MilsurpDan
Ultimate Member
I've wanted one of these ever since I first glanced at the Swiss Rifle.com page when I got my first K31 10 years ago. I've sold/traded some extra stuff lately but no Swiss collection is complete without a M1897 Cadet. This one was imported a little over a month ago. It is the nicest one I've ever come across.
Everyone knows the Swiss have a strong firearms culture, and the Swiss were big on instructing their citizens in the use of firearms at an early age. Not unlike the U.S. or other countries at the time, in various schools, academies, etc. the Swiss would teach youth basic firearms usage with "Cadet" rifles. Occasionally you might come across Cadet muskets and Cadet Vetterli's (Very Rare). A little less than 8,000 M1897's were made. This one dates to about 1901.
The M1897 Cadet is about the length of a K11 and is a single-shot rifle. They were chambered in the older GP90 (7.5x53.5mm) round. The rear sight had different graduations calibrated for both the GP90 as well as a reduced charge round made specifically for Cadets.
Several other Cadet's that I've handled have been a little beat up and abused but this one is spectacular. All of the numbers match. The bore is spotless. I'm tempted to load up some ammo for it and take it out for a spin but I'm not sure if I'm going to yet. The last picture shows an original GP90/23 round. I'll try to track down an original Cadet round but I doubt that'll be easy to do.
Here's a good Forgotten Weapons video on the M1897 Kadettengewehr with more information
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/swiss-1897-schmidt-rubin-kadettengewehr-training-rifle/
Everyone knows the Swiss have a strong firearms culture, and the Swiss were big on instructing their citizens in the use of firearms at an early age. Not unlike the U.S. or other countries at the time, in various schools, academies, etc. the Swiss would teach youth basic firearms usage with "Cadet" rifles. Occasionally you might come across Cadet muskets and Cadet Vetterli's (Very Rare). A little less than 8,000 M1897's were made. This one dates to about 1901.
The M1897 Cadet is about the length of a K11 and is a single-shot rifle. They were chambered in the older GP90 (7.5x53.5mm) round. The rear sight had different graduations calibrated for both the GP90 as well as a reduced charge round made specifically for Cadets.
Several other Cadet's that I've handled have been a little beat up and abused but this one is spectacular. All of the numbers match. The bore is spotless. I'm tempted to load up some ammo for it and take it out for a spin but I'm not sure if I'm going to yet. The last picture shows an original GP90/23 round. I'll try to track down an original Cadet round but I doubt that'll be easy to do.
Here's a good Forgotten Weapons video on the M1897 Kadettengewehr with more information
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/swiss-1897-schmidt-rubin-kadettengewehr-training-rifle/
