SurpluS, ClaSSiC and TaCTiCal FirearmS™ HOlt BODINSON With a length of 53 inches and a weight of 9-3/4 pounds, the Vetterli M70/87/15 is typical of late 19th century infantry rifles. emergenCY Stopgap iTalY’s veTTerli m70/87/15. ome milsurps are simply more intrinsically fascinating than others. It might be an unusual design feature, maybe a quirky mechanical component, possibly a peculiar method of operation or a unique historical association. When you run across a milsurp that combines all these elements, then you really have something. Meet the Italian Vetterli M70/87/15. I was cruising the gun racks of the Frontier Gunshop in Tucson, Ariz., one bright fall day when its owner, Jim Sharrah, drew my attention to the end rifle standing in his double-sided, floor gun rack. From across the room, I could tell it was a Vetterli, but until I walked over and got a better look at it and saw its distinct Mannlicher magazine protruding from the bottom of the stock, I realized it was an Italian—not a Swiss—Vetterli and did it ever have a story to tell. With the unification of Italy in the 1860s, it was natural for the new national army to begin a trials program, S Holt BoDinson The Vetterli was charged with a 6-round Mannlicher clip (above, left). That’s 1936-era Italian ball being loaded. Holt doesn’t recommend actually shooting these conversions with ball ammo. In the 1887 conversion (above, right), a bolt guide was added to better stabilize the heavy Vetterli bolt. Note the two massive locking lugs on the rear-locking bolt of the Vetterli. Whether Swiss or Italian, the Vetterli rifles were beautifully machined and finely finished. Vetterli rifles were made at the Torino and Brescia Arsenals. This (below) is a late one, dated 1889. leading to the adoption of a common Italian military rifle and cartridge. The Swiss Vetterli was selected in 1870 and licensed for Italian production at the Torino and Brescia arsenals. It was a good choice. Designed by Johann Friedrich Vetterli, director of the SIG factory in Neuhausen, Switzerland, and adopted by the Swiss army in 1869, the Vetterli was the first selfcocking, smallbore, bolt-action repeating rifle manufactured for general issue by any country. Beautifully machined and finished, the Vetterli incorporated, in concept, the side loading port, tubular magazine and cartridge lifter of the Winchester Model 1866 and the turning bolt of the Dreyse needle gun with the locking lugs of the Greene/Chassepot. Chambered for the .41 Swiss rimfire cartridge, the Swiss Vetterli was replaced in 1890 by the Model 1889 Schmidt-Rubin. While the Italians adopted the Vetterli action, they had some ideas of their own when designing their Model 1870 rifle. Rather than adopting the elaborate and expensive repeating magazine system of the Swiss, the Italians opted for a single-shot rifle with a dust cover. Rather than chambering their Vetterli for the .41 Swiss rimfire, the Italians introduced a new .41 cartridge, the bottlenecked and rimmed 10.4x47R. On the basis of its ballistics, the Italian cartridge was essentially a clone of the .41 Swiss, but there was a distinct difference. The .41 Italian was assembled on a centerfire case with a central vent and primed with a Boxer-type primer. The original military loading consisted of a 309-grain, grooved lead bullet over 62 grains of fine black powder with a velocity of 1,345 fps. It was later loaded with a jacketed bullet and was also chambered in the Gardner, Maxim and Nordenfelt machine guns. The Italians soldiered on with their single-shot Vetterli until 1887 when artillery Captain G. Vitali invented a 4-round, box magazine designed to convert the Vetterli into a repeater. The conversion consisted of milling out the 28 WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM • FEBRUARY 2014
