M1867 Russian Krnka

History

Sylvester Krnka brought two copies of his rifle to Russia on January 11, 1869, to compete with the domestic system of Naval Lieutenant Baranov. By March 30, Czar Alexander II ordered the Krnka conversion adopted. Conversions were performed at Tula, Sestroretsk, Kiev, and Izhevsk armories, as well as by private firms including Nobel, Standerscheld, and Meingard. Factories producing Carle needle rifles were directed from 1869 to 1873 to both produce Krnkas and convert Carles to the Krnka system.

Service

Shortly after adoption, the M1870 Berdan №2 was selected as the main rifle, though both were manufactured simultaneously until around 1879. The Krnka remained the most common rifle in Russian service throughout the Russo-Turkish War. After the Mosin Nagant was adopted, Krnka rifles were issued to conscripts and police in Central Asian territories such as Samarkand. Many were later converted into cheap smoothbore hunting shotguns.

Cartridge

The first centerfire cartridge to be made in large numbers in Russia was the 15.2x40r, designed at the St. Petersburg production center under Professor I. A. Vishnegradsky. Sylvester Krnka, who took a position at the local ammunition plant, teamed up with Baron Hahn to create a new way of making these cartridges. Their method involved pressing rolled brass sheet into a solid case head. Meanwhile, the same factory was also working on a different technique: drawing brass into a cartridge case.

This drawn method turned out to be both stronger and cheaper to produce. The bullet itself had a truncated cone-shaped hollow at its base, into which a metal plug was inserted. When the gun fired, the plug was driven forward into the cavity, expanding the bullet. Since the bullet was already a bit larger than the bore, this expansion created a tight gas seal.

For his contributions to ammunition development, Krnka was awarded the Knightly Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree. The cartridges were made by two facilities: the Vasiliestrovsky Munitions Plant, which stamped its cases with a В.Г.О. headstamp, and the Foundry Casting Department of St. Petersburg, which used a Л headstamp. During the Russo-Turkish War, soldiers found that the Krnka rifle could load and fire captured Turkish M1874 Peabody-Martini and Snider ammunition. However, accuracy was terrible because the 11mm bullet from those rounds was much too small for the 15mm bore.