Gewehr

A "Gewehr" smoothbore gun, of the type mostly used by the Shogunate during the Boshin war (1868-69) in Japan.

Gewehr is the German word for a rifle. Previous to the 1840s, rifled guns were not widespread, usually muzzle-loading and termed Büchse, as they are still in German hunting jargon today. Afterwards, Gewehr became the standard term for military-type rifles.

The term "Gewehr" can be encountered in the context of 19th and 20th century military history for nonspecific rifles from German-speaking countries, e.g. in arms trade, in particular for types produced before German unification in 1871.

Specific types, sorted chronologically from 1841 to 1997 and with designer given, are:

• Gewehr 41 (Dreyse, 1841)
• Gewehr 71 (Mauser, 1871)
• Gewehr 88 (state committee, 1888)
• Gewehr 98 (Mauser, 1898)
• Gewehr 41 (Walther, 1941)
• Gewehr 43 (Walther, 1943)
• Sturmgewehr 44 (CITEFA/Schmeisser, 1944)
• Gewehr 36 (Heckler & Koch, 1997)

See also

• German military rifles