (Think of the mythos around names like Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, Jesse James, etc.. and you'll get the parallel) At one point, Kneißl even tried to quit crime, but was still hounded by the police and his reputation prevented him from finding legitimate work. Returning to crime, he was eventually cornered by the police on 11/30/1900 and shot and killed two policemen during a gunfight.
Three months later he was cornered in a barn and surrounded by 60 policemen, armed with aged Werder police carbines. A total of 772 rounds were fired at Kneißl. Here is where the carbine became famous-- in a bad way. Of the 772 rounds fired, 267 loading jams occured and 37 failures to fire on the first strike. Of the 60 carbines only 8 functioned properly. Due to the jams, officers frequently had to use the cleaning rod to clear the chamber, leading local observers watching the carnage to think the police were using muzzleloaders!
After the shootout, the investigation showed that the rifles, now nearly 30 years in service, had chambers which had expanded after extensive use leading to major functional issues. The incident was an embarrassing one for the police and talk of implementation of a new weapon was renewed. The M69 carbine was not officially retired fully until after WWI. One of the last uses noted in Storz is its failed use against a band of Gypsies (ironically armed with superior weapons)
It's interesting to think that maybe this carbine was present that fateful day against Kneißl. No way of ever knowing....
What about Kneißl? He was wounded during the shootout and was captured and executed by guillotine shortly after. His reputation as an outlaw is still present today in Bavaria and movies and songs have been written about him. I'm hoping some of our German brethren can chime in on the story more.
In any case, sorry for the long post, but this was a major find for my antique breechloader collection!
Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
