The Dutch Beaumont-Vitali M1871/88 bolt action rifle,Created in 1871 by a Dutch engineer named Messe

The Dutch Beaumont-Vitali M1871/88 bolt action rifle,Created in 1871 by a Dutch engineer named Messerecht, the Dutch Beaumont rifle was one of the first metallic cartridge  bolt action rifle to be adopted by any military.  Firing an 11.3x50mm cartridge it was single shot only, meaning the user had to insert a new cartridge after every shot.  Unlike other rifles, the mainspring of the Beaumont was located within the bolt handle, an exact copy of the Mauser Norris rifle, which would also be copied by the Japanese with the Murata rifle.  This same feature, however, made it impossible to turn down the bolt on cavalry and carbine models.While the Beaumont was state of the art for its day, by the late 1880’s it was obsolete as repeating rifles became all the rage in Europe.  To make up for the Beaumont’s deficiency, the Dutch added a magazine to the rifle, the same type of magazine used by the Italians when they converted their single shot Vetterli rifles into repeaters. Since the Beaumont was outfitted with the Italian Vitali magazine in 1888, it was redubbed the Beaumont-Vitali Model 1871/88.  The Vitali magazine held four rounds and was reloaded with an en bloc clip made of cardboard.  When the clip was empty, an attached string was pulled to remove it from the magazine.Despite the upgrade of the Beaumont-Vitali, much like the Italian Vetterli Vitali, it was obsolete by the time it was introduced.  By 1890 nations began to adopt smokeless powder designs which used smaller caliber high velocity cartridges firing conical shaped spitzer bullets.  Eventually the Dutch phased out the Beaumont-Vitali and replaced it with the M95 Steyr-Hembrug. -- source link

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