| Repetiergewehr Vetterli, Modell 1869/71 | |
|---|---|
 Swiss Vetterli Model 1868 | |
| Type | Service rifle |
| Place of origin | Switzerland |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1869–1889 |
| Used by | Swiss Army, Paraguay[1] Finnish White Guard[2] Russian Army (captured from shipment to Finland) United Mine Workers Home Guard[3] |
| Wars | Argentine Civil Wars (limited)[4] 1904 Paraguayan Revolution World War I (Russian captured) Russian Civil War Finnish Civil War[5] Coal Wars |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Johann-Friedrich Vetterli |
| Manufacturer | SIG and Waffenfabrik Bern |
| No. built | 36,700 |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 4600 g (10.14 lb) |
| Length | 1300mm (51.18 in) |
| Barrel length | 842mm (33.15 in) |
| Cartridge | 10.4×38mm Swiss Rimfire Black-powder rimfire rimmed metallic cartridge |
| Caliber | 10mm |
| Action | Bolt-action |
| Rate of fire | 21 rounds per minute |
| Muzzle velocity | 1425 ft/s |
| Feed system | 11-round tubular magazine |
| Sights | Iron sights (Quadrantenvisier) |
The Vetterli rifles were a series of Swiss army service rifles in use from 1869 to 1889,[6] when they were replaced with Schmidt–Rubin rifles. Modified Vetterlis were also used by the Italian Army.
The Swiss Vetterli rifles combined the American Winchester Model 1866's tubular magazine with a regular bolt featuring for the first time two opposed rear locking lugs. This novel type of bolt was a major improvement over the simpler Dreyse and Chassepot bolt actions. The Vetterli was also the first repeating bolt-action rifle to feature a self-cocking action, small caliber bore, and the first known standard issue of the intermediate round, which gave controllable handling and a large magazine capacity of 11 rounds, which was more than any other rifle of the time, predating the Lee–Metford.
Due to the Swiss Federal Council's early 1866 decision to equip the army with a breechloading repeating rifle, the Vetterli rifles were, at the time of their introduction, the most advanced military rifles in Europe. The Vetterli was the replacement for the Eidgenössischer Stutzer 1851, an Amsler-Milbank metallic cartridge conversion from previous Swiss muzzle-loading rifles.
- ^ "AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE PARAGUAYAN ARMY".
- ^ "Finland and the Grafton Affair". 25 July 2014.
- ^ "The guns of "DAD's Army" part 1: Small Arms of the British Home Guard 1940-1944: they probably worried their own government more than they did the Nazis, but they did their part in the dark days when Britain fell under the German shadow. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2022-12-20.
- ^ "Unidades y armas durante el sitio de Buenos Aires de 1880" (PDF).
- ^ "RIFLES PART 6".
- ^ Barnes, p.196, "10.4x38R Swiss Vetterli M69/81".