Back in July of 2021, I was contacted by
FfNJGTFO.
He had inherited a few guns from his Uncle a few years before and wanted to know if I was interested in two of the old rifles that he didn't want.
Me being me, I immediately said yes.
Near the end of July, he stopped by my house to drop them off.
There were two rifles:
M1868 Trapdoor Springfield (Made in 1880), chambered in 50-70
M78 Swiss Vetterli Rifle. made sometime around 1885, chambered in 10.4x38R
Rimfire
Both of the rifles were not in the greatest of shape and were very rusty.
The day I got them, Trapdoor on the left, Vetterli on the right.
View attachment 78696
After taking both of them apart and assessing, I determined that the Vetterli could be restored and even made to function.
The Trapdoor Springfield was unfortunately too far gone to restore to shooting condition.
The rest of these posts will be focusing on the restoration of the Vetterli.
