I recently bought a 69/71 Swiss Vetterli, and this weekend got to shoot it for the first time. It has been a fun project to learn about, and quite successful. First I had to figure out how to get the bolt out - Swissrifles web site is a big help there as well as for suggestions on how to convert them to centerfire. Most sources say to use 348 Win cases to form brass, but I had one and tried it. It is too big just in front of the rim, and won't chamber. Fortunately, 8x50R Lebel is the right size and Graf's has them in stock at a much lower price than 348. I bought 100. I also bought the Lee 41 Swiss dies, which I have found out were useless and not needed. First thing I found out is the shell holder supplied with the dies is too small. So, I annealed it in my little oven at 950F, and recut it with a keyway cutter I had that happened to be the right size. I hardened it with the torch, quenched in oil, and drew it at 500 deg. That worked better than I expected, and now I have a shell holder. (I need that so I can deprime and reprime the cases.) I made a chamber cast of the rifle, and found out there is no end to the chamber. The cases can be whatever length you want, but the neck is tapered so the hole gets smaller as it gets longer. I picked 1.6 inches since at that point the ID of the case is .433", same as the groove diameter of the barrel. I trimmed a bunch of cases to that length, and deburred them. Then had to convert the rifle to centerfire. That's easy, I used a little ER16 collet holder chucked up in the lathe to hold the firing pin, and some 5/32" music wire for the actual pin. The bolt body was held in the 4 jaw chuck to drill it, and everything was fitted together so I had .060" pin protrusion. Back together, and pop a primer. Hey, it worked! So I loaded a case with 6gr. Red Dot and the rest Cream 'o' wheat and some toilet paper on top. Bang! Out popped a 41 Swiss case! I formed the remaining cases the same way, cleaned the bore, and went home.
Now, what to do for bullets? I want something about 350 grains, big lube grooves, plain base. Well, I have a #446110 mould. Let's try that. I cast up 50 shiny soft bullets, dip lubed them with Bullshop's NASA lube, and ran them through a .433" push through sizer I have. They get a lot longer, but come out at .433" For powder I picked Swiss 1 1/2F, and set the powder measure to drop a charge even with the top of the case. That was drop tubed into the cases, so it settled enough to get a bullet in. Those were hand seated, a couple of stubborn ones were helped with my arbor press. Seating depth allowed the bullet to lightly engrave the rifling, which is good since the tapered neck of the case doesn't give it any alignment.
Off to the range the next day - knowing these rifles are zeroed at 200M, that's where I started. It was fun pulling the trigger on a rifle that hadn't been fired with a bullet in how long? 100 years maybe? First shot hit the 200M gong dead center! Second shot was hard to chamber. So I used a blow tube to keep the fouling soft in the throat, and didn't run into any more resistance the rest of the day. 3 breaths between shots works great for that. The next 5 shots formed an approx. 4 inch group on the 200M plate. I upped the sights to 300M, and tried that one. Whack! that works! Tried the 385 plate, and the 400M sight setting went just over it like I expected. Tried 500M and hit it on the second try. Our longest target is a torso shaped swinger at 751 yards. The first two shots were within 2 feet of it and the third hit! This rifle is proving to be extremely accurate, and I just love military sights since they do what they are designed to do - allow you to hit things! All in all, 25 shots fired and the bore didn't foul out even though it was 80+ deg. and less than 10% humidity. The blow tubing was enough and I didn't have to wipe. That NASA lube is good stuff, and of course Swiss powder is the best. The cases are now fully formed, and a little bigger than when I started so I'd imagine I can fit a couple more grains of powder in next time. (I did weigh a charge and it's 53 grains now.)
In closing, I am having a great time with this ancient rifle and am extremely impressed with how well it works. If anybody has a chance to pick one up that is in good shootable shape, do it! They work very well and are worth your time.
