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Old February 9, 2009, 04:36 PM   #2
James K
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Join Date: March 17, 1999
Posts: 24,383
That rifle does not have a lot of value (your $295 figure is about right), but they are very interesting and almost a history of cartridge firearms.

The Model 1870 was a Vetterli-designed single shot rifle, using the 10.4x47R center-fire cartridge. In 1887, most were converted to use a single column magazine with a rather odd shape due to the way the spring worked.

Then, in WWI, when Italy suffered huge losses in men and material in the bitter "forgotten" war in the Alps against Austria-Hungary, the old rifles were taken out of storage and converted again to use a Mannlicher magazine, nearly identical to that used on the Model 1891 Mannlicher-Carcano, and using the same 6.5x52 cartridge and en-bloc clip. A few were reportedly issued to rear area and reserve troops as late as 1943.

Yours is the last version, as the conversion dates indicate.

Jim
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