Russo-Turkish War of Liberation 1877-1878

Chapter Three - Small arms of the warring states - Serbia and Montenegro

"Werndl" model 1867

In 1866, Joseph Werndl proposed to Austrian military commission a rifle construction with 11-mm caliber and a turning block bolt in the bolt case. It was approved and in 1868 was taken for the armament of the Austrian army as model 1867. The construction was actually created by the clerk in his company, the Czech constructor Karel Holub. Werndl bought the construction from him and then patented it under his own name.

The Werndl rifle was manufactured as an infantry rifle, as a rifle for the auxiliary units, and as a cavalry carbine. The infantry rifle was coupled with a yataghan-like bayonet-knife of different lengths, while the one for the auxiliary units had an inserted bayonet.1

In 1873, this rifle was improved when the outer hammer was placed behind the plate of the trigger mechanism. The sight device was also modified. The re-making of model 1867 began simultaneously with its production. At the time, the main production was taken over by the Austrian Arms Factory in the town of Shtaer, whose director was Joseph Werndl. The factory produced 600,000 rifles of the infantry model 1867 and 10,000 cavalry carbines model 1867. Some 41,300 infantry rifles model 1873 and 100,000 rifles for the infantry units model 1873 were produced as well. Montenegro bought 20,000 rifles model 1867 and 10,000 carbines model 1873.2

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