Antique or not?

T

TnD

New member
EE Expired
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Victoria, BC
I am just starting the process of resurrecting an 1871 Vetterli (Swiss .41)

Since it is has what I believe to be a 10 round tubular magazine, am I correct in thinking it is NOT an antique???

This particular rifle appears to be unusual for a Vetterli from what I have found out on the Swiss rifle forum, in that it is lacking a serial number(not removed just never stamped), and seem to have been manufactured as a centre-fire rather than rim-fire (the outside of the bolt is smooth all round, lacking the grooves for the double rim-fire pin Vetterlis used.

Can anyone confirm this, regarding it NOT being an antique.
It is currently owned by my Dad, and registered as an antique. Should I be concerned with getting that revised to non-restricted if thats what it is??

Thanks
Dave
 
If the magazine is not permenantly pinned or blocked then it is a non restricted. Have a gunsmith pin the magazine and it will stay as an antique.
 
I seen a Vet RF bolt on Ebay Gun parts Canada maby its still there i seen it the other day.
If ya put that bolt in the gun its And Antique ;)

Your correct if ya leave the mag tube in and a CF bolt its NOT a perscribed Antique.
Davids idea would work to.

EDIT I checked and that Vetterli bolt in 41 RF is still on Ebay Canada Gun parts its in ONT.
Never seen one on there before so might be worth picking up if its the same as ya have.
 
Last edited:
TnD said:
I am just starting the process of resurrecting an 1871 Vetterli (Swiss .41)

Since it is has what I believe to be a 10 round tubular magazine, am I correct in thinking it is NOT an antique???

This particular rifle appears to be unusual for a Vetterli from what I have found out on the Swiss rifle forum, in that it is lacking a serial number(not removed just never stamped), and seem to have been manufactured as a centre-fire rather than rim-fire (the outside of the bolt is smooth all round, lacking the grooves for the double rim-fire pin Vetterlis used.

Can anyone confirm this, regarding it NOT being an antique.
It is currently owned by my Dad, and registered as an antique. Should I be concerned with getting that revised to non-restricted if thats what it is??

Thanks
Dave
Click to expand...

You've made some peculiar statements I'll try to address:

First off, a Swiss Vetterli is an antique unless it is to be shot with a bolt that has been converted to centrefire.

Centrefire bolts will still have the grooves where the rimfire pin went, so I don't know what you have.

There's no such thing as being "registered as an antique".

The best way to resolve this is with a few pictures. If you don't have the ability to post them, PM me and I'll do it for you.
 
Dear TnD
Many rifles that were decommisioned in the early 1900's were also sold and converted in Europe. Same as here, decom'd military rifle makes for a cheap hunting rifle. The rimfire ammo available was all miltiary configuration of course so many were converted to centerfire and hunting loads and proper bullets were supplied by local European manufacturers. Possibly a gunsmith in Europe years ago, has gone an extra step to eliminate the rimfire grooves in the bolt or remanufactured a completely new piece.
If in centerfire configuration and with any sort of mag, it will be necessary to register it under current legislation. I spent over 6 months last year sorting out the conversion & registering of a Swiss Vette. The verifier locally understood it but the idiots at the registry had no idea that such a conversion could be done and it was an uphill battle to say the least. It really frustrated me that the "gun experts" with whom I finally spoke with(numerous times) , had no real idea of what a "wildcat" cartridge was and of reloading in general. I don't expect my dentist to know jack-s**t about shooting but how much are we paying these government "experts"!:confused:
They finally listed the centerfire version as "41 Swiss CF" if this is any help. I sent them scans of Cartidges of the World", pictures of European 41 Swiss centerfire cartridge boxes, etc and they still had to create their own "name" for this cartridge for the only reason of selfrighteousness.
Best of luck
Cheers
Jaguar
 
Last edited:
Andy,
You can get a "registration" certificate from the CFC stating your antique with serial number is officially and antique and can be legally treated as such.
 
I have seen the registration card that my Dad holds for this rifle, and it does state that it is an antique, so.....?
 
In my experience you can only get a letter stating a gun is legally antique. I have had transfers refused (to me) until the previous owner deregistered it , because the gun was an antique.
The only registered antiques as far as I know are antiques that were unnecessarily registered in the initial phase and are now recognized as antiques. This registration must be cancelled before the gun can be transferred.

cheers mooncoon
 
Dingus presents the simplest solution for this dilemma...simply change out the bolt with a rimfire bolt and you are good to go.

Of course if you ever change the bolts again back to centrefire then you will have to get it registered as stated above
 
Only problem with the swapping of bolts is avaliability of ammo. The only realistic way to come by ammunition is to load CF resized ammo, this is the reason everyone converts them. If I just swap bolts back and forth when it suits my purpose then I'm in violation. That being the case I may as well just leave things as they are now since it is legitimately registered, even if it was done inaccurately by some bureaucrat during the early stages of the program.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom