The story of the Vetterli rifles actually begins with Swiss observations of the rapid adoption by virtually all European armies of effective breach loaders following their successful fielding during the American Civil War of 1861-1865.  Swiss adoption of breach loaders was given further impetus by the uncomfortably quick Prussian victories against the Danes in the Second Schleswig War of 1864 and the Austrians in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866.

  In the 1860s the Swiss individual cantons were armed with a variety of muzzleloaders and M1842/67 Amsler-Milbank breech-loading conversions along with the later M1851/67 Amsler-Milbank series breech-loader conversions.

  In 1866 the Swiss embarked upon a quest to arm themselves with fully modern breechloaders.  In 1867 the Swiss government purchased 15,000 M1867 Peabody rifles from the US manufacturer Providence Tool Company for their engineer battalions, but this was wholly an interim measure until a more suitable standard Swiss rifle could be adopted and fielded.

  The rifle which the Swiss ultimately settled upon was developed by Swiss designer Friedrich Vetterli, the manager of the Neuhausen factory operated by Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft Waffen (SIG).  This new rifle borrowed heavily from the British Terry action and coupled it with a tube magazine borrowed from the US Henry (later Winchester) rifle, thus creating the first bolt-action, tube magazine, repeating rifle.   (This concept would also later be utilized for example, in such rifles as the M1886 Portuguese Kropatschek, the M71/84 German Mauser and the Japanese Murata 22.)

  Vetterli’s rifle was adopted by a Swiss Federal Council resolution on February 27, 1868 as the fully modern model for Switzerland’s national army and issued orders for 80,000 infantry rifles to be purchased.  This rifle was declared its official arm by Federal Council resolutions of August and December of 1869.  The basic design of the Swiss Vetterli remained substantially unchanged and the rifle remained the principal arm of the Swiss army until 1889 when the M1889 Schmidt-Rubin rifle was introduced. 

  The Vetterli action rifle was adopted in both Switzerland and Italy, although for reasons of economy and because of a substantially larger army to equip, the Italians initially adopted their M1870 Italian Vetterli rifle in only a single-shot configuration.  Later, however, they too adapted the Vetterli to repeater configuration, but using the Vitali system (M1870/87 Italian Vetterli) which also found favor in the Netherlands for converting their M1871 Beaumont to the M1871/88 Beaumont-Vitali.

  The Swiss rifle utilizes a Henry (Winchester) M1866 type tubular magazine coupled with a bolt receiver system.  The Swiss Vetterli was the first repeating infantry rifle widely adopted for front line military service.  Interestingly, the Vetterli continued to utilize rimfire ammunition until phased out in the 1890's in the favor of the Schmidt‑Rubin.  Thus, when adopted the Swiss Vetterli was the most technologically advanced military rifle in the world, and by the time of its replacement had become one of the most obsolete.  It remained in service for over twenty years during a time of great technological change.  It was also the first widely adopted military rifle to have a self‑cocking action and “small” caliber.  Adopted by the Swiss Army in 1868, it underwent several improvements between 1870 and 1879. These culminated in the model 1881. Throughout its service life the Swiss Vetterli’s magazine system remained unchanged.  Early full production rifles (M1869) were manufactured by Schweizerichse Industry‑Gesellshaft in Neuhausen (the famous SIG arms company that is still a significant manufacturer of arms today), as well as no fewer than eight other smaller manufacturers.

  The decision to use the 10.4 millimeter rimfire cartridge in the Vetterli rifle was apparently motivated by considerations of economy since the cartridge was already in existence and proven in the Milbank‑Amsler conversions of the various Federal rifles referenced above as well as in the Peabody adopted in 1867.  Notwithstanding being a rimfire, this round has a relatively high velocity and flat trajectory, far ahead of the short range, large caliber rounds used in cartridges for most other converted breech loading rifles.  The Vetterli striker has a forked firing pin, which passes through two firing pin holes in the bolt face for double striking the cartridge rim.

  The cleaning rod of the trials rifles (M1869/69 was set into the left side of the stock, similarly to the later M1878 French Kropatchek, but that was soon changed and the fully operational M1869 (and all subsequent Swiss Vetterlis) carries the cleaning rod directly below the tubular magazine. The first rifles were made with a loading gate cover and externally mounted, but these were soon found to be unnecessary and removed all together with the adoption of the M1869/71.

  The M1869/71 has an improved elevator system and a simplified receiver.  The magazine cut-off device was deleted and the back sight was re‑graduated from schritt (steps, or paces) to meters.

  In 1878 an improved version was adopted as the M1878 Swiss Vetterli and, although substantially a M1869/71, this variant incorporated a large number of changes in detail.  This was followed in 1881 with yet another new model Vetterli, but this “model” has only the most minor of modifications, the principal one being the addition of a new sight leaf with an integral telescoping extension leaf for use at substantially greater ranges.  Many M1878 rifles were subsequently modified by also fitting them with the M1881 rear sight leaf, and those rifles we denominate as M1878/81 rifles for clarity, although there was never such an “official” designation.

  Friedrich Vetterli’s turning bolt action was also utilized in the Italian M1870 Italian Vetterli rifle adopted by Italy, which, with the addition of the box magazine system designed by Maj. Giuseppe Vitali, became the M1870/87 Vetterli‑Vitali rifle.