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I got an unexpected chance to touch history today. Last Friday, I took my family to the J.M. Davis Gun Museum in Claremore Oklahoma. While there I asked the curator if they had a Needle-gun in the collection and he said yes but it was not on display. I told him I wanted to look at one because I am writing my thesis on the Battle of Koniggratz and it was the rifle the Prussians used. He said they had two in storage and if I came back on Tuesday he would let me look at them.I went back this morning and looked at them. They are both 1860 models that could have conceivably been used in the battle. I got to work the action, assemble, and disassemble them, and basically play with them for about two hours. I took about 50 pictures and quizzed the curator about the weapons and their provenance. It was like actually being able to reach back in time, to hold these guns.This is the kind of stuff I became a historian for. My wife said I was like a little kid. It was very exciting to actually put hands on these guns which I have only seen once before and could not touch.
That is WAY cool he let you do that to them! Too bad he didn't let you shoot them though. ;DJust curious, what type of ammunition does it use?
The dreyse uses a paper cartridge similar to the paper cartridges used in civil war rifles with the difference that the primer is embedded in the base of the bullet. The needle-like firing pin pierces the cartridge before striking the primer.
That is quite interesting. I wonder how the museum in Oklahoma got ahold of them.
The J.M. Davis Gun Museum has one of the most extensive firearms collections in the world. they have something like 30,000 guns in their collection. I heartily recommend anyone interested in guns to go if they are ever in the area. I asked the curator how they got them and he said they were gifts to the museum.
