Type Service rifle In service 1867–1918 | Place of origin Austria-Hungary | |
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Used by Austria-Hungary
Montenegro
Persia
Argentina (limited use) Wars Montenegrin–Ottoman War (1876–78)
Austro-Hungarian campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878
Battles for Plav and Gusinje
Herzegovina uprising (1882)
First Balkan War
Second Balkan War
World War I (limited) Designer Josef Werndl and Karel Holub | ||
The M1867 Werndl–Holub was a single-shot breechloading rifle that the Austro-Hungarian army adopted in 1867. It replaced the Wanzl breechloader conversion of the muzzle-loading Lorenz rifle. Josef Werndl (1831–1889) and Karel Holub (1830–1903) designed and patented their design; Werndl later bought out all the rights.
ŒWG (Österreichische Waffenfabriksgesellschaft) produced the Werndl and chambered it for the 11mm scharfe Patrone M.67 (11.15×42R) cartridge. In 1877 the military rechambered the Werndl for the bottleneck 11mm scharfe Patrone M.77 (11.15×58mmR) cartridge.
In spite of the Werndl being long obsolete by World War I, the Austro-Hungarian forces issued Werndl rifles to rear-echelon units to free up more modern rifles for use by front-line troops.