1888 HENRI PIEPER RIFLE
In the early 1880s the Belgian Army began to explore the adoption of a modern repeating, bolt-action rifle to replace its ageing M1870 Comblain rifles. The Belgian Army selected a new 7.65x53mm smokeless cartridge and began seeking a suitable rifle.
In 1888 a number of Belgian and foreign manufacturers submitted rifle designs including Nagant, Mannlicher and Henri Pieper. Pieper’s rifle had a rotary magazine holding six rounds and used a bolt-action locked by an interrupted-thread with four lugs. The rifle had an external hammer which cocked as the bolt was retracted (see image #3). The rifle loaded using stripper clips and also had a flippable magazine cut-off located on top of the receiver to allow single loading and fire (see image #4).
Pieper’s rifle was 130cm long and weighed approximately 10lbs, its machined receiver and magazine adding to the rifle’s weight. The rifle could also be fitted with a sword bayonet and had full-length handguard. The rifle’s sights graduated out to 1,900 metres and the front sight was located on the nose cap.
Henri Pieper’s rifle was not selected and Mauser’s design was adopted as the M1889 serving through to World War Two. Pieper, however, continued work on his rifle into the 1890s patenting several improvements in Britain including a new striker system to eliminate the external hammer. While his rifle was not adopted Pieper along with half a dozen other Belgian factories banded together to form Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre and successfully bid to produce the Belgian Army’s new rifle for 79 francs a rifle. Henri Pieper died in 1897, at the age of 57, his son Nicholas took over the running of the Pieper company.