Werder Rifle

—Adopted in 1869 for the Bavarian army, is the invention of J. L. Werder of Nuremberg, and is known as the Werder system. It belongs to the cla of falling breech-blocks, of which the Peabody may be considered the exponent in this country. It differs, however, from this and most other guns of this cla , as the breech-block is opened and closed by the hammer instead of the lever-guard, giving, as claimed, greater safety and ease of manipulation, especially when the soldier loads lying on the ground. The rifle-grooves are four in number, their depth is 0.0075, and twist is one turn in 22 inches. The diameter of the bore is 0.435; the length of the barrel, including chamber, but exclusive of breech-frame, is 35.0; the weight of the arm without bayonet, 9.75 pounds. The breech-loaders with and without the needle-arrangement are too numerous to mention, but the most notable are given above. See Magazine Guns , and Lyman’s Multi-charge Gun .