I've been playing around with my old Swiss rifles for about a year now. I went from having one to having 4 of them in just about every model except the carbines and M1869. looking for a carbine currently. Getting the rifles was easy but making the brass from 8mm Lebel took basically a whole weekend and cost me a good number of lebel cases while learning how. I've had very good luck shooting black powder out of my M78 at 50 and 100 yards. Good enough that i might take it deer hunting this year. In any case it's a blast to shoot them and always gets some attention when i take it out at public ranges. Not many people casualty shooting these things.
There was a model 1869 in pretty rough condition for a Swiss Vetterli that sold for $600 at a local auction.... I know that model is uncommon but that price was nuts IMHO.
Ya I’ve never seen an 1869 go for a price that was in my budget at least not one in a condition I would be interested in.
