Tim Lyne
05-26-2010, 09:13 AM
Weird, wild, Wanzl rifle: Originally a .54 caliber Lorenz 3-band rifle. Like a number of the other oddities in my collection, this one has an immaculate bore with a rather well used dinged up exterior. The breech and barrel have a "Werndl" makers mark, which is interesting; Werndl manufactured their own rotating breech rifle roughly during the same time period. (Stay tuned; I'll tell ya's about shooting that in a future episode.) The Wanzl was missing the striker and was overall dreadfully dirty but it cleaned up well revealing flashes of blue here and there on the breech.
To get this shooting I had to turn a striker on the lathe as well as a full-length sizing die to resize 28 guage (I think?) Mag Tech brass shotgun shells. Primer pockets were soldered shut then the brass put on the lathe so that a hole drilled for a .22 blank could be properly located at the rim-line. Load was .54 Rapine HB with 40g of 3f.
Shooting the Wanzl: Awkward but accurate. Very smooth trigger pull, a bit heavy but smooth. All rounds wound up in the black at 50yds after a few sighters. It shot high at 50; I used a center hold on the middle bull with rounds hitting the top bull. I had some gas blow as these were not fire-formed yet and Mag-Tech brass has a tendency to be a bit on the hard side. I should have annealed it first. Extraction was positive.
These things are definetly not as refined as their American cousin, the Trap-door. Though I have a very accurate relined original .54 Lorenz rifle that I shoot on occasion, I have to say I'm just not a fan of flat butt plates; I can't seem to tuck them in solidly. I didn't expect to be any more comfortable with the Wanzl and I wasn't. Overall I'd give it about a "B-" in shooting comfort. But...it did shoot accurately!
What they lose in being "beefier" than a Trap Door, they certainly make up for in being more...complex. The breech lockup is very strong on the Wanzl; it relies on a short steel rod that passes through a hole in the lower segment of the breech plug then into a corresponding recess in the back of the breechblock. This rod is directly connected to the lock tumbler. When the trigger is pulled, the tumbler rotates the hammer forward and at the same time pushes this rod forward through the holes in the breech plug and breech-block, securly locking the breech. When the hammer is rotated backward, the rod is retracted allowing the breech block to be flipped up (by way of a very heavy exterior flat spring) and the empty extracted. I suspect it was memorable when this system malfunctioned...
It was a fun experience and while I won't shoot it every day, I'll probably take it out a few times a year.
Disclaimer:
I realize this technically isn't a "Civil War" arm. Mr. Holland's mention of same in his SL article prompted me to post this. I thought it might be interesting to some. It's okay to yank it if need be!
Tim Lyne
Knap's Battery
#2952V
To get this shooting I had to turn a striker on the lathe as well as a full-length sizing die to resize 28 guage (I think?) Mag Tech brass shotgun shells. Primer pockets were soldered shut then the brass put on the lathe so that a hole drilled for a .22 blank could be properly located at the rim-line. Load was .54 Rapine HB with 40g of 3f.
Shooting the Wanzl: Awkward but accurate. Very smooth trigger pull, a bit heavy but smooth. All rounds wound up in the black at 50yds after a few sighters. It shot high at 50; I used a center hold on the middle bull with rounds hitting the top bull. I had some gas blow as these were not fire-formed yet and Mag-Tech brass has a tendency to be a bit on the hard side. I should have annealed it first. Extraction was positive.
These things are definetly not as refined as their American cousin, the Trap-door. Though I have a very accurate relined original .54 Lorenz rifle that I shoot on occasion, I have to say I'm just not a fan of flat butt plates; I can't seem to tuck them in solidly. I didn't expect to be any more comfortable with the Wanzl and I wasn't. Overall I'd give it about a "B-" in shooting comfort. But...it did shoot accurately!
What they lose in being "beefier" than a Trap Door, they certainly make up for in being more...complex. The breech lockup is very strong on the Wanzl; it relies on a short steel rod that passes through a hole in the lower segment of the breech plug then into a corresponding recess in the back of the breechblock. This rod is directly connected to the lock tumbler. When the trigger is pulled, the tumbler rotates the hammer forward and at the same time pushes this rod forward through the holes in the breech plug and breech-block, securly locking the breech. When the hammer is rotated backward, the rod is retracted allowing the breech block to be flipped up (by way of a very heavy exterior flat spring) and the empty extracted. I suspect it was memorable when this system malfunctioned...
It was a fun experience and while I won't shoot it every day, I'll probably take it out a few times a year.
Disclaimer:
I realize this technically isn't a "Civil War" arm. Mr. Holland's mention of same in his SL article prompted me to post this. I thought it might be interesting to some. It's okay to yank it if need be!
Tim Lyne
Knap's Battery
#2952V