Technical Description: Swiss Vetterli, Model 1881, tube magazine, bolt action rifle, serial number 223080, .41 caliber. The round blued barrel is 33-3/16 inches in length, fastened by two barrel bands and a wedge. The barleycorn front sight is mounted 7/8 inches from the muzzle; the rear sight has a single folding leaf with range graduation on the oval-shaped wings (left wing only on this model). The sight is graduated to 1000 meters. The barrel is octagonal for 3 ¼ inches forward of the receiver then transitions to round. The left barrel flat is marked 223080. The left receiver wall is marked CROSS / WAFFENFABRIK / BERN / 223080 / M.81 in five lines. The cartridge lifter block on the bottom of the receiver is marked 80. The metal shroud, which covers the mainspring, is missing. The walnut stock is a two-piece design, and is marked D3 + C1 in a rectangle at the rear of the trigger strap. The trigger guard has typical shape with finger rest. The butt plate tang is marked 80. The bore is dark. The barrel is aging to brown with moderate rusting at the stock line and on the rear sight. The upper stock and barrel appear to have tar on them. The blued receiver is showing patches of rust, the trigger guard and butt plate is showing moderate to heavy rusting. The stock is sound, but dry. Historical Significance: See Museum Number 070. This rifle is a turning bolt action repeating rifle with a magazine tube in the fore-end. The magazine capacity is 11 cartridges, plus one in the elevating cage. The bolt is locked by lugs to the rear of the receiver. The magazine is loaded through a right side opening in the receiver. This opening is covered by a sliding hinged plate. The rifle is loaded as in the case of the Winchester, except that this side plate cover is moved aside to expose the loading opening. Cartridges are thrust in bullet first to compress the magazine spring by forcing the follower ahead in the hollow magazine tube. The cartridge elevating system in this design follows very closely that of the early 1866 Winchester. Turning the bolt handle up revolves the locking lugs out of their seats. When the bolt is pulled straight back, a stud on the bottom of the bolt cylinder works against a rising arm of a bell crank lever hinged in the receiver below it. As this upper arm is drawn back, a lower arm extending forward below the lifting cage for the cartridge (which has been fed back by the magazine spring) is elevated in line with the bolt. When the bolt handle is thrust forward, the bolt chambers the cartridge by stripping it forward out of the lifting cage. The stud on the bell crank lever is then forced ahead, depressing the extending forward arm and lowering the cage in line to permit the magazine spring to feed another cartridge back into the cage for the next lifting movement. The Vetterli repeater was officially adopted in 1881. It carries 11 cartridges in the tube, one in the carrier or elevating cage, and a 13th in the chamber. Large quantities of these rifles were sold here early in the century by Bannerman of N. Y. after the Swiss had discarded the model. Thousands are still in use on American farms.

Relics of A Bygone Era Auction