Single Shot Mauser Bolt Action Rifle.

[Col4570]

This is a single shot 45.70 Black Powder Rifle I built some time ago.The action and furniture are from a Mauser Model 71 single shot Rifle.The barrel was a 410 Smooth bore from a Sharps Rifle that someone had re Barreled .I square reamered it out to .450" and rifled it 1in20 using my Whitworth Barrel as a guide.The stock is from an old Austrian .22 Rifle.The Forend Tip and Grip plate are Rams Horn.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Model
1871/84 in 11mm?

 

[Col4570]

Yes originaly 11mm But the barrel was rusted out.It is the Mod 71 not the 71/84.
Whats with the message ?

 

[Crawdad1]

Col4570, why post your Mauser here in this forum?

Jimmy, same as "worship me and we'll get along just fine" right?

 

[goon]

Because it's barreled in .45-70 and firing BP loads...

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Message? If you mean my sig line(I assume you do) it has to do with experiences I've had with some "experts".

 

[rupe01]

Cool BP project Col4570!

 

[Col4570]

Rupe thanks for that,Most stuff I do is for economic reasons and within my budget.Most projects are done on a Shoe string.I stick mainly to Black Powder guns and rifles both Breach loading and Muzzle loading,not expert but functional.

 

[Col4570]

Crawdad,The Rifle is a 45.70 Blackpowder breachloader as was the original 11mm barrel dated 1871.

 

[4v50 Gary]

The Mauser Model 71/84 was used by the German Askaris of Tanganika (modernly Tanzania) when they repelled a seaborne invasion of the British led Indian Army. It's the last time (I'm aware of) that a black powder cartridge rifle was used in combat. They let the Indians get close to shore and then opened up. It was a massacre and afterward, the Askaris were re-equipped with Mk III SMLEs.

I've been told that some of those 71/84s were hauled out and issued to the Volksturm in the waning days of WW II. Never got that confirmed though.

 

[Col4570]

Gary, an interesting piece of history,it just shows how firepower can be so decisive.My Rifle has the Model 71 Action of 1871,the design was updated in 1884 with an 8 round tubular magazine and designated the Model 71/84,Alfred Kropatscheck designed the modifications for the rifle which proved to be so successful.
Regards.

 

[kBob]

This is a neat looking BP rifle and it is in the correct forum.

I got to play with a71/84 a bit as a kid though in those pre internet days I never got to shoot the thing for lack of ammo. The gun belonged to a local LEO friend of Dads and he left it with me for about a year in return for my cleaning it up before returning it. It had been Carbine-ized I suspect by Bannerman or some such as it did not look like any photo I could find of an issue 71/84 carbine. I thought it a neat rifle and for the time period quite a good thing.

Based on your experience of replacing the barrel with a .410 barrel and reaming it and rifling it I have to wonder if the original barrels could have been reamed and rifled to .45-70. Is the case body of the 11mm Mauser larger than the .45-70?

Now I wonder if rebarreling to .45-70 BP might work on the Italian Verritellis with the protruding magazine and centerfire bolts. Also in my early teens a neighbor had one of those mounted on a wall plaque as a decoration. I was sure it had been drilled through but it turned out to have simply been glued to the wooden hangers on the plaque ......amazing what a 14 year old with a rubber mallet can learn.

I am enjoying your postings greatly.

-kBob

 

[Crawdad1]

Oh, I see the content under the pic. Sort of jumped the gun so to speak didn't notice that the first time.

 

[rupe01]

Thanks Col4570! Not sure if you already know of him, but TheKoba49 on YouTube has a good deal of stuff on those 71/84's too. He's a very knowledgeable guy. I'd love one too, but havent been lucky enough to come across one yet. And darn work (away from home always) keeps getting in the way of my projects, darn it! Lol! One day.............

 

[Col4570]

Crawdad,I thought so,I wondered where shall I put the post.
Best Regards.

 

[goon]

I saw someone selling those in 11 mm in stock military configuration and thought one may be fun to try out. But the logistics of it and the fact that I had no money at the time changed my mind.

 

[Col4570]

Kbob,The Veterli,is quite easy to convert to centerfire,The forked two strike rim fire firing pin can be modified.
Regards.

 

[Col4570]

Goon ,yes finances are always a consideration.I have notices that the m71 and the M71/84 have gone up in price quite a bit.A few blokes at our club shoot the 71/84s with black powder and paper patched Bullets quite successfully.

 

[kBob]

Actually according to COTW the Italian variant of the Vetterli, also known as the Vitali Vetterli, used a center fire cartridge a bit different from the Swiss cartridge having a center fire case and called the M70 rather than M69/81. It had a longer case as well.

Swiss was 10.4x38R and the Italians 10.4x47R.

The rifle on the plaque at my neighbors was the magazine fed Italian variant. It had a short box magazine rather than a tube magazine like the Swiss. They are supposed to be rather common, though many have been bolted to plaques having been "murdered" in the European Deco Waffen way of a caliber sized hole in the chamber and some were converted by the Italians to single shot 6.5 Carcano caliber rifles. ( I wonder if the poor reputation of M91 Carcanos in this country actually came from folks firing 6.5 in the converted single shots?)Not a few got turned into lamps. One of the lamps I examined some years ago was actually welded shut and the wire run through a hole in the stock and chamber....now that is a sad end for even that ugly of a rifle.

To be honest I thought it even less pretty than Uncle Johns Swiss Verrerli. This belonged to a great great Grandfather and has unfortunetly gotten away from us. Supposedly when my brother in law was metal detecting at the old family farm he found some of the spent rimfire cases for that Swiss rifle just off the front porch where my Grand mother said her grand Dad used to occasionally shoot from a rocker.

-kBob

 

[alsaqr]

Colt 4570: That is a beautiful rifle.

 

[pohill]

I have two Swiss Vetterlis converted to centerfire (both shoot BP). I'll start a new thread.