What was the policy of the Austrian army regarding retired soldiers and their arms?July 20 2012 at 6:45 PM
RedFeather (Login RedFeather)
Response to Baer 1955 and 1809 Tyrolean Revolution
That is, did the army allow a retired soldier to keep his weapon? Or were the weapons retained by the arsenal for re-issue, as most are today? My suspicion is that arms were retained, judging by the number of conversions of military flintlock muskets to percussion. If arms were not mustered out with the soldier, then these Austrian ex-marksmen might not have had one handy to use in the 1809 action.
These air rifles appear to have had a pretty nasty reputation, hence the popular banning in many countries and Napoleon's declaration. This might have been garnered more from field trials and anecdotal sporting use rather than on the battle field. They do seem to lend themselves more readily to siege warfare than standard "Napoleonic" tactics.