History of the needle gun

(Major Prien, At an audience of the Crown Prince, later King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, 1838)

Prussia adopted the needle gun developed, by Nikolaus von Dreyse in 1841. It was the best military rifle of its time and far superior to any other military rifle. The adoption in 1841 did not mean however that the Prussian army was immediately equipped with the needle gun in its totality. The changeover for the army started in 1848 and was not even finished in 1866.

Nikolaus (also written as Nicolaus) Dreyse, 20/11/1787 – 09/12/1867 in Sömmerda, was nominated “Komissionsrat” in 1846 and „Geheimen Komissionsrat“ in 1854 and became, therefore „Hoffähig“ (right of presentation at Court). Because of his outstanding merits, he was ennobled in 1864 and could change his name tovon Dreyse.

Dreyse experimented with cartridges and needle ignition since 1827. His goal was to simplify loading by using a cartridge consisting of a bullet, the powder charge, and a primer. The Prussian army followed these developments with a lot of interest. The Crown Prince (later King Friedrich Wilhelm I) and the Prince of Prussia (later King Wilhelm I) supported Dreyse. The breakthrough came in 1836 when Dreyse presented a breech-loader with a rifled barrel. Prussia adopted this rifle for its “Füsilier” battalions, after some improvements and successful troop trials.

Dreyse transferred the rights of his invention to the Prussian state for a yearly salary1 of 1200 Taler and a one-time payment of 10.000 Taler. On the 4th of December 1840, he received orders for 60.000 rifles and 500 cartridges for each rifle. He also obtained a loan of 90.000 Taler for the construction of the rifle factory. The rifle and ammunition were a state secret. The rifles were called light percussion rifles because of this. This name was kept until March 22, 1855, when it was changed to “Zündnadel-Gewehr” (Needle rifle).

The rifles built in Sömmerda were put into storage under strict secrecy until enough rifles were available for the Füsilier battalions. +/- 45.00 rifles were in storage in the arsenals of Berlin and Magdeburg at the start of 1848. Twenty-two million cartridges were stored separately in other arsenals. On June 6, 1848, the King ordered that the Foot Guard regiments no. 1 and 2, the Reserve Guard regiment and the Füsilier battalions of the Infantry regiments 2, 9 and 32 were to be equipped immediately with needle rifles. The issuance of the rifle took some time, however.

The regimental history of Infantry regiment No.32, for instance, mentions the issuance of the rifles in 1849.

The arsenal in Berlin was stormed on June 14, 1848. The revolutionaries seized the stored needle rifles. They did not get any cartridges because the cartridges were stored separately in the Artillery Laboratory near the Oranienburg Gate. The long-kept secret was not a secret anymore!

All of the captured weapons were recovered except for 30 rifles. Some of them certainly found their way to other countries. The needle rifle did not receive a favorable opinion. Everyone saw the weaknesses (that were present without a doubt). The cartridges were also considered to be far too dangerous for military use.

Ploennis2 writes:

On June 20 the Prussian King ordered the allocation of needle rifles to an additional