dakota.potts
New member
We had a lecture as part of my gunsmithing class on lecture where we went to an instructor's personal shop and looked at the history of cartridge firearms (bolt actions in particular) and the different ways that bolts were designed to handle pressure.
While there, the instructor showed us a rifle I'd never seen (or heard of) before - the Swiss Vetterli. It's considered to be the first repeating cartridge firearm to load from a magazine and the design is roughly 150 years old. It fires from a 10.4mm rimfire cartridge that is nearly impossible to get anymore and loads from a 12 round tube magazine. It's a rough ballistic equivalent to a .44 magnum. The point of interest was that it had two locking lugs at the rear of the bolt rather than the front.
Anyways, I thought it was a really cool and unique rifle design. I love firearms as weapons and the development of arms, and the Vetterli rifle is really cool for that reason. I also like the very smooth bolt throw and the unique 33" barrel.
Anyways, I see that they are online and they are not unreasonable prices. I am really thinking about buying one that's in a rough-ish condition (most of the metal finish stripped, for instance) and refinishing/re-bluing it as part of my projects for gunsmithing class. I also see that there is one ammo maker who specializes in obsolete cartridges and will load black powder .41 swiss centerfire ammo for $1.50 a round or $0.75 cents a round on your fired cases. I'd take care to bring the bluing back to a deep high polish while preserving all the important historical markings. Firing the centerfire ammo would require boring out the center of the bolt and making a firing pin and retainer for a centerfire conversion, all fairly simple parts and operations that I have the machining experience to do.
I'm just wondering if such a project would be considered a sin on such a historic rifle or something I would regret. The rifle can easily be converted back to rimfire, but the hole can't be taken out of the bolt. You can also never un-do the refinishing.
I just think it's a really cool rifle and I think one that I worked on myself would be something I could be proud to hang on the wall and to take shooting for the novelty when I decide I can afford to buy a couple of boxes of ammo.
What do you all think?
While there, the instructor showed us a rifle I'd never seen (or heard of) before - the Swiss Vetterli. It's considered to be the first repeating cartridge firearm to load from a magazine and the design is roughly 150 years old. It fires from a 10.4mm rimfire cartridge that is nearly impossible to get anymore and loads from a 12 round tube magazine. It's a rough ballistic equivalent to a .44 magnum. The point of interest was that it had two locking lugs at the rear of the bolt rather than the front.
Anyways, I thought it was a really cool and unique rifle design. I love firearms as weapons and the development of arms, and the Vetterli rifle is really cool for that reason. I also like the very smooth bolt throw and the unique 33" barrel.
Anyways, I see that they are online and they are not unreasonable prices. I am really thinking about buying one that's in a rough-ish condition (most of the metal finish stripped, for instance) and refinishing/re-bluing it as part of my projects for gunsmithing class. I also see that there is one ammo maker who specializes in obsolete cartridges and will load black powder .41 swiss centerfire ammo for $1.50 a round or $0.75 cents a round on your fired cases. I'd take care to bring the bluing back to a deep high polish while preserving all the important historical markings. Firing the centerfire ammo would require boring out the center of the bolt and making a firing pin and retainer for a centerfire conversion, all fairly simple parts and operations that I have the machining experience to do.
I'm just wondering if such a project would be considered a sin on such a historic rifle or something I would regret. The rifle can easily be converted back to rimfire, but the hole can't be taken out of the bolt. You can also never un-do the refinishing.
I just think it's a really cool rifle and I think one that I worked on myself would be something I could be proud to hang on the wall and to take shooting for the novelty when I decide I can afford to buy a couple of boxes of ammo.
What do you all think?