"horn: brass or bone?" Topic

I recently purchased a lot of Newline late war Prussians which included this Jager command group.

link

Is the horn carried by two figures actually a cow's horn (& hence, to be painted bone) or a representation of one but actually a brass instrument?

I'd go for silver mounted horn!

Bone.

Actually, German warriors two hundred years ago had changed a little bit since the Germanic times:

The normal bugle in use by the Prussian army before and after 1806/7 was the Flügelhorn, also called Halbmond:

link

PS. If the horn is supposed to be a drinking horn, the man is trying the wrong end:

Actually, German warriors two hundred years ago had changed a little bit since the Germanic times:

Thank goodness they don't fight naked anymore. They seemed to have frightened the horse.

normal bugle in use by the Prussian army

Yes, I know this. I was wondering if the Silesian Schutzen units might have used something non-standard to mirror their origins as game-keepers etc.

You may not be aware but there was a long standing tradition of European shepherds using cow horns from earliest times right up to the C19th.

link

Actually, contrary to the two Jäger battalions (which were raised from huntsmen, their sons or the sons of rangers, and whose members after discharge received the right to be employed in the Royal forests), the Silesian Sharpshooter battalion (Schlesisches Schützen-Bataillon) was formed in November 1808 from the best light infantrymen selected from the units in Silesia, and did not enjoy this Jäger privilege.

Jäger and Schützen alike were armed with rifles, though, and all their buglers blew the Flügelhorn.

The article at your link has got some interesting facts, but it is a bit too free-associating for my taste, trying to span over 2000 years and the whole of Europe.

I don't know what civilian hunters' bugles looked like at the period.

"German warriors two hundred years ago had changed a little bit"
hehehehehehehe – very funny!
:-)

- Sasha

And after another 200 years the German warriors had changed a little bit more …..

[Fallschirmjägerbataillon 373, Luftlandebrigade 31 "Oldenburg"]

:-)

- Sasha

i have *never* seen a napoleonic soldure in miniature or illustration with that kind of horn before. hunting horns had been made out metal(usually brass) for at least 200 years prior to that.

the french horn, which began to be used in the early-mid 17th century, was adapted from common hunting horns of the period in Germany.

around that same period(mid 17th C) the last remaining common instrument made from an animal horn, the cornette(not the same as a cornet), was falling out of use.

by the beginning of the 19th century "horn"ed instruments were most certainly a thing of the past.

I'm confident my music history professor would agree.

@ Crucible Orc

Many thanks. I'm "stuck" with the figures but I'll see what the horn looks like painted in brass.

Brass looked execrable.

However, I found this:

link

I re-painted the horn bone wth blue-grey highlights then added silver mounts. It looks great.

The story will be the inhaber's wife bestowed a family heirloom to the battalion. Ha!

strange is this a G3 assault rifle which we used 40 years ago?

Hans-Karl,

The weapon looks like a MSG90 A2 fitted with a Brügger & Thomet railed forend, this latter sporting both a vertical foregrip and the HK collapsable bipod. I would take this as a "sniper" (really more "counter-sniper") version of the G3 – likely issued to a limited number of "designated marksmen".

For airborne units, this might be thought to be (i) more portable and easier to supply than specialist sniper rifles (such as the .50 caliber long range designs), while being (ii) more accurate (<1 MOA vs. 1.5 MOA at 100m) and possibly more reliable than alternatives such as the HK417-based G28.

It is a currently produced item.
See : link

Sometimes older is better. In the US service, after years of depots and arsenals scavenging and rebuilding 50+ year-old Colt M1911 .45 ACP pistols for special forces users, Colts finally received a recent contract for new production.

I loved the M1911, and was very pleased that I left uniformed service before anyone tried to force the Baretta 9mm on my unit. They were already doing some testing, and some of our guys did try the Beretta 92 (the base for the development of the M9). But it was such a little, light thing …. you couldn't even hammer a nail with it.
:-)

- Sasha

Yes seemingly the G3 also performed well in hot climate where the most recent assault rifle failed to hit due to construction problems and of course you are right about the modifications – I wonder why they did not use the AK 47

"MSG90 A2 fitted with a Brügger & Thomet railed forend, this latter sporting both a vertical foregrip and the HK collapsable bipod. I would take this as a "sniper" (really more "counter-sniper") version of the G3 – likely issued to a limited number of "designated marksmen".

"I wonder why they did not use the AK 47"

I can imagine a few technical or tactical issues …. but more likely it is a "preference for German industry".

I never carried the AK-47, but my cousin did while a junior office of special forces in Viet Nam – before deciding to switch to the M79 40mm grenade launcher.

- Sasha

Sometimes older is better.

I understand that, though officially withdrawn years ago, a few G3 per squad have mysteriously reappeared in German units sent to Afghanistan once it was discovered it could punch through the local mud walls, while the newer weapons' lighter ammo could not.

Oh, and those horns are ridiculous. I really expected better research from Newline!