My Italian Vetterli

303hunter

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IMG_0173.JPG I found this old warhorse in my grandparents house after they passed many years ago. It's an Italian Vetterli with Vitali mag conversion in 10.4 mm. Date on the receiver is stamped 1880. I had it checked out by a gunsmith who approved it for firing, provided I could find some ammo.

This was before the days of mainstream internet, so it took some legwork and phone calls to find ammo. I finally found an old fellow who reworked 8mm Lebel brass to the proper size, and loaded it with a 350 grain lead bullet, and 22 grains XMP 5744. Its loaded pretty lightly, as the original cartridge was black powder.

It's a lot of fun to shoot, with mild recoil and decent accuracy. My grandfather picked up interesting stuff, and had quite a few firearms. My dad said as far as he knew, my grandfather never fired it. I'm glad I had the chance to shoot it.
 
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Thats Rimfire right? How did the guy go about making the ammo?

I have a Swiss version i converted to centerfire but this sounds interesting
 
IMG_0174.JPG
Thats Rimfire right? How did the guy go about making the ammo?

I have a Swiss version i converted to centerfire but this sounds interesting

No, it's centerfire. I don't know how the ammo was made, that was 25 years ago. I do remember him saying that 41 magnum bullets and seater dies worked.
 
ETA: deleted bad info - Italian vetterli rifles were not chambered the same as the Swiss ones. thank you Google-fu
 
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Finding an Italian Vetterli or Vetterli Vitali that hasn't been converted to 6.5 Carcano is difficult anymore. That is really cool!
 
Cool rifle. Glad it has stayed in your family. Too many don't.
 
It is cool. I never heard tell of it. 10.4 mm say what? I need to know more about this. Off to google it.
 
Sorry man its converted or is chambered for carcono. The bullet used to shoot Kennedy if you belive their story.
 
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This one will be in my possession until I die. It was my grandfathers, and has a lot of sentimental value. He was the one who taught me to hunt and fish.
I can say without a doubt the one gun I own that will never be sold is my Grandfather's, Pre war Model 70 in .257 Roberts.
 
One of the two guns in my collection is a Swiss Repetiergewehr Vetterli Model 1878 .41 Swiss rimfire (other is a Jap Type 38 6.5mm)

Top one looks like mine (off the net) Its gathering dust at my mothers house in San Antonio. Paid $40 at a auction in the early 80s
Gun-Collecting-Swiss-Vetterli-Lead.jpg
 
Sorry man its converted or is chambered for carcono. The bullet used to shoot Kennedy if you belive their story.

There's a vendor at the Fayetteville gun show that normally has a few in 10.4 mm, he also has ammo with reformed brass. Occasionally he also has original ammo from the 1870/1880 period, but it's pricey and not guaranteed to fire.
 
There's a vendor at the Fayetteville gun show that normally has a few in 10.4 mm, he also has ammo with reformed brass. Occasionally he also has original ammo from the 1870/1880 period, but it's pricey and not guaranteed to fire.

Has that show come and gone?
 
Damn. Good prices? Id like to deer hunt with it. What did you shoot it with? 10.4mm. Do whaaaaaaaa?
 
That's very nice. I'd love to get one of these unaltered Vitali rifles. Having a completely original single shot one would be great too. The one I have is in the M1870/87/15 configuration.

To address the question posed a few comments above, the Italian versions were a copy of the original Swiss Vetterli rifles but where the Swiss ones were chambered with a 41 cal. rimfire round the Italian models always utilized a centerfire version of the round.

Here's the M1870/87/15 I have:

M18708715.jpg
 
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