I've been reading Edwards Civil War Guns and he has two chapters on the various continental European rifles used during the Civil War and a chapter on Union P/53 Enfields and another on Confederate Enfields. The Austrian Lorzenz rifle-muskets were the second most common foreign arm after the Enfield for both the Union and Confederate armies. What has to happen for the Lorenz to be more common than the Enfield in Civil War service?
Austrian Lorenz rifles more common than Enfields during US Civil War?
- Thread starter BigWillyG
- Start date
Austria would have to be a major industrial power with an Atlantic seacoast?
Britain declares a total embargo on British war materials going to USA/CSA, but allows everyone else's? Like that's going to happen.
Umm.... Anyone got nonASB ideas?
I think you're throwing this out without thinking about it. They were the third most common rifle in the war, with the Union purchasing 226,924 and the Confederacy buying 100,000.
The first few shipments were regarded as better than enfields, but later shipments went down in quality. With more of them on the field the poorer condition would become prevalent. More reliance on a poorer built rifle at the time of the blockade could hinder the Confederate war effort.
That's still only a bit more than a third of the number of Enfields. Could Austria have actually produced a million of them?