Switzerland

Remarks about the table above:

The purpose of the table is to give an overview of the development of the systems that were issued to the land forces. The model designations, mentioned by the system names are indicative. Different model designations, but with the same system and calibre, are not mentioned separately. Calibre modifications can be relevant for showing the technical borders of a certain system. Therefore calibre modifications are mentioned. RF stand for Rim Fire.

The Swiss Karabiner M1893 is based on the Austrian Mannlicher M1890 straight-pull action. The Karabiner M1893 was adopted because the long receiver of the Schmidt-Ruben M1889 is unsuitable for a short barrel carbine.

The Karabiner 1931 was based on a further shortened version of the Schmidt straight-pull action.

M1867 Milbank-Amsler

The Milbank-Amsler was a percussion rifle tranformed by the Swiss to the Milbank-Amsler breech loading system. The American Isaac Milbank developed this system and the Swiss Rudolf Amsler improved it.

The decision for the small bore 10.4 x 38R Milbank-Amsler modification was taken 24 April 1867 and the decision for the big bores was taken 29 April 1867. Small bore Milbank-Amslers were the M1851 and M1864 Stutzers, the Jägergewehr M1856 and the infantry rifle M1863, total 76.676 modified. Big bore 18 x 25R Milbank-Amslers were the older French infantry rifles M1817/42/59 and a total of 56.369 were modified. Of the 24 Swiss companies that were involved in the Milbank-Amsler modification SIG Neuhausen was the main company that did these and by early 1869 a total of 133.000 rifles was modified.

Breech loading system by J.M Milbank. Source: "Die Handfeuerwaffen" by Rudolf Schmidt, 1875.

Breech loading system by Professor Amsler. Source: "Die Handfeuerwaffen" by Rudolf Schmidt, 1875.

Vetterli M1881

Vetterli M1881 Rifle, Calibre : 10.4 x 38 Rim Fire.

The serial number of the rifle on the photo, is 226688. This rifle is made at "Waffenfabrik Bern". The Model 1881 System Schmidt quadrant foresight is placed at its lowest position of 225 metres.

The Vetterly and its predecessors

On 8 January 1869, Switzerland became the first nation to adopt a repeating rifle. This rifle was chambered for the 10,4 x 38R rimfire cartridge.

This cartridge was not a new design, it had earlier been used for the Milbank-Amsler trap door rifle. The Swiss had converted their obsolete percussion rifles to the Milbank-Amsler breech loading system. The decision for the small bore 10.4 x 38R Milbank-Amsler modification was taken 24 April 1867 and the decision for the big bores was taken 29 April 1867. Small bore Milbank-Amslers were the M1851 and M1864 Stutzers, the Jägergewehr M1856 and the infantry rifle M1863, total 76.676 modified. Big bore 18 x 25R Milbank-Amslers were the older French infantry rifles M1817/42/59 and a total of 56.369 were modified. Of the 24 Swiss companies that were involved in the Milbank-Amsler modification SIG Neuhausen was the main company that did these and by early 1869 a total of 133.000 rifles was modified.

The choice of a low power metallic rimfire cartridge, in a time of needlefire cartridges and poor functioning centralfire cartridges, was a good one. The main drawback of rimfire cartridges is their lack of power because of the weak rim which is inherent to this ignition method. Despite of this low powered cartridge, the fire power of the Vetterli rifle was enormous for its time. The Swiss soldier of 1869 was armed with a reliable repeating rifle that charged 12 rounds in the magazine plus 1 cartridge in the chamber.

The Vetterly rifle was the design of Professor Friedrich Vetterli of the Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft (SIG). Professor Vetterli combined the best of two other innovative designs: the Winchester Model 1866 lever action repeating rifle and the Dreyse model 1841 needle fire bold action rifle.

Swiss soldier, armed with a Vetterli M1878 or M1881 rifle and bayonet. Also notice the Vetterli ammo pouch which could hold 60 to 70 calibre 10.4 x 38R cartridges. It also had an accessory pouch in front of the main compartment that contained cleaning tools and grease. Source: Internet.

The design of the tubular magazine

Friedrich Vetterli used the tubular magazine and repeating system of the the Winchester Model 1866. The Winchester M1866 was not the first design that used a tubular magazine.

Horace Smith of the famous firm of Smith and Wesson invented the Volcanic repeating rifle, based on the patents of the Walter Hunt cartridge and the Lewis Jennings rifle. The Walter Hunt repeating rifle, The Jennings repeating rifle and the Smith & Wesson Volcanic repeating rifle used a tubular magazine. The Volcanic cartridge consists of a hollow lead bullet which contains the propellant and primer. The Volcanic rifle looked rather much like the Winchester but the cartridge made it unreliable. Smith & Wesson did not have the money to further develop the idea. It took Oliver Winchester three other companies before the idea of the Volcanic rifle was made the famous commercial success of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1866.

Other lever action repeating rifles, besides the Winchester, were also available, meaning the Henry and the Spencer rifle. Lever action rifles have some drawbacks for military use. The lever action was not easy to handle when shooting form a laying position and this could led to problems when the enemy is also shooting at you. Of even more importance was the fact that the Winchester and the Henry rifles are not real steady designs. In the heat of a fight, guns are handled much more violent than during target shooting. Another drawback was the weak action of the Winchester M1866, not suitable for firing high power cartridges. These are the main reasons why the Winchester was never adapted as a military rifle in very great quantity's, despite of is firepower. Although it had to be said that the Turkish used their Winchester lever action rifles with great success against in the Russians in 1877.

Vetterli M1881 Rifle with its Winchester type tube magazine in comparison with the Italian Vetterli-Vitali M1870/87 with the Vitali 4 shot box magazine. Both rifles uses the Vetterli bold-action. Notice the Vetterli M1881 small model trigger guard. The trigger guard of the Italian Vetterli closely resembles the large model trigger guard of the Swiss M1869 Vetterli rifle.

A bolt action breech loading mechanism

To overcome the drawbacks of the Winchester, Friedrich Vetterli combined the repeating mechanism with a strong bolt action. Vetterli was not the inventor of the bolt action. The German Dreyse rifle was the first military rifle, used at a large scale, with a bolt action breech loading mechanism.

The Dreyse Infantrie Gewehr Modell 1841 needle fire rifle was invented by the German Johan Nikolaus von Dreyse. Nikolaus von Dreyse had worked between 1809 and 1814 by Samuel Pauly in Paris, France. The Dreyse rifle fired a cartridge by a primer that was placed at the back of the bullet. The ignition took place by striking the primer by a needle that was pushed trough the entire black powder load during loading of the gun. One of the main drawbacks of the needle fire principle was the fragile firing pin that didn't last long by being exposed by the hot gases of the explosion.

The upper bolt is of the Italian centralfire  Vetterli-Vitali M71/87 rifle. The lower bolt is of  the rimfire Swiss Vetterli M81 rifle. Notice the the cut-away on both sides of the bolt bar of the Swiss Vetterli. These were necessary to give room to the cartridge elevator. For this reason it was neccecary to place the coil spring at the rear. The Italian Vetterli-Vitaly had a box magazine and  therefore no cut-away at the bolt.

Friedrich Vetterli did not use a simple copy of the Dreyse bolt action. But the Dreyse and the Vetterli both have a main coil spring wrapped around their central firing pin. It is interesting to know that the Vetterli model 1867 prototype used a Winchester type of hammer. The bolt of the Vetterli has 3 locking lugs at the rear. Again Friedrich Vetterli used the invention of someone else.

The disassembled bolts. The lower bolt is of the Italian centralfire Vetterli-Vitali M71/87 rifle. Notice the 2 teeth rim firing pins of the Swiss Vetterli in the upper right of the photo. Excessive dry firing or shooting can result in the breakage of the rear wings of the two teeth firing pin. All model 1878 and 1881 rifles had a small hole drilled in the but end of the stock to hold a spare firing pin. The two butt plate screws had to be removed to get at it.

The origin of the Vetterli bolt and locking lugs

J. Poyer, mentions on page 6 of his book "Swiss Magazine Loading Rifles 1869 to 1958" the following statement: “ Vetterli combined the turn bolt of Dreyse neelde fire rifle and the locking lugs of the Greene/Chassepot system but moved to the rear”.

The Vetterli and the Dreyse indeed have a bolt action in common but the bolt-knob of the Vetterli is placed at the rear of the receiver and not in the middle of it, like the Dreyse.

I found 4 sketches in an old book of Mattenheimer, “Die ruckladings-gewehre, fragmente ihrer entstehungs- und entwickelungs geschichte”, Darmstad, Germany 1876. The 4 sketches are displaying rifles of the following inventors: Green, the French Alphonse Chassepot, Borse and the Englishman Terry. Al these systems had a bolt with locking lugs, much the same as the Vetterli M1969. The rifles were, without exception, chambered for needle fire cartridges.

The breech loading system of Green. Source: Mattenheimer, “Die ruckladings-gewehre, fragmente ihrer entstehungs- und entwickelungs geschichte”, Darmstad, Germany 1876. The picture above shows the rifle of Green. Poyer mentions the rifle of Greene, not Green. The locking nocks of the breech loading rifle of Green are placed in front of the bolt, and not at the rear side of it.

The breech loading system of Chassepot. Source: Mattenheimer, “Die ruckladings-gewehre, fragmente ihrer entstehungs- und entwickelungs geschichte”, Darmstad, Germany 1876.

The breech loading system of Borse. It appears that the breech loading system of Borse also had a lot of resemblance with the system of Vetterli. Source: Mattenheimer, “Die ruckladings-gewehre, fragmente ihrer entstehungs- und entwickelungs geschichte”, Darmstad, Germany 1876.

The breech loading system of Terry. Source: Mattenheimer, “Die ruckladings-gewehre, fragmente ihrer entstehungs- und entwickelungs geschichte”, Darmstad, Germany 1876.

I also did find an identical picture in, "La grande aventure des fusils reglementaires Francais 1866-1936" form Henri Vuillemin, of the early invention of Alphonse Chassepot. This is not the same rifle as his later famous Mle.1866. The picture is accompanied with the text “L’arme presentee ici est encore tres prouche de l’Arcelin“. It seems that the French artillery general Arcelin had developed the system before Chassepot was working on it. The mechanism of the rifle of Terry is almost identical to that of Chassepot.

The book of Major F.Myatt, M.C., "Geillustreerde encyclopedie van de 19de-eeuwse vuurwapens" also mentions Terry. The rifle of Terry participated in early breech loader trails of the British Governement. These trails resulted in the adoption of small quantities of the Westley Richards M1861 Monkey Tail rifle. So probably the Terry rifle was invented before 1861.

Major Rudolf Schmidt mentioned in his 1875 book "Die Handfeuerwaffen, ihre Enststehung und technisch-historische Entwicklung bis zur Gegenwart" the following: "Friedrich Vetterli, as the Director of the Waffenfabrik Neuhausen, combined in 1867 the cylinder locked bolt by Terry with the percussion bolt by Flobert". Flobert was the inventor of the rim fire cartridge. Major Rudolf Schmidt and Friedrich Vetterli knew each other so it is most likely that they discussed such matters.

In any case, Vetterli was certainly not the first one who constructed the placement of the bolt-knob at the rear with tree locking lugs. C. Reinhart, K. Sallaz and M. am Rhyn mentions in their book "Die Repetier gewehre de Schweiz, Die Systeme Vetterli und Schmidt-Rubin” that Friedrich Vetterli (1822 - 1882) visited Lahr (Germany) Paris, St.Ettienne (France) and London (England).

It is known that Vetterli was very smart in using the inventions of others for his own design. I think it is very certain that Vetterli was familiar with all the breech loading systems mentioned above when designing his Model M1869 rifle.

Swiss gems jäger (chamois hunter)  The rifle seems to have a large model trigger guard with a single trigger. The butt plate is shallow curved. The receiver has no loading gate cover, therefore it could be a Vetterli M1869/71 rifle although the shape of the rear sight looks more like a model 1881 System Schmidt quadrant sight. The Vetterli M1869/71 should have a M1871 rear sight. Source: Ross Hughes, Maryland, USA.

Service

Friedrich Vetterli successfully managed to develop a serviceable military rifle. It was a rugged repeating rifle with a heavy weight as a consequence. The Vetterli rifle served as a first line issue rifle between 1969 and 1890. It was not completely withdrawn from use until the end of World War I. As a surplus rifle it was even used by rear area support troops against the Russians in the Winter War in 1939-1940 and the Continuation War in 1941-1944 (Source: J. Poyer, "Swiss Magazine Loading Rifles 1869 to 1958").

Models and modifications

  "Vetterli models.pdf" Some 19 different models of the Swiss military Vetterli rifle were made. Prototypes are excluded form this number. Click on the icon above to download the document "Vetterli models.pdf" for an overview. (Size: 17 kB). See also "Italy" on my website for the Italian Vetterli rifles.

  "SwissRearSights.pdf" An overview of the Swiss Vetterli rear sights form 1867 to 1889. Source: C. Reinhart, K. Sallaz, M. am Rhyn, "Die Repetier gewehre de Schweiz, Die Systeme Vetterli und Schmidt-Rubin". Click on the icon above to download the document "SwissRearSights.pdf".(Size: 587 kB).

You can view this file with Adobe Reader.

.

      Click on the left icon to download the latest version.

Barrel

All Swiss Vetterli rifles and carbines had four groves and a one turn in 26 inches with a right hand twist. Only the barrel length differs per model.

Gas ports

Two gas escape ports were drilled on either side of the Model 1869 rifle receiver ring. This was intended as a safety against abnormal high pressures or ruptured cartridge cases. The gas ports were eliminated from the model 1871 rifle in 1875. Later models also don't have gas ports.

Rear sights

The Model 1881 System Schmidt quadrant rear sight had a telescopic leaf. The first leaf had a maximum graduation of 1200 metres. The rear sight gets its highest graduation of 1600 metres after pulling the second, telescopic leaf. The model 1878 rear sight did not have the telescopic leaf and had a maximum graduation of 1200 metres. All model 1878 rear sights on all model 1878 rifles in service were replaced with model 1881 rear sights. Therefore the model 1878 rear sight, which had not a telescopic leaf, is quite rare.

Reinforcing key in forend

The forend of the model 1871, 1878 and 1881 Vetterli's was secured by a key that passed through either side of the forend and through a notch cut into the bottom of the barrel.

Detail photo of the transverse reinforcing pin, located in the wood above the trigger.

Transverse reinforcing pin

It appears that the stock wrist was splitting when the butt of the rifle was grounded sharply.  A wooden transverse wrist pin was passed through the wrist of model 1878 rifles to prevent the wrist from splitting. The ends of the wooden transverse pin were notched and wood wedges were driven in to secure it. The transverse pin was also used in model 1881 rifles and was retrofitted to many earlier models.

Production

The table below is based on the data of the book of J. Poyer, "Swiss Magazine Loading Rifles 1869 to 1958". Eidgenössiche Waffenfabrik Bern is later evolved into Waffenfabrik Bern. It was the practice of the Swiss government to spread the manufacture of small arms and parts to private factories throughout Switzerland. The long list of subcontractors is not mentioned in the table.

An important subcontractor was Hammerli and the predecessor of this firm, Hammerli & Haush. Their mark, H&H, can be found on a lot of Vetterli barrels.

Vetterli serialnumbers Waffenfabrik Bern

The text of this paragraph is copied form a Topic posted on the SwissRifles.Com message board in June 2003. See: http://www.swissrifles.com. The book "Die Repetier gewehre de Schweiz, Die Systeme Vetterli und Schmidt-Rubin" of the well known writers C. Reinhart, K. Sallaz, M. am Rhyn does not mention a list of serial numbers of the Vetterli. Joe Poyer write in his book "Swiss Magazine Loading Rifles 1869 to 1958"  that he knows of no reliable list of serial numbers". But Joe Poyer does also mention that "serial numbers in the Vetterli series appear to run consecutively from start end to end of production". I don't know the reliability of the data in the table below.

In March 1868 the Swiss government decided to order 80.000 M-1869 Vetterli rifles with several contract manufacturers. The years after got very turbulent for the several manufacturers as many modifications were introduced and they had problems in producing sufficient numbers. In 1871 only a total of 12.000 of the requested rifles had been issued. For that reason a simplified version of the M-1869 was introduced, the Ordonnanz M-1869/71 (without the loading gate cover). Until 1875 still several manufacturers were making these and modifications were still going on. From 1875 on Waffenfabrik Bern was the main manufacturer of the Vetterli rifles. Bern started producing the M-69/71 in 1875 at serial 114.001 all older serials could have been made by several other manufacturers too. The table below counts a production total of 228.691 while the books say 228.060.

Vetterli Bayonet

M1887 Sawback Bayonet. The handle has 3 rivets. The metal parts of the scabbard are also held by rivets.The bayonet on the photo has serial number 223846 and is made at "SIG Neuhausen".

There exists tree types of sawback bayonets for the Vetterli. The models M1878, M1881 and M1887. The same model designations of the sawback bayonets were used for bayonets without a sawback.

The differences between the models of Vetterli bayonets.

The truth about the sawback bayonets is a little less horrible as it seems. The sawback was intended to enable the soldier to cut wood. For example wooden stakes with barbed wire. The effect of a bayonet on the human body is destructive enough without sawback. The sawback was not intended to create big wounds, altough it did so. It made the bayonet les efficient as an assault weapon because the soldier had to use more force. So the advantage of a pioneers tool was more important than the effeciency as a weapon.

Ammunition

10.4 x 38R - GP1890

10.4 x 38R cartridge, called: "GP1890", for the Vetterli rifle.  The .22 Long Rifle cartridge is displayed for comparison only.

7.5 x 54 - 7,5 mm GP90/03

7.5 x 54 cartridge, called: "7,5 mm GP90/03", for the Schmidt-Rubin rifle. Notice the different shoulder shapes of the GP11 and GP90. The .22 Long Rifle cartridge is displayed for comparison only.

7.5 x 54 - 7,5 mm GP11

7.5 x 54 cartridge, called: "7,5 mm GP11", for the Schmitdt Model 1911 rifle and later models like the K31. The .22 Long Rifle cartridge is displayed for comparison only.

The clips for the Swiss calibre 7.5 x 54 M1889, M1911 and K31 straight pull rifles are made of brown carton that is reinforced with tinned steel sheet. Other colours are used for special purposes. For example red, for dummy cartridge (clips). The cartridge clips of the K31 rifle can be distinguished from the clips of the older M1889 and M1911 rifles by the number of the groves. The K31 are double grooved, following the contour of the K31 magazine. M1889 and M1911 clips are only single grooved.

The carton of the clip is impregnated to make it more sturdy and water resistant.

Credits

• J. Poyer, "Swiss Magazine Loading Rifles 1869 to 1958", North Cape Publications, Tustin, California 2003.

• C. Reinhart, K. Sallaz, M. am Rhyn, "Die Repetier gewehre de Schweiz, Die Systeme Vetterli und Schmidt-Rubin", Dietikon-Zürch, Switzerland 1991 (German language).

• B. van der Molen, "Vereniging Nederlandse Wapenverzamelaars, Wapenfeiten Nr1 / 2003, "De Vetterli, een opmerkelijke Zwitser", Haarlem, The Netherlands 2002 (Dutch Language).

• R.G. Jinks, "History of Smith & Wesson, Revised Tenth Anniversary Edition", Beinfeld Publishing Inc., North Hollywood, California USA 1977.

• Mattenheimer, “Die ruckladings-gewehre, fragmente ihrer entstehungs- und entwickelungs geschichte”, Darmstad, Germany 1876. A reprint of 1968 by J. Winter, http://www.donderbus.com.

• The information about the Vetterli bayonets and rifles is also obtained from http://www.swissrifles.com. With special thanks to F. van Binnendijk for his contributions via e-mail and the message board.

• Rudolf Schmidt,"Die Handfeuerwaffen, ihre entstehung und  technisch-historische entwiklung bis zur gegenwart", Schwabe Verslagsbuchhandlung,  Bavel, Switzerland 1875. Source: The digital library of the "Nederlandse Vereniging ter Bestudering van Munitie en Ballistiek" (NVBMB).