The Lorenz rifle was well-regarded and imported in large numbers by both sides as the Austrian government cleared out arsenals to make way for new arms. Some 250,000 made their way to the north and at least another 100,000 into southern hands. In numbers imported, they are second only to the Enfield. Made in .54 caliber, they could easily use American ammunition and some northern imports were even rebored to .58 caliber, like this one, to use the most widely available spherical ball cartridges. A little over 53 inches long, these rifles were iron mounted, with three bands, leaf or block sights (this one has the block sight,) and an oval front sight base to fit the spiral mortise of a impressive four-sided socket bayonet.

The wood on this one is good, with the typical light brown color of European Beech and visible grain. The cheek rest is in place on the left butt flat. There are just minor handling marks, though it looks like something may have been written on the right butt and then crossed out with vertical lines and there is a lightly scratched “CW” upside down on the cheek rest. The stock fits the metal well and has good edges along the barrel channel of the forestock and maybe a little softening of the edges toward the rear from handling. The metal has decent markings. The barrel shows a Fruwirth maker’s mark with a small “eagle/W” acceptance stamp on the top breech. The lockplate shows a clear “860,” following the Austrian custom of using only the last three digits of the date, indicating this was made in 1860, with a small Austrian eagle at rear of the lockplate.

The metal shows shallow “salt and pepper” pitting overall and an old cleaning. The muzzle area shows some signs of filing and a trimming of the sight base at front and rear, though the sides still show their oval contour. Nevertheless, this is a good example of a widely used Civil War shoulder arm that would display well in a Civil War infantry display and the bore is excellent. If you are looking for some great photos of Lorenzes carried by Union soldiers in the field, there are some wonderful images of the 95^th PA carrying them while occupying Confederate field works at Centreville in 1862.  [sr]

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