.41 Swiss Veteriletti (?)

[jrm53]

About 3 weeks ago I milled a clamp on front sight for a friend that has this Swiss rimfire rifle that was made in 1879, I believe that was what he told me but any way it had a S&W brite-blue finish and the stock must of had 10 coats of finsh that looked like a high dollar Weatherby. Well to shoot this beauty with current shells as the old ones collector status they use a a cut down 300 Winchester mag case, they then plug the boxer primer hole and drill a new one at the side that they insert a 22 cb blank in to use as a primer. As you can see placement in the chamber is critical so that one of the rimfire firing pins hit it, it is hand loaded with a current powder and it looked like a 41 cal. Keith type lead bullet. It costs him about 2 bucks a cartridge as he does not reload. He really is into this rifle and the sight I made him was 9/16 above the outside barrel diameter, it shot away to low with the original. This just goes to show that there is other folks out there that are as weird as us S&W people. Jeff

 

[desi2358]

I have seen a number of these converted to centerfire ammo...348 win brass reworked to the 41 swiss dimensions....seems like a neat way to get an obsolete rifle running again

 

[jrm53]

You are right I could not remember what brass he was using and guessed 300WM but 348 WM was what they were using. I just found out yesterday that they are using Unique powder and 12-13 grains, also he has an extra bolt that has been modified to centerfire with boxer primers. Jeff

 

[k22fan]

That's an interesting historical rifle. If I recall correctly they went into Swiss service in 1869. A 12 shot tube fed bolt action was quite a military weapon before 1870! There was the Henry, then the Winchester 1866, but they were very low powered compared to the Swiss' approximately 350 grain slug at around 1350 fps. From our perspective today, it's just too bad they were rimfire.

 

[bigolddave]

For some reason, these rifles were popular enough in the US that Remington loaded the caertridge until at least WWII. A guy I know that used to go around the countryside to out of the way hardware stores and gun shops found about ten boxes of the ammunition in an old hardware store near New Glarus, WI. This is a heavily Swiss area in SW Wisconsin. Must have been a few oldtimers there with these rifles. This area was a hot spot for Scheutzen clubs about the turn of the century. (That would be nineteenth to twentieth; I still think in the past.)

 

[desi2358]

most of the ones I have encountered that are still being shot have been converted to centerfire. The rimfire shells haven't been made in years and are somewhat collectible. There were a lot of these rifles sold off as surplus many years ago and they still show up in the store once in a while. The centerfire conversions usually use 348Win brass and seem o shoot very well.

 

[Muley Gil]

I have seen a number of these old Swiss rifles turned into floor lamps!

 

[k22fan]

I have seen a number of these old Swiss rifles turned into floor lamps!

Please, even if that's true, we have members in Switzerland, so let's not insult their heritage. If they have many S&W number 3 revolvers made into table lamps, I don't want to know it.