I found this old warhorse in my grandparents house after they passed many years ago. It's an Italian Vetterli with Vitali mag conversion in 10.4 mm. Date on the receiver is stamped 1880. I had it checked out by a gunsmith who approved it for firing, provided I could find some ammo.
This was before the days of mainstream internet, so it took some legwork and phone calls to find ammo. I finally found an old fellow who reworked 8mm Lebel brass to the proper size, and loaded it with a 350 grain lead bullet, and 22 grains XMP 5744. Its loaded pretty lightly, as the original cartridge was black powder.
It's a lot of fun to shoot, with mild recoil and decent accuracy. My grandfather picked up interesting stuff, and had quite a few firearms. My dad said as far as he knew, my grandfather never fired it. I'm glad I had the chance to shoot it.
This was before the days of mainstream internet, so it took some legwork and phone calls to find ammo. I finally found an old fellow who reworked 8mm Lebel brass to the proper size, and loaded it with a 350 grain lead bullet, and 22 grains XMP 5744. Its loaded pretty lightly, as the original cartridge was black powder.
It's a lot of fun to shoot, with mild recoil and decent accuracy. My grandfather picked up interesting stuff, and had quite a few firearms. My dad said as far as he knew, my grandfather never fired it. I'm glad I had the chance to shoot it.
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