What in the world is this Military rifle? Its from 1874. PICS.

[mikenbarb]

Anyone have a clue on what rifle this is and the caliber? I cant find it anywhere. It has some crown proofmarks with a F, B and another with N under it and the year 1874 and a bunch of numbers with an 195K on top of the front ring but thats about all the markings. And the bolt is HUGE and it has a real high ladder sight. Its actualoy in pretty good shape for the year it was made plus the bore is pretty clean with a few minor pits that looks like their from using BP cartridges.

[Bret4207]

Might be a 41 Swiss. Looks something like what I remember.

[mikenbarb]

It looks similar but all the Swiss rifles I see are alot different. None have the bottom magazine and the bolt style of this one plus the years are different on the ones I saw being later years. This rifle is a centerfire and it looks like the .41 Swiss was a rimfire?? Im stumped.

[mikenbarb]

I may have solved it.
Does anyone know if this is definatly a Dutch Beaumont rifle?

[blpenn66502]

Actually looks like the Beaumont with the Vitali magazine conversion applied to make it a repeating rifle: http://www.militaryrifles.com/Holland/BmontVit.htm

[mikenbarb]

Very cool, Thank you. I guess its another wallhanger. LOL.

[Oldeyes]

While not the cheapest rifle to reload for, Beaumonts are fun and deserve better than wallhanger status. Dies are the expensive part ($160 or so) or you can often experiment to see what die combo you can come up with to form brass, neck size, and seat boolits. Brass can be made from 50/90 Sharps (Starline is good, and almost cheap); I use my Martini Henry case forming dies to neck down the parent case and the M-H seating die for reloading. Other combos may work....... Boolits are .457 400 grains or so.
I can't boast about great accuracy yet with mebbe 5" groups at 100 yards, but I haven't put a lot of effort into this rifle yet, too many other projects!

[perotter]

They are fun & can be cheap to reload. I use 45/70 brass & dies.

I went to the hardware store & got some brass tubing. There is a standard size that has an ID that fits the 45/70 case & OD that is ok for the chamber of the 11.3 mm Dutch. I cut a short piece of tubing & slipped over the 45/70 case. This is to center the case when fire forming.

Loaded them with some a few grains of Red Dot & 250 grain bullet to fire form them.

For the target shooting, I filled them up with homemade white powder & used 330 grain 45/70 lead bullets. Clocked them at about 1350 fps. The org loading was 360 grain @ 1378.

Shooting off hand @ 50 yards they grouped about 1.75 in. Never have gotten around to shooting a deer with it.

I think I cut the tubing at about 3/8 in. Maybe a 1/2. I don't have any of them handy to measure.

I paid about $50 for the rifle & wasn't about the spend a bunch of $ on dies & cases to shoot it.

[mroliver77]

What is " home made white powder"??

[herbert buckland]

I may have solved it.
Does anyone know if this is definatly a Dutch Beaumont rifle?

I have a photo of your rifle It is named as a Dutch Beaumont_Vitali coversion,converted by ading a Vitali box magizine cal.43(11mm)

[Dutchman]

I have one but I've never shot it and probably never will. One thing I noticed the first time I bought it to my shoulder is it feels real good when you shoulder it.

In upper condition, that is with no rust, these will bring around $650+. I paid $110 for mine but it has a crack in the stock that needs repair and I bought it from a friend.

http://www.militaryrifles.com/Holland/BmontVit.htm

http://www.eddydebeaumont.nl/Wapens.htm

[azcruiser]

It's a M1871/88 Dutch Beaumont-Vitali:

[flounderman]

it looks like the italian verlletti they sold years ago. I don't know if the name is spelled right, but something like that.

[mikenbarb]

Now I gotta try reloading for it knowing some guys still do.LOL. Should be a cool project!

[PatMarlin]

What is " home made white powder"??

Ditto.

[buck1]

Ditto.

me too.

Awsome bolt handle!

[perotter]

What is " home made white powder"??

The powder that DuPont came up with for the US Army in the late 1950s early 1960s that could be made in the field. US Army wanted it in case of they had to disperse troop out into squads so that there was no target for nucs.

It's a mix of potassium nitrate(2 1/3 cups), table sugar(2 cups) & water(3 1/2 cups). Cook it up like fudge(keep it stirred), dry it & grate it. Dry some more.

Energy is 165 ips vs 135 for BP. But it is lighter than BP. So for a given volume power is about the same. The grains won't pack, but adding a little red gum,etc should fix that.

It is harder to ignite & guys have problems getting it to work in muzzle loader & cap and ball. I know someone who solved that problem, but don't remember the details.

Cost, around here, is about 1/5 that of other BP type powders.

[PatMarlin]

Hmmm. That is very interesting. Cool.

[PatMarlin]

Who's going to be the first guinea pig to try it? ...

[PatMarlin]

That is an awesome looking tile floor you got there Mike.