Werndl–Holub rifle

In 1867, the army ordered 611,000 of the new rifles. The first batch of 100,000 rifles cost 5 million florins, or 50 florins per rifle. The army received 14 million florins in funding to acquire Werndl rifles and ammunition in 1868. The budget was then cut to just 1 million in 1869. As a result, by November 1870, only 316,650 Werndl breechloaders had been produced and the army still needed an additional 302,810 rifles to fulfill the needs of the regular troops, without taking into account the demands of the Imperial-Royal Landwehr and the Royal Hungarian Honvéd. In February 1873, the war minister Franz Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld stated a need for 370,000 more Werndl rifles for the army. ÖWG (Österreichische Waffenfabriksgesellschaft) produced the Werndl and chambered it for the 11mm scharfe Patrone M.67 (11.15×42mmR) cartridge. Rifles produced before the reorganization and name change (from Josef und Franz Werndl & Comp. Waffenfabrik und Sägemühle to ÖWG) were marked Werndl, while later rifles were marked OEWG. In 1877, the military rechambered many Werndl rifles for the bottleneck 11mm scharfe Patrone M.77 (11.15×58mmR) cartridge. Some of the ones held back from conversion (due to large quantities of 11.15x42R ammunition) were marked O.P. to differentiate them from upgraded rifles. ==Use==

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. == Comparison with contemporary rifles ==

• Afghanistan: Imported in the late 19th century, local copies were also made. • • • : Small amounts of Werndl rifles were bought in 1869, a few were used by the artillery of Buenos Aires during the 1880 revolution. • • • • • : 20,000 in use with the army by 1895. • Qajar Iran: 26,000 ordered after 1878. Main rifle in the Persian army after further orders. • Polish Legions in World War I • • Ukrainian Sich Riflemen • ==Conflicts==

• Paraguayan War (Limited) • Krivošije uprising 1869 • Herzegovina uprising 1875–1877 • Montenegrin–Ottoman War 1876–78 • Austro-Hungarian campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878 • Battles for Plav and Gusinje 1879-1880 • Revolution of 1880 • Kurdish uprising 1880-1881 • Herzegovina uprising 1882 • First Italo-Ethiopian War 1894-1896 • First Balkan War 1912-1913 • Second Balkan War 1913 • World War I (limited) • Polish–Ukrainian War 1918-1919 (limited) • Silesian Uprisings 1919-1921 • Polish–Czechoslovak War 1919 (limited) • Polish–Soviet War 1919-1921 (limited) ==See also==