Austrian tubular capsules from the early 19th century
Austrian carbine 1847. Length 105 cm. Octagonal barrel, rifled, caliber 14 mm. Two-position rear sight, brass front sight and bayonet sleeve. Castle of the Augustinian system. Iron cleaning rod with wooden handle. Photo “Finart auction”
And God saw everything
what He created
and behold, it’s very good.
Genesis 1:31
what He created
and behold, it’s very good.
Genesis 1:31
History weapons. In one of the previous materials we talked about capsule locks of the 19th century. One of them, the Austrian castle of Vincenza Augustin, aroused particular interest among the VO readership. Many people wanted to know more about this ignition system. Well, let's fulfill their request.
But first of all, we note that the system of igniting a powder charge in the barrel of a firearm using a tubular lock, that is, a lock that uses a tubular capsule, is considered a dead end in the history of firearms. And it is true.
This type of lock system died without becoming anything more modern and timely. But at the time when it was being developed for the army of the Habsburg Empire, its use seemed to be a completely logical and economical solution.
Well, let's start the story about tube capsules and guns for them by remembering what weapons the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy were armed with at the beginning of the 19th century.
And this was the M 1798 flintlock gun with several small modifications. It was also used in 1807, when the Reverend John Forsyth invented his “bottle lock”, and thereby opened a new era in the history of firearms.
However, the Habsburg army responded very slowly to the new challenge of the times. It is clear that she understood all the benefits of the capsule ignition system, but changing the bolt on a hunting rifle is one thing, but re-equipping the entire army with guns with new locks is quite another.
First of all, it was a question of economics. By that time in the army and navy The Habsburg Empire used about 800 firearms with flintlocks. And this, whatever you say, was such a huge value that it was simply not possible to get rid of it overnight like that.
Lack of funds did not allow the production of new 800 thousand muskets, pistols, carbines and huntsman rifles. It was also necessary to take into account such a seemingly banal problem as training soldiers to properly handle a flintlock. This process was extremely slow and difficult, but at the same time it had already been worked out to the smallest detail.
And the rearmament of the army consisted not only of replacing firearms with others. Retraining of the entire army was required, starting from officers, non-commissioned officers and ending with individual soldiers. But the Habsburg army did not have the time and resources for this due to continuous wars.
Therefore, the military needed a firearm that could be handled in a manner similar to a flintlock, but at the same time had the advantages of impact ignition.
The third - and, as many sometimes believe, the most important factor - was the short-sightedness of the decision makers at Arsenal Vienna. The head of the Vienna Arsenal, Natalis-Felix Beroaldo-Bianchini, tested a new ignition system using capsules and ... declared it unfit for use, since the capsules seemed to him too small for the rough hands of soldiers. And in this Bianchini was partly right.
But the thing is that he was testing civilian-sized capsules, and they were indeed difficult to handle. But in the armies of the 30s, capsules with a 6-mm diameter were already used. But for some reason Bianchini did not want to check them...
And then a customs officer from Milan, Giuseppe Console, arrived in Vienna, working on modernizing the ignition system for charges in artillery guns. He presented his system in 1831, and it turned out that it was difficult to come up with anything simpler.
Console placed black powder mixed with potassium chlorate in... a straw. The trigger hit the straw, the mixture ignited, so that if it was inserted into the barrel, the powder charge in the barrel would also ignite!
In 1833, new ones were equipped with such tubes. artillery guns, after which the young Italian officer began experimenting with handguns as well. He was looking for a simple and cost-effective way to convert old flintlock rifles and he thought he had found it!
The new lock was designed by him so that an ignition tube could be inserted into it, just into the hole of the old powder shelf. When fired, the trigger struck the shelf cover, and its sharp edge ignited the charge in the tube underneath. The solution was cheap and simple, and the method of handling the gun and cartridge was very close to that of a flintlock.
The first tests of the new system were carried out in the spring of 1835 in Eger in the 6th Jaeger Regiment, and they were successful. Converted M Jagerstützen 1807/35 rifles have proven themselves well in the army.
On August 26, 1835, a committee of three officers was appointed to study the possibility of rearming the entire army with the help of Consol's invention. Moreover, Vinzenz von Augustin, who played an important role in the further improvement of this castle and patron, was among the members of this committee.
All officers and soldiers involved in the tests stated that the new firearm loaded faster (a soldier armed with a tubelock rifle fired 12 shots from it, while a soldier armed with a flintlock rifle was only able to fire 5 shots). On January 9, 1836, the emperor ordered all chasseur regiments to be armed with the new system.
However, not everyone liked Console's locks. The same Beroaldo-Bianchini wrote some really important comments on this matter:
1. The shock tubes are attached to the paper chuck with a piece of wire, and they can easily get mixed up in the chuck box.
2. If the lock cover was closed too quickly, the tube could ignite.
3. If the shock tube accidentally gets caught between two cartridges in a cartridge box, it may ignite and the cartridges may explode.
4. The tube explosion occurs too close to the soldier's face, and its particles can get into his eye.
Bianchini's notes played an important role in the further development of pipe locks, but this work was no longer carried out by Consol, but by Vincenz Augustin, chief inspector of handguns and artillery at the Vienna Arsenal.
First of all, he had to redesign the lock itself so that the tray for the primer would be located exactly under the ignition hole in the barrel, something that manufacturers from different factories had not always been able to achieve before.
In addition, it turned out that the number of Console lock misfires reached 10%, which was very high. The improved Augustine lock showed a reduction in misfires of up to 6%. This was better, but still far from the "less than 1%" level the military expected.
M1844 rifle with Augustine lock. Right view. Photo "Auktionet"
In 1845, Augustine decided to replace the filling of the tubes in the Console cartridge with more effective mercury fulminate, and most importantly, instead of a straw, use a tube made of a thin brass sheet.
The first plant to produce the new capsule was the fireworks plant in Wiener Neustadt. Another plant was opened in Prague, and the army also planned to open another plant in Pest (Hungary). The sheet was cut and rolled on machines. One end was capped and drilled to accommodate the wire. This manufacturing method was simple and quick. If there were no machines, the pipe could even be rolled by hand - a very useful advantage in subsequent Hungarian liberation battles.
The same rifle. Left view. Photo "Auktionet"
Previously, the procedure for loading a standard flint cartridge began with biting off the end of a paper cartridge and filling the lock flange with gunpowder. For this, the soldier needed teeth. A common way to avoid long-term military service was... to remove the teeth that were required to open the cartridge.
Now the soldier no longer needed teeth for loading. The primer wire was tied to a felt wad covering the cartridge. The soldier inserted the primer into the hole in the lock, closed the lid and pulled the cartridge towards himself. The wad was pulled out of the paper tube of the cartridge and opened it, so there was no longer any need to bite it. But then three wads had to be inserted into the Console cartridge!
Patron of Giuseppe Consola 1838. Drawing by A. Sheps
Augustine further simplified this system.
He attached the primer wire directly to the paper, so that there was now only one wad left in the cartridge. The standard musket cartridge contained a round bullet of pressed pure lead weighing 24 g, with a diameter of 15,9 mm and approx. 7,2 g musket powder. The gap between the barrel and the bullet was 1,56 mm - that is, it was large enough that the bullet could easily pass through the barrel to the powder charge, even in a clogged barrel. The bullet left the barrel with an initial speed of 420–430 m/s.
Cartridge model 1947. Drawing by A. Sheps
In 1847, the first conical bullet entered service with new rifles. It was a cylindrical-conical bullet weighing 41,1 g. Having a better ballistic coefficient, it was distinguished by greater accuracy and penetration at long distances. The powder charge was the same 55 grain fine powder as the 1842 cartridge. The bullet had one deep groove filled with a felt belt greased with lard.
To be continued ...
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