[ Ethiopian Oddities: Vetterli-Mauser ]
Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and I am here today at
InterOrdnance / Royal Tiger Imports taking a
look at some more "Oddities from Ethiopia".
... This is actually not even a thing.
This is a handmade rifle that has elements of Mauser, elements of Vetterli,
elements of perhaps Portuguese Vergueiro, or Mannlicher, to it - all sorts of things.
It even has elements of Chinese mystery rifle to it.
So this came out of Ethiopia, this is one of the sort of very weird oddball guns that InterOrdnance
got, ... this one probably actually I think came in with a batch of actual Vetterli rifles.
Which would make sense, ... for someone who really doesn't pay close attention to what they're packing,
this kind of vaguely looks like a Vetterli because of the bolt action there.
So let's take a closer look at what this thing is.
At first glance, as long as it's a very cursory glance, this looks like a Vetterli,
because it's got that sort of typical very low bolt handle and this big tubular thing out the back.
So, for those of you who aren't familiar,
here is a real Vetterli.
So you can sort of see the similarity, or the inspiration shall we say.
Note we also have this cross pin in the Vetterli system,
and this big oval ejection port or loading port in the action.
And whoever made this rifle has copied that.
So we've got this big open oval ejection port, we have the long extractor in both,
the bolt handle is reasonably similar, and we've got this cross pin.
However, instead of a Vetterli-style safety up here,
this one actually has a Mauser flag safety.
Or actually it looks like it has a Mauser flag safety, because this actually doesn't do anything.
It is a Vetterli-looking bolt there.
But even if it's cocked, this rotates, but does not prevent the gun from firing.
So it's got the sort of finger loop trigger guard that is typical of the Vetterli long rifles.
But then it's got a clearly home-made single-stack magazine.
Note that there are a pair of retracting [lips], you can see that the bolt can push these in.
So ... those are the feed lips that actually control the magazine.
So what you would do is push a cartridge ... that's held in those feed lips,
as you push the bolt forward, it's going to cycle forward into the chamber.
And the bolt pushes those guide lips out of the way.
The bore diameter on this ... looks like .30 calibre that's been sort of egged out at the muzzle.
So it's not a 6.5 like the Vetterli-Carcanos.
But it's also not like a .45 or 11mm calibre
like some of the big black-powder rifles, like the original Vetterlis.
Exactly what cartridge it does use, I actually have no idea.
Next up we have this interesting, very Chinese-like rear sight.
Note that the range markings are all nonsense.
The range slider here is actually a single integral piece with the rear tangent leaf.
So all those markings, they may not make sense but even that doesn't matter
because you can't do anything with them anyway.
We have a clearly handmade stock, with a couple of crudely cut finger grooves in it.
And then out at the front end of the rifle we have Mauser-style barrel bands.
It's maybe possible that this one actually is a Mauser barrel band.
There was a sling loop on it that has broken.
And the barrel band is held in place not by a retaining spring clip, but by a big screw
just bolted into the side of the stock to prevent the barrel band from going forward.
We have a similar screw holding an H bar style of front band or nose cap in place.
That's clearly patterned after a Mauser.
That one I'm pretty sure is not actually Mauser,
I think that's a handmade barrel band / nose cap.
And we have a clearly Mauser-style bayonet lug - not quite aligned with the barrel.
But also again not a problem, because this ... bayonet lug will never attach a bayonet.
For another point of comparison, here's an actual German Mauser.
And you can see that the grooves here to fit the back end of the bayonet
are deep and square, and nice and straight.
Where on this thing, they are sort of more like rounded divots
that no standard bayonet would actually be able to fit into because they're much too shallow.
There is a locking notch there which is again patterned after the real Mauser,
but not really done the same way, and definitely not functional.
And at the very front of the gun we have this interesting style of front sight,
which reminds me mostly of like a 1904/39 Portuguese Vergueiro, or a Mannlicher pattern of rifle.
So definitely not actually a military production part,
that is definitely a handmade copy of something.
But it really rounds out the number of features on this rifle
taken from all sorts of different inspirations.
If we take a look at the butt plate, you can see that like the top plate screw
is not even remotely centred in the butt plate, the bottom one sort of is.
This is clearly patterned after one of the flat butt plates that were used
in a variety of different rifle patterns, but it's most definitely a home-made part.
And lest I forget about the markings, there is one.
There is actually a serial number on this guy, and there it is: 8904.
And that is the only marking on here.
If I didn't know that this had come out of Ethiopia,
I would have given a reasonably good chance that it was Chinese in manufacture.
And in fact it is totally possible that it is Chinese in manufacture,
and one way or another made its way to Ethiopia before being imported into the US.
There can be some really fascinating, obscure paths that guns can take throughout history.
So where this originally came from I have no idea,
but it certainly is an interesting example to take a look at.
Hopefully you guys enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching.