dutch beaumont rifle?

shootuadeal

looking for information on a rusty old gun i had traded in as part of an estate. it is a very long riflr with bayonet. our resident gun expert did some research but only came up with what it was and the caliber from some of his old gun books.

has anyone heard of this, it is a dutch beaumont rifle in 11.3x50r caliber. wondering how old it maybe, it is a repeater version with a fixed magazine and it is a bolt action.

rufe-snow

The one with the funny shaped magazine, is the Model 71/88. They were in standard use with Dutch regular military units, for only a short period of time. The 6.5 Mannlicher was adopted in 1895. Most of the older 71/88's were given to the Dutch colonial forces, in what was then known as the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia.

nononsense

From one of the many historic firearms websites on the internet:

GENERALLY: Already obsolete in the day of "small bore" smokeless powder cartridges, the M1871-88 Beaumont-Vitali is substantially the M1871 Beaumont converted into a repeater via the Italian designed Vitali 4 round box magazine system. The conversions began in 1888, two years after the appearance of the M1886 French Lebel (the first of the smokeless powder infantry rifles) and were applied to all of the Regular Dutch army rifles, though the rifles in service in the Dutch East Indies and for Home Guard were not all converted. The Vitali magazine system was first applied to converting the M1870 Italian Vetterli rifle in 1887 creating the M1870/87 Italian Vetterli-Vitali Holland and Italy, for the Beaumont and Vetterli rifles and carbines respectively, were the only countries to adopt the Vitali magazine conversions. The magazine follower is pushed by a coil spring and, given the substantial bottle shape of both rifle's cartridges, gives the Vitali magazine its unique and distinctive shape.



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: The M1871-88 is the M1871 Beaumont rifle fitted with the Vitali magazine. See specifications for the M1871 Beaumont. Additionally, however, the bolt now incorporates an ejector as well as an extractor, and the receiver is fitted with gas escape vents in the event of a split case, much like the M1874 Gras

MISC NOTES: A unique feature of the Beaumont (Copied by the Japanese Murata Meiji 13 and carried forward in the Murata Meiji 18) is the striker spring housed in the bolt handle.

Best.

captkirk3@dslextreme.com

BEAUMONT-VITALI RIFLE, 11mm caliber. Was modified in 1888 from its original M1871 single-shot pattern to accomodate the italian Vitali box magazine. The Beaumont's bolt utilizes an unusual striker spring/arrangement in that the spring is of the "V"-type and located in the Bolt handle..Definately Not Safe to Shoot...Makes for a Nice Wall Hanger as they are becoming quite scarce...

shootuadeal

thanks so much for your guys help.

this gun isn't in any kind of condition to be fired anyhow, too rusty, but is kind of a cool looking wall hanger.

i have several more old guns that i dont know much about so watch for questions on them over the next few days. i had traded in 35 guns from an estate, the newest one is a 1958? browning hi-power.