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10.4mm Vetterli ammo - where to get some

37K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  sparkfly88 
#1 ·
Where can one find new production 10.4x38 Vetterli ammo?

Thanks!
 
#4 ·
This is the realm of the hand loader or for the more financially endowed a custom loader. There are many custom loaders out there for this one, ranging from pricy to holy @$#%! If you want a few blasting rounds just to get the ol’girl on the range, using a custom loader is cheaper than getting the hand loading supplies together. One of the least expensive is Gads http://gadcustomcartridges.com/ . His ammo are no beauty queens in fancy packing and often arrive covered in lube that has melted off the bullets (shipping in cold weather helps). However they chamber, go bang and generally group well, leaving you empty brass that he will refill for a price or you can save for the day you handload.

When dealing with Gads or just about any other custom loader I highly recommend using the telephone and not e-mail. These are small operations of one or two people and most offer a variety of loading options (such as BP vs. smokeless) best sorted out in a two way conversation.

If you wish to hand load reasonably priced dies are sometimes obtainable through group buys that occur from time to time sponsored by members of the boards that cater to these rifles or for about twice the price, dies are available from CH-4D. To me it is worth the price to set up to handload this and similar obsolete cartridges because I shoot them a lot. However the cost can add up in a hurry.
 
#5 ·
Is this the 10.4mm Italian service round? I think I have a box of non-corrosive Fiocchi FMJ I bought in a lump box buy at a auction two years ago. I have no need for it. It has some light spot corrosion on one or two cases but it is tiny and limited in number. Getting it to you might be a pain but ....
 
#7 ·
Vetterli ammo (both Swiss and Italian) has not been loaded commercially since the WWII era.
You will run across loose rounds in small numbers at gun shows all the time, and they will set you back at least $5 each.
Full boxes of Remington and Dominion will set you back at least $100.
If you want to shoot the rifle, you will have to make your own ammo or buy custom made ammo.
Gregg
 
#10 ·
On the Swiss Vetterli the underlying assumption is that it has been converted to centerfire, which is extrememly easy to do or relatively inexpensive to have done for you. Unforntunately none of the manufacturers have made a run of .41 Swiss rimfire in some 40+ years and this is strictly not a do it yourself matter. It hasn't stopped some from trying, but priming compounds are not to be trivaled with and more than a few have learned this the hard way. Even the Peabodies that shoot this round can be converted to centerfire (albeit a tad harder).
 
#11 ·
Gad's is a two man operation, we just had our vetterli converted to center-fire by him and his companion. We sent it to him in November.
He cashed the check immediately. He told us then that his partner will "get around to it" because "he is an older gentleman who cannot be told to do anything" as said by Gad's himself aka Bernold.

This vetterli is 100% matching. We sent the bolt out to him, and ordered 100 rounds of ammo from him. Well, when we received the bolt and ammo from him, the bolt was all kinds of messed up. Looks like when he went to drill out the face of the bolt it slid in the vice, left gashes all in the bolt body, and gouges at the locking lug sections. I didn't bother taking the extractor off because he never instructed us it was nessisary, so he insisted us we never sent it to him with it in the first place. He had to locate another one(which worked but didnt have a seriel on it) The ammo he made seems to be iffy at best, none of the cases were cut square. So accuracy shall be hard to find. I would have done this myself if I had the drill press. But next time I buy the ammo, I shall make it myself, or buy from someone else...btw, he did include a new rimfire pin, I guess it was to replace the extractor:rolleyes:

Talking on the phone to him is impossible when all he does is mumble in the phone,I'm good at understanding different accents, but his HEAVY accent, plus his deep mumble, was close to impossible to understand. His emails are poorly typed(if you get one back from him, which was rare for me)

So yeah, first post here on this board, I'm a good member of the surplusrifleforum.com, just never got around to signing up here.

Hello there!! </rant>
 
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