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Thanks for your input WKATO, mine has a lifter arm assy that is part of the trigger group with the elevator being separate and the lifter arm and elevator cannot be removed without removing the trigger group.

So you can see my confusion the barrel is actually stamped with six digits in this manner XXX.XXX
There is no provision to mount a loading gate, no screw hole, no indication of marring that would have occured had a loading gate been installed
On top of it all, all metal parts are stamped with the same serial # (at least the last 3 #'s)

I did not place much emphisis on the "name" Waffenfabrik alone as it is my understanding that it is actually a german term that means gunmaker therefore waffenfabrik Bern would be a gunmaker from Bern or in this case, a gun manufacturer that was government owned from Bern
Switzerland. This of course did give me a place of origin. Of course remembering that Eidgenössische Waffenfabrik, means Federal Arms Factory and is not actually a name of a company by any reasearch that I have done anyway.

Also prior to 1875 there were many manufacturers producing this rifle, only one of which was Waffenfabrik Bern, it was only after 1875 that Waffenfabrik Bern was the main manufacturer. At least that is my understanding of what happened.

It can be a wonderous journey just trying to trace a rifle of this age , but for me, worth all the effort

OK after reading at least 50 different articals and viewing hundreds of pictures and the best discription was found (other than on this site of course) was at
http://www.militaryrifles.com/Switzerland/SwissVet.htm and http://www.swissrifles.com/vetterli/serial_numbers.html nailed the serial # down for me.

Unfortunately I do not have a 69 but a 1869/71. Oh well after this rebuild who knows what I will find next .

Thanks Guisan and Wkato ........ I believe we have nailed it, Model 1869/71 Rifles Serial # 117XXX manufactured Eidgenössische Waffenfabrik, Bern

Oh what a tangled web we weave, and how the Vetterli can decieve LOL

Hi Meyrin ,,,,, well there is only so much room that ones wife will willingly give up LOL .... She has been great about all this, but I do not want to push it too far LOL , LOL,

....Actually it is going to have room for 12 peices, I have been collecting and refinishing/rebuilding unusual and or old rifles for some time now , I dont know if they have any signifigant value, but just stuff that has caught my eye and I developed an interest in, I have 5 that are completed, 1 almost completed, and 4 more either waiting parts, looking for parts, or just waiting for me , when I get the Cabinet finished I will post some pics, I think I came up with a functional but secure design for a cabinet.
I am currently semi retired, ( more retired than semi LOL), and too young to stop working, so now I finally have time to do some of this stuff, and actually dig out information on some of my peices and rework them to make them like new, OMG that is an antique dealers nightmare isnt it ? Oh well, I never did get into it for the money, but only to restore and shoot them.

Hi Bruce ....... Ohhhhh no, that would definately put a crimp on my love life LOL, but thinking ahead, and thinking I only had one shot at her letting me build a built in gun cabinet, I left room for expansion LOL .....

I just hope I can find the metal parts for the rifle, need to find a rear sight and the tubular mag with internal parts, would like to get another bolt too so that when I make the conversion to center fire, I dont disrupt the original, the wood is NP as I have a cabinet maker in the family and he and I both have spent a lot of time carving and on milling machines.

Al

SRO

I know what you mean ... a few years ago I was just gonna build a couple of black powder kits ..... just to fill in some time you understand .... and they could just hang on the wall ....now I am building a cabinet LOL,,,
But ya never know ... something is sure to catch my eye that needs some TLC and there ya go .... I'll be expanding again.
My better half just rolls her eyes when she hears I am going to a gun show LOL ..... Thank god she understands .

A GUY JUST HAS GOTTA HAVE A HOBBY LOL

Wes
What you say makes sense, I am getting anxious to get out there and shoot it but I have some work to do on it yet. Hopefully I will be able to use it to hunt muleys this fall.

Thanks for all your advices guys ...... keep it commin, all us Vetterli newbies need all the help we can get

So in that case does anyone know where I can get a forestock and tube