German-made Henry rifles

[Henry4440]

I found this interesting article:
The lead illustration to this article (not shown here) is of a European Military copy of the .44 Henry Rifle. Little is know of these German-made rifles, they are extremely rare, and only five or six examples are known to exist today.
It was difficult to find much factual information on this rifle. In 1864 Winchester sold some .44 Henry rifles to Prussia, and from these examples it must have been thought the design had some military potential.
During the early 1870's, Spanenberg & Sauer, Suhl, Thuringen manufactured a small quantity of similar rifles to be submitted for Bavarian Army tests. The rifles could not have created much interest with the Bavarian army as only the trial run, probably not exceeding 400 in total, were manufactured. The sample rifle illustrated here is from this trial run.
Mechanically these rifles are identical to the Winchester made Henry, except for the magazine loading system and external fittings.
To load this rifle, the follower is pushed to the front of the magazine tube and turned into a locking slot. This movement pushes back a sliding cover to expose a cartridge profile cut-out in the tube through which the cartridges are placed. It would seem to be quite an improvement on the Henry system where the front of the magazine was turned sideways, and the cartridges dropped into the tube.
Other differences from the Henry are that the sling fittings are on the right hand side, and a full length cleaning rod is fitted to the left hand side.
Workmanship on the sample rifle is of a high standard. It is chambered for the .44 Henry Rimfire cartridge, and has a brass receiver. The firing pin has double strikers as in the Henry, the barrel is 27½" in length, rifled with six grooves and lands of equal width, and having a left hand twist. There are no manufacturer's markings, but the barrel and receiver have numerous proof marks of the Royal Bavarian Armoury.
The serial number is 300, with no alphabetical prefix. As in normal European practise all the parts are so numbered.
Numbers all match except the cleaning rod, which is numbered 324. The rifle has not seen great use, and the hammer still has traces of case hardening. The screws under the action, in the butt, etc. are all undisturbed, and all face 'North South' as expected in a quality German firearm. The rifle is from the collection in the Dunedin Settlers Museum, and was donated in the 1930's.
What is interesting is the donor's description, 'Rumanian Military rifle'. The donor was obviously aware that it came from Europe and that it had a military provenance. Most people would have assumed it was just another Winchester sporting rifle.
What continues to amaze this writer is the great variety of firearms which are to be found in New Zealand. It seems at least one example of every firearm design ever made can be found here somewhere.
We remind readers that when next in Dunedin to call and visit the Settlers Museum. While not many firearms are on display, they have one of the best collections of early European artifacts in this country.

REFERENCES:
Waffen Archiv, Lockhoven
The First Winchester: Parsons

This article was first published in The New Zealand Arms Gazette 1998 by Grant Sherriff

[Fox Creek Kid]

In John Parson's "The First Winchester" there is a photo of a Bavarian Henry rifle. If I remember correctly the barrel was round.

[FTrooper]

There is also one in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame museum in Waco, Texas.  If I recall it had a cleaning rod attached to the side.

Chris Fischer

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Any Links to a site where the rest of us can see?

Thanks

[Henry4440]

Any Links to a site where the rest of us can see?

Thanks

Here it is.
http://www.tgca.net/a_european_Henry.htm

[Henry4440]

Joseph G. Bilby wrote in his book: A Revolution of Arms:A History of the First Repeating Rifles
.....Winchester sought government work elsewhere, and the Briggs modification was applied to 500 rifles made for 'Mad King Ludwig' of Bavaria in late 1864.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Thanks, pard.


I don't suppose there's a PHOTO that can be seen anywhere?  It sounds like a really interesting looking rifle.