Zella Mehlis in Germany produced the rifles in the years 1711-1712. The rifle was manufactured both in a long and a short version, the short with a barrel length of 551 mm, the long with a barrel length of 751 mm. The rifles saw service during the great Nordic war, but due to the armistice of 1719, most soldiers were demobilized, and the rifles were stored in the magazines for more than fifty years. The sønnenfjellske ski battalion received some of these rifles, and there they remained in service until the battalion was disbanded in 1826. The rifles however remained in service and were converted from flintlock to percussion-lock and rifled up to 15 gauge at the Kongsberg armoury in 1841. They were again further converted to percussion pillar-breech rifles in 1851. Unfortunately this means that no original 1711 rifle with flintlock, or 1841 - convertions for that matter, exists today.
Above: This is the short version of the converted rifles, Pillar breech rifle M/1711/1841/1851. There are no original unmodified M/1711 rifles today.
Above: Detail of the beautiful dragon shaped side
plate of the M/1711 rifle.
This is our reconstruction of the original
M/1711 rifle. The details of the lock are not exact. (Drawing by Trond Bækkevold)
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Short version: |
Long version: |
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| Total length: 935 mm
Length of barrel: 551 mm Caliber: unknown Weight: ca. 3,7 kg Number produced: ukjent
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Total length: 1140 mm
Length of barrel: 751 mm Caliber: unknown Weight: ca. 4,3 kg Number produced: ukjent
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(Source: Hærmuseets årbok 1960).