...Kalezky addendum...
When editing the Neuber-post I got into my e-mail-inbox
- surpringly -
a dozen of photos of a vintage rifle.Looking on them I did not
believe what I saw , it must have been the ultimate kick for the collector of a vintage rifle. A Kalezky falling block single
shot in NEW condition. Built 1906, the proof mark & record
show 10,7 as calibre, all the hardening colour , the stock
hardly any mark/bruise, checkering crisp, no sign of "being
done up for sale". It turned out that it did emerge in a
local Viennese auction, made 4,5 times the original estimate
and was sold to a collector outside Austria. I did not
look at it at auction time as weapons for game which does
not fly are not my matter.
It is a Austro/Scottish joint venture, the system is a
Henry hammer falling block, with elements of an Ischler Stutzen, fully stocked with a stag horn piece ending, barrel internally mirror-clean. It is not known if Henry supplied the system
or it is Kalezky-shop made.
This system may have been the spark that Werkmeister Hanusch came along with the Kalezky-patented falling block double
rifle.
(There has been one on the market in US recently)
Clarification of the exact calibre is ongoing. There is
speculation that it may be Springer's propriatory 10,75x52R.
If this is the case then there may be a story behind this.
Austrian crown prince Franz Ferdinand hunted in Egypt also crocs. A very proficient shot he did not bag what he shot
because the crocs still could make it into the water.
He returned very annoyed
and complained to Springer that - as successor to the throne-
is serviced with unusable weaponry.
Springer's answer was a.m. cartridge.
How can it be that after 110 years this rifle is still
like new.
May be the original customer did not return from WW I, may
be the cartridges were not available for 90/80/70 years...
If it emerged in Austria how did it survive the all confiscating
Russian invasion of 1945, when many guns in the country side
were buried at places where a Russian soldier would not
dig/open, preferably pig stables, an environment not very corro-proof.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51027http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51028http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51029http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51030http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51078http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51079There may be an answer to the calibre question.
I attach here 4 pages of a 3-pages promo-flyer and page
28 of the Kalezky catalogue.
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51060http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51061http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51062http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51072Catalogue cover
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/510684 pages from the Kalezky catalogue
sidelock double gun - top model
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51109corresponding explanatory text
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51110sidelock double rifle - top model
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51111Guncase details
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51112I have taken a look on Austrian prices and income in 1914:
Workers monthly income 99 crown, man suit 45 crown,
1 kg bread 0,32 crown.
That means a top grade Kalezky shotgun was about
8 months income of a worker.
(Side-remark: If one takes 1914 price-index at 100 crown, the
index for 1918 was 1120, for 1921 16905 and for 1924 1378900.)
But happily there are still countries where a $ was/is a $
and also a GBP was/is a GBP).
Letter to a Kalezky customer ; postage stamp from 1931
http://www.jpgbox.com/page/51075The last page of the promo-flyer has calibre quotations.
The upper one is on this 10,75 mm .
I checked if in the original this is a 1:1 scaling, answer
is yes, the ubiquitous 9,3x74R shows a cartridge
length of 74.
So the big one is 10,75 x 68 R (+-).
The two Viennese cartridge gurus I knew are gone since long,
I assume someone in GGCA or in great old Germany knows
this by heart.
To translate:
10,75 Vo 725 ms, energy 600 mkg powder 5g
9,3 Vo 750 ms, energy 550 mkg powder 4,5 g
7,9 Vo 950 ms, energy 460 mkg powder 4 g
These loadings and Vo's were based on the new rifle-powder
to be introduced in Austria ( at this past time).
These are their Africa-loadings, for European use
they recommended a ligther-version with less powder and
less bullet-weight.
The catalogue page shows for their Euro-load 3,5 g for the
10,75.
In addition these loads would also apply for Rottweil
powder 1293.
