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.

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PHOTO: The rifle shown is a M1871-88 Beaumont-Vitali Infantry rifle.

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DISTINGUISHING CHARECTERISTICS:  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.

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

INTERESTING BEAUMONT WEBSITE:    http://www.eddydebeaumont.nl/