Austrian Jaeger Rifle

Hello,
I've heard that the .54 caliber Austrian Jaeger rifle is SAC approved, but there are several different (but very similar) variations of this rifle. Where can I check as to exactly which ones are approved? Or is it more a matter of if it's the right length and caliber? Most of the differences in some models are simply the shape of the nosecap.
-Glenn
73rd NYVI

[Don Dixon]

It helps to look at the Small Arms Committee (SAC) list of approved arms. But, the list is unclear about the Jaeger, so I'll give you a summation.

The Dixie imported/Arms Moravia manufactured Muster (Model) 1854 Jaeger rifle is approved. It was imported in .540 caliber. The SAC list does not say so, but the Dixie imported ramrod for the rifle, which is carried on the bayonet scabbard, is not approved, however. How you would approve the rifle and not the accompanying ramrod is beyond me. The SAC believes, incorrectly, that none of the original rifles were imported that were not drilled for a ramrod under the barrel. The SAC and Inspector General have dictated that if you use the Dixie rifle you must take a reproduction Lorenz ramrod, cut it off to Jaeger length, and then figure out some way to carry it.

I shoot one of the Dixie rifles in N-SSA and NRA competition, and wrote an article for the Skirmish Line several years ago about how to make them shoot. As they came from Dixie, they were a gunsmithing course in a box, with no accompanying instruction manual. If you have some gunsmithing skills and a machine shop, you can make some of them shoot VERY well with Greg Edington's Wilkinson bullets, which are copies of the original Austrian compression bullet design.

Orginal Muster 1854 Jaeger rifles are legal. They came from the Austro-Hungarian Army arsenals with a nominal .547 bore. A number of them were drilled to carry the ramrod under the barrel before they were imported, and these will vary at the muzzle end from the standard Austrian arsenal rifles, of which the Dixie rifle is a good copy. Some were also rebored and rifled in nominal .58 caliber. The only bullet that I know of that shoots well in the original ".54" caliber rifles is from the .548 bullet mould that Pedersoli designed for their Bavarian Muster 1857 "Mauser" rifles. I have been unable to find anyone that makes a Lorenz/Wilkinson bullet in .548 caliber, and the N-SSA will not let you paper patch Greg's bullets to .547 as the Austrians did with their arms.

Regards,
Don Dixon
2881V