Historic Firearms of the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Navies

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Today with the help of @capandball we look at some of the historic small arms of the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian navies.
00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:00 - Boom sticks
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[@Drachinifel]

Pinned post for Q&A :)

[@0_1_2]

Please comment on the safety aspect of a potential electrostatic discharge ESD on the flash pan or percussion cap.

[@brendonbewersdorf986]

Speaking of austro hungry do you believe if the empire hadn't fallen apart after WW1 would it have been able to have an influence in WW2? I was just thinking of the irony if they stayed close to Germany as they had historically we could see a alternative WW2 where Italy and Austria hungry could be fighting together in the Mediterranean compared to their actions in WW1

[@7177YT]

Thank you for another excellent show! Bismarck, and one of the Turrets near the bow clearly hat 'Graz' (name of a city in southern Austria) stenciled on the front. I know this is perhaps way to specific, but what's up with that? (:

[@kmech3rd]

What is the Fun Fridays theme music.

[@scottmason2557]

My Granddad has just lent me 4 books called H.M.A.S which seem to be the wartime history of the Royal Australian navy in the second world war written by the serving officers. I say seem to because they very much appear to be first edition's (the first one was published in 1942) so I haven't really looked at them properly yet but the first one does have some maps in it of a few campaigns. So I was wondering did other navies write similar books and just how accurate would they be? Also should I be wearing gloves or something to read them?

[@walli6388]

Fun fact: Mussolini once asked Horthy why he was called an admiral when Hungary doesn't have a navy. Horthy just answered: Why do you have a finance minister?

[@brittakriep2938]

There was a small Danube River flottila.

[@AbeBSea]

Straight to the flamethrower? OK

[@karlvongazenberg8398]

Besides when Horthy was captain and later Rear Admiral, e wanted to fight the Italian Navy but usually only found Royal Navy and the French. Almost never the Italian. Which is a tad embarrassing in the Adriatic :)

[@redden991]

I love how he keeps having to save drach from having inconvenient holes poked in him. He's so thoughtful

[@righ-naalba6715]

Drach and Cap and ball? I think it's fair to say this video is a banger.

[@m8rshall]

Waaaaayyy!!! Pun intended I hope!

[@righ-naalba6715]

@@m8rshall Of course sir.

[@brittakriep2938]

Visit Militärhistorisches Museum in Vienna! There is a room for Mediteranian and Danube Navy.

[@chrisdooley8155]

As a left-handed shooter, I've avoided flintlocks because I'd assumed the flash would make firing off the left shoulder painful and annoying, if not outright dangerous. This actually gives me hope that it may not be so bad after all!

[@Ostenjager]

Drach and Cap&Ball! Yes!!! I never even thought this would be a collab!

[@dougjb7848]

Such a patient instructor; several times I could hear him thinking “who taught you muzzle safety???” while he calmly stopped Drach waving the firearm around like Leonard Bernstein.

[@avgj0378]

Balasz is very gentle with Drach when reminding him to keep the muzzle pointed down-range which i think is great. Don't want to startle someone when they are holding a rifle. I used to teach rifle & shotgun shooting and archery for the Boy Scouts. I've had a couple of loaded rifles pointed in my direction by young children, "am I doing this right?" 😂 Not a time to start yelling at a short-attention-span kid who may not have been paying attention during the repeated safety discussions.

[@AbeBSea]

When I was a Boy Scout at the range, I was fucking paranoid as shit about where I pointed my rifle

[@davidbrennan660]

Drach’s Gunnery is in keeping for a Naval Historian .

[@mitchelloates9406]

There is a KZbin channel I came across recently, called Paper Cartridges, that covers historical firearms of the black powder era. One of his videos covered a little-known fact - that in the 1850's and early 1860's, the Austro-Hungarian Army seriously worked on developing guncotton rounds for both their artillery and their muzzle-loading firearms - and came within an ace of actually making it work, and replacing black powder with guncotton - except for two unfortunate incidents - one being a magazine explosion, in a magazine that stored both black powder and guncotton, in the early 1860's - and the other being the American Civil War, which restricted the availability of cotton and made it inordinately expensive - at which point politics and money intervened, and the program was dropped. They had gotten to the point, that they had issued modified muzzleloaders and guncotton rounds to at least one infantry unit for field testing, and had created an experimental artillery regiment for the same reason. If that program had been successful, the Austro-Hungarian Army would have been using smokeless propellant in the 1860's - and I imagine that same technology could have been transferred over to their navy in short order - that would have created quite the kerfluffle amongst the world's navies at the time.

[@mediocrefunkybeat]

PaperCartridges is a bit of an undiscovered gem. Along with Capandball, C&Rsenal and British Muzzleloaders, probably the best historical firearms videos on KZbin.

[@gerald5344]

@@mediocrefunkybeat Yep! I just discovered one of the books written by Brett Gibbons of Paper Cartridges, "The English Cartridge," is cited in the bibliography of a new book published by the Royal Armouries on British Ordnance muskets. The man knows his stuff.

[@SnakebitSTI]

@@mediocrefunkybeatI'm subscribed to all of those except PaperCartridges, so I'm definitely going to check them out after this video!

[@papercartridges6705]

I personally find that channel to be very dry and boring.

[@SnakebitSTI]

@@papercartridges6705 It's like watching lectures on obscure firearms history stuff almost no one cares about. So of course I subscribed.

[@JosipRadnik1]

Drach meets Balazs Nemeth - how cool is that 😃 Tell me if you intend to visit Vis or Korcula in Croatia for some Austro Hungarian Naval studies. I can give you some advice where to look for accomodation.

[@Cbabilon675]

Just a historical piece of information for all of you Naval Buffs out there, the day that Taffy three stood up against such great odds with the Imperial Japanese Navy is the same exact day of The Charge of the Light Brigade back in the 1800s. It is also the same day as the Battle of Ashen core😊😊 if that's not spelled right my apologies but it's the stupid autocorrect on my phone.😂

[@Simon_Nonymous]

Agincourt 25 October, 1415, and the battle of Balaclava 25 October 1854. Well spotted, but not sure what Taffy three might have been translated from!!

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

Taffy 3 refers to the Battle off Samar. October 25, 1944. Taffy 3 (Task Unit 77.4.3) was the US naval task force involved. Though aircraft from Taffy 1 & 2 also got in on the act.

[@Cbabilon675]

@@michaelmoorrees3585 that is correct. Thank you. Stupid phone auto correct.

[@khaelamensha3624]

​@@Cbabilon675Do agree 😡

[@Simon_Nonymous]

@@michaelmoorrees3585 thank you so much - please forgive my ignorance!

[@princeoftonga]

Drach is spoiling us with the Fun Fridays. A Friday isn’t a Friday for me now without a bit of fun history. Many thanks Drach!

[@alexkarman4679]

This guy is extremely knowledgable.

[@cmikles1]

Capandball is a great guy with a fantastic channel. He is singlehandedly responsible for dispelling the myth that the Dreyse needle gun has horrible gas leakage. He was instrumental getting me into BP shooting.

[@Simon_Nonymous]

Aha! As soon as i saw the title I was hoping Balasz would be here from Cap and Ball. He's a great fellow and I love his channel too, in bright Hunglish language!

[@brittakriep2938]

The man was also noted in german arms magazine Deutsches Waffenjournal, as member of hungarian national team during World Championship of muzzleloader shooters.

[@Bigrednumber77]

You should do a big colab with Capandball, C&Rsenal, Forgotten Weapons and Bloke on the Range! (I know it'll never happen but I can dream!)

[@brittakriep2938]

And ,scholagladiatora' for the edged weapons used together with firearms.

[@HalideHelix]

And Britishmuzzleloaders for good measure.

[@gavindavies793]

It's something to be aware of with left handed newbies: If you are standing on their right when instructing, they tend to turn to talk or look at you, and their shoulders, and hence the rifle/shotgun tends to swing around with them...

[@christoffellner84]

Since my Great-Grandfather served in that Navy. Think you a lot!

[@glock17games]

its funny how i knew it was a cap and ball coop just from the target shown :D

[@nonamesplease6288]

That Drachinifel guy is EVERYWHERE.

[@MatthewDoye]

I didn't expect a collab with Balász, been following him for years. He managed to avoid getting you to pronounce Hungarian

[@MrHuggaga]

The collaboration of dreams!!! Been following you both for years ;D

[@MadmanV8]

Capandball and Drachinifel two great channels I love.

[@ForceSmart]

I missed this one when it first came out. Balázs has a great demeanor, so calm and natural, and I'm always relaxed and informed after one of his videos. Very happy to go back and watch it! Glad you got the change to meet up with him, Drach.

[@markworden9169]

Cap+ball has a lot of rifles to clean tonight.

[@supplementalhorsey4510]

Mr. Ball is a true pleasure to listen to. Learned a lot watching this great collab!!! 😃

[@thatguynameddan2136]

this video is criminally underviewed.

[@danieltaylor5231]

Best. Collaboration. Ever.

[@Doiteify]

Just a small addition to his mentioning of the spitzer bullet (the pointed one he mentioned on the last rifle) was developed in other countries just prior to WW1 and was used because it has a better point blank range then the more round nose bullet. Point blank range is based on the amount of bullet drop you getthe further away you are from the target.

[@matthewpalmer7184]

Yeah, was sad to see him spreading European Fudd lore about the reason for the adoption of the Spitzer. Ditto the idea that the M95 was inferior in any meaningful way, or that the Werndls/Wanzls were at the frontlines- they were rear line troop weapons, just like all the other armies which pressed older rifles into service.

[@SnakebitSTI]

In short: The pointed Spitzer bullet has better aerodynamics than prior bullet designs, so the bullet travels farther, faster, which helps with accuracy.

[@michaelkovacic2608]

Huge thank you from an Austrian!

[@ukaszgrzesik7231]

Just seen Forgotten Weapons doing blades, and now Drach is doing firearms. Now I am just waiting for Scholagladiatoria doing ships. It will like that one My Little Pony episode where mane 6 switched cutiemarks.

[@Simon_Nonymous]

Do you follow the Royal Armouries - Ian McCollum did a quick cameo appearance there too!

[@AldanFerrox]

Matt Easton actually did multiple videos on ship topics.

[@greycatturtle7132]

Yea 😂😂😂

[@khaelamensha3624]

As we all follow these channels I think in case you subscribe to one of them, youtube should automatically subscribe you to the others 😂😂

[@ottovonbismarck2443]

So ... what you are saying is that you are a close observer of My Little Pony and several weapon nerd channels. I'm not saying you are weird, but you certainly are a very special character, Sir ! 🙂🙂🙂

[@Pimpdaddy_payne]

I absolutely love the M.95 Such a unique design and piece of history

[@frankbodenschatz173]

Good day, Drach. We're looking to take the Queen Mary 2 across the pond next April and were hoping to meet up and tour a ship with you. Or get a couple of suggestions of what to tour where you might possibly show up or visit. Thanks. Frank.

[@Drachinifel]

Drop me an email :)

[@libraeotequever3pointoh95]

the first rifle instruction was priceless.

[@ducthman4737]

Great that somehow all my favorite channels seem to find each other and collaborate.

[@PaladinStem]

Cap and is a great channel. Love to see another collaboration with boom sticks

[@0_1_2]

This was a great collaboration. This other dude is awesome and has a great accent.

[@garomcfbgdd3211]

Can't tell if Drachinifel, Forgotten Weapons, or C&Rsenal...

[@Arbiter099]

Othais doing boats would be funny to see. Probably something about Civil War river gunboats if I had to imagine it.

[@randyhavard6084]

Great collab, been subscribed to both of you guys channel for years

[@paulamos8970]

Excellent video Drach, so much information and being able to see the guns in action is so good. Thank you very much.

[@silentseawolf]

yessss! 2 of my favorite youtuber's in one video!

[@RacingVincent01]

A really excellent video, very well narrated by capandball and wonderful to see such beautiful pieces of engineering being loaded and fired in the way they originally would have been used - very interesting and very informative. Many thx on an excellent video

[@stephenrichards339]

Very surprised how accurate these guns were, looked great fun, thank you

[@boydgrandy5769]

The Union Army purchased a large number of Austrian rifles early in 1861, notably the M1849 Kammerbuchse in .71 caliber. Those rifles were modified to take the standard percussion cap and were supplied without the conical bullets used by the Austrians buy the Army supply corps to the volunteer regiments that used it. They hated it, and with good reason, but the real reason was that the US or Union Army substituted ball or other bullets and the damn things were horrible with regards to accuracy and rate of fire. They also bought a significant number of Lorenz rifles that fared better, even though the quality of some of them was sketchy due to the fact that some were manufactured by private companies that didn't quite have a grip on quality control with regards to dimensions and fit.

[@rashkavar]

Man, that switch to the breach loading gun really shows just how big of an improvement that particular advancement in firearm design was, doesn't it. I'm guessing from the comments about black powder's smoke and from the fact that the cleaning rod is attached to the rifle that cleaning would have to be done quite regularly - would one be expected to do this in combat, or is it just meant to be convenient for use in any lulls in combat?

[@RiversJ]

It's there so you can rough clean the gun before it jams on load, hence why it's fast access, but not every army went with that logic.

[@maxinelouchis7272]

What a great experience. Drach lives a lucky life.

[@na3044]

Cool to see 2 channels like these two cross over!

[@titanscerw]

Awesome presentation, gentlemen!

[@RichardGoth]

16:50 I feel for you Drach, reminds me so much of shooting my flintlock for the first time - except I was in a competition at a club and hadn't shot anything since University rifle club. I don't know how I made it through 10 shots field loading with traditional equipment but i've been hooked on black powder ever since 🙂

[@T3STAM3NT11]

This time I was so early that Austria-Hungary was almost still around 🤙🏻

[@mineplow1000]

Two of my favorite KZbinrs together! Yay!

[@tombogan03884]

LOL. Geez, Your Sponsorship was interesting. You ARE good at this. 😁

[@spellsecurity]

Capandball and Drachinifel. Can't go wrong with that.

[@nnmmnmmnmnnm]

Very impressed with the guy's knowledge.

[@ALMdawgfan]

I can’t decide if this fine fellow is an exceedingly nice guy or negligent. I mean hell, he’s trusting a lefty with firearms! These pieces they are working with qualify as high art.

[@18robsmith]

Now you have had your eyes opened to the joys of loud smokescreen perforators one must explore the possibility of a three-way collaboration with The Chappie from Bloke on the Range and Rob from British Mussel Loaders.

[@markworden9169]

Paper cartridges did a story on the tube lock rifle and how the Americans did not use it correctly.

[@HalideHelix]

My word! What a crossover😱

[@oconnorsean12]

Cap and Ball is a great channel!

[@Munkynuts]

I think I fell in love with that man, and I’ve been straight until today.

[@SeraphoftheRoundTable]

Capandball and Drachinifel doing a collab together. WOW! I've been subscribed to you both for a long time now! This really made my evening!

[@JohnRodriguesPhotographer]

Beautiful firearms. Dead eye Drach!!!!

[@stefanb.8462]

Very interesting video. I really like the demonstration of muzzle loaded rifles from another era.

[@CSSVirginia]

YES!!!! I love both these channels

[@M.M.83-U]

Wonderful collaboration!

[@user-hw1qo2mu9e]

Thanks Drach.

[@Absaalookemensch]

Thank you to both of you. I love witching videos from both of your channels.

[@stephenrickjr.7519]

Very informative, very enjoyable 👍👍👍 !

[@andreasfasold9841]

Greetings from Austria! You made my evening so much more pleasant.

[@andrewp8284]

Great video!

[@urishima]

CapandBall is such a handsome devil.

[@alexhemsath6235]

Hopefully Drach had time to stick around and help clean all these beautiful guns before they rust!

[@mikehoare6093]

masterpiece !

[@seppa1019]

very good video

[@ChonbaeSun]

Look, Drach, a sea mine!

[@admiraltiberius1989]

This is extremely niche but I'm here for it !!! 🎉

[@M1903a4]

I've fired a .54 Lorenz rifle many times. A lot of them were imported early in the American Civil War when both the Union and Confederacy had buyer scouring Europe for weapons. My neighbor had a Lorenz, while I have a German Navy musket as well as one of the very rare US Model 1861 Rifle-Muskets made in Suhl. I love shooting the old black powder guns.

[@johnniewoodard648]

I have a passion for black powder firearms, and I enjoyed seeing the evolution of these firearm actions.

[@Jargolf86]

The Werndl Rifle really seems like the Rifle that gets you kicked from the Range for destroying the Steel Targets :D

[@guaporeturns9472]

Love C&B too

[@JohnRodriguesPhotographer]

I wonder if the primer tube can be made with a metal 3d printer? An investment could allow a reasonable return. Parts could also be made. US military is using 3d printers to make hard to find parts for older equipment.

[@bebo4807]

In 1853 the Montenegrin army used the Bouret rifle to great effect. It fired an 84 mm bullet at 57 meters per second. It was reported that each round would take down 4-6 men.

[@genericpersonx333]

The number of times a navy and army have significantly deviated from one another in small arms for more than a handful of years is exceedingly small. The most notable time in US history, for example, was the US Navy's brief five-year trist with the Model of 1895 Lee Rifle, but that was just five years before the Navy was once again using variants of army weapons again. With the Modele of 1878, the French Navy actually had about seven years where it had a repeating rifle in service BEFORE the Army would adopt a variant of the gun around 1885 which would quickly morph into the Lebel of 1886. If anyone else can think of a time a navy had a standard service weapon that had little to no relation to the army's arms of the era for more than a few years, do add!

[@SnakebitSTI]

Not the US Navy, but the USMC waited something like five years to adopt the M1 Garand after the Army did, which contributed to their infamous use of 1903 Springfields early in the Pacific campaign.

[@natwooding9394]

Regarding military use of whatever is available, a scuba diving friend once showed me some cartridge cases that he had found around the wreck of a small German ship seized by the US at the start of WW1 and later put into USN service only to sink near Morehead City, NC (USA) or some similar location. I forget whether he had any 30-06 cartridges but he definitely had some 8MM Mauser rounds.

[@afwalker1921]

They had to twist your arm really hard to get you to do this, right? Drach, I feel your pain...

[@drmoss_ca]

In beautiful, bright Hunglish!

[@aasphaltmueller5178]

Question to Balasz : I thought the A-H Marines where issued Kropatscheks for a time ?

[@Cannontime]

I know this was gunna be cap and ball from the target in the thumbnail!!!!!

[@chloehennessey6813]

Oh wow! I am subbed to capandball! He’s such a handsome man.

[@xlerb2286]

I would love to have a few of those firearms. I do have a M95, both a full length rifle and a couple cut down to a carbines like so many of them were. But they while more capable of course are not nearly so interesting.

[@Zalazta95]

Didnt know Pedro Pascal was an austrian gun expert 😂

[@tobiasfreitag2182]

Hopefully drach finally finds the time to learn enough about the austro hungarian navy find some appreciation for it. They faced a very challenging situation in ww1 and did very very well given the very limited resources they had at hand. Sure there us enough to laugh about in this story, we are talking about the austro hungarian empire in the end, but drachs dismissive attitude towards the A-H navy and its ships always angered me and showed a severe lack of understanding (and probably a lack of interest) of the A-H navys history and achievements

[@egoalter1276]

I wouldnt say that. His video on the bombardment of Ancona was fairly glowing toaards the kukk, and their ability to pull off a three pronged simultaneous amphibious assault without radio coordination in 1915.

[@verysilentmouse]

When it came to drachs turn i remembered that he was a lefty and I went oooh much sympathy

[@thompsonjerry3412]

I think some of the 1859 tube lock rifles ended up in the US for the Civil War.

[@hermatred572]

Oh neat

[@steveschainost7590]

That was fun! Wondering if there were there any left-handed soldiers in the 18th and 19th centuries? I've built and shot ML firearms for nearly 50 years now. Safe handling is second nature so saw many instances were newby Drach did things that made my heart jump. Fortunately Cap and Ball was right there (heart also jumping?) to keep him safe. The discussion of the Lorenz "trapdoor" conversions was interesting. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, the Federal armories were nearly empty and it would take time to tool up and make new rifle-muskets. Federal and Confederate agents were sent to Europe to buy up stocks of ML rifles and muskets to send back. European governments were happy to sell off all their obsolete (or soon-to-be-obsolete) arms and the proceeds were used to produce new stuff for their armies. Austria sold the agents their older ML Lorenz rifles (of which I have one). It looks like they may have used the cash to fund the development of their new breechloading rifles.

[@HalideHelix]

That's a good question about left handed flintlock shooters🤔

[@simonnorburn3518]

27:12 I don't know much about Austro-Hungarian rifled weapon systems but is there a reason for using a felt surround to the bullet rather than the usual Msr. Mineus expanding ball, which simply had a small (ok originally) iron or similar base plate in the ball. Originally the balls had a calibre less that the rifling but had a small hole in the base of the round which forced the lateral borders of the round to expand and engage the lands. Was the felt surround simply a NIH (Not Invented Here) response to the basic model or were there significant advantages. Oh and BTW, it would have been rather nice to have seen multiple shots to generate a realistic CEP.

[@alanrogers7090]

My grandfather was born in Linz, Austria-Hungary in 1900. He passed in 1994 after a car crushed his hip as he was crossing the street. Complications set in and he lasted a week in pain.

[@akumaking1]

What will Drach do for Christmas?

[@Drachinifel]

Take a holiday :D

[@akumaking1]

@@Drachinifel do you think you’d be able to do a short video to celebrate the new year? Like any notable naval missions that took place on New Years?

[@kmech3rd]

​@Drachinifel After your demanding content schedule, we would expect no less!! Time for a recharge.