The Vetterli Vitali Moschetto Calvalry Carbine,In 1870 the Swiss created the famous Vetterli design
The Vetterli Vitali Moschetto Calvalry Carbine,In 1870 the Swiss created the famous Vetterli design bolt action repeating rifle, which was the most advanced rifle in the world. The Italians also adopted the Vetterli, although the Vetterli Vitali was single shot only, whereas the Swiss model had an 8 round tube magazine. This was a great disadvantage in comparison, however it did have a silver lining. Since the Italian Vetterli lacked a tube magazine, it was easy to cut down the rifles into small compact cavalry carbines called the Vetterli Moschetto. Intended for cavalry use in the mid 1870’s, they feature a short cut down stock and barrel with the addition of a folding prong bayonet. They still fired the 10.4mm blackpowder cartridge and were single shot only. By the late 1800’s the Vetterli was phased out for newer Carcano Mannlicher rifles, however out of desperation during World War I, many Vetterli’s were converted to 6.5 Carcano, the Vetterli Moschetto included. -- source link
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