Swiss K31 Rifle ???

K98

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Recently got an email from a distributor regarding Swiss K31 rifles in stock. Does anyone have one and what's the big draw on these, if any? An odd caliber rifle that runs a bit more than a Mosin 91/30. (???)
 
they tend to be very accurate and the pull back design of the bolt is really pretty cool. I fired one at an NES shoot and really liked it.
a lot of them have tags in the but from the soldier. they tend to designate the troop or squad they belonged to (or something like that). People find that interesting as well. the Swiss cross is neat on it as well.

a lot of them have beaver stocks. (they look all chewed up on the bottom). I prefer the carbines to the others.
ammo appears to still be available.
I am sure more can weigh in with more knowledge than I have.
 
Here is a great introduction to the gun. I have one and it holds a special place in my heart. The one's made before about 1944 had walnut stocks and after that they had beech stocks. I have the walnut version but I would like to get the beech as well someday.

 
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Am I mistaken or is there a big increase in the ammo price for 7.5x55 compared to 7.62x54R ?
Maybe I was looking the wrong places.
 
I will say hands down the best surplus rifle overall for 300$ or less.
The trigger is out standing for a military rifle imho. As for the ammo the Swiss gp11 is also very nice.
Ammo can be found for less than 60 cents per round delivered.
My K31 was the only surplus rifle I did not need to mess with the sights. 1st time out was 200 yards. I put 6 rounds centered just below the x into a nice 5" group with on shot going into the 9 ring.
Great guns especially for shooters. Be warned the the newer import marks a ****ing gross! I bought mine to shoot in cmp vintage matches so import marks matter little to me.
 
Above comments are pretty much on the mark. Great shooting rifles that were well-maintained by the Swiss. The buttstocks can be messy, but the rest of the wood is usually quite nice. 7.5x55 ammo is very easy to find. The surplus GP11 is near-match quality, but Berdan primed. Prvi Partizan sells a very nice boxer-primed 7.5x55. A friend of mine shoots light loaded cast boolits from his with terrific accuracy. I've used .308 heads in my reloads with good results, although I have yet to achieve GP11 accuracy.

The 6-round mag is removable, although there are weird-looking stripper clips available. Shooting mine at Camp Perry I simply borrowed my friends mag to make the rapid fire reload a simple mag change. One warning: if you shoot rapid-fire prone, train yourself to lean your head a little to the left when cycling the bolt. That cocking ring can leave a pretty good bruise.

K31s are well worth owning, IMHO.
 
They are great rifles I have a 31,and a 11 that was converted years ago to 308 as a sporter.
 
I bought one about 8 or 9 years ago from AIM Surplus for $89. I had my C&R, but let it expire. As a lefty the straight pull bolt works great for me compared to other milsurps with conventional bolts.
 
I bought one about 8 or 9 years ago from AIM Surplus for $89. I had my C&R, but let it expire. As a lefty the straight pull bolt works great for me compared to other milsurps with conventional bolts.
That's about when I started looking at them. I didn't know much and was focused on getting some US surplus items first. Then last year I seen them jump to current price,and it dawned on me.....it's ****ing Swiss it has to be built well , order one now and a case of ammo you Jack ass before it goes up in price.
I also bought some ppu for the brass to reload. I will eventually get berdan primers to utilize the gp brass. I'm also going to shoot cast out of it at some point. All too soon I won't be able to afford to shoot unless I cast my own.
 
Well, the antique M89s are already gone. I was leaning little towards one, but as I am waiting for my Israeli S/42G in .308 to arrive...

T
 
Interesting read. If I hadn't just ordered two M44's from "them", and had my LGS order two T-53's for Archangel stock builds, then I'd probably jump in on this too. My chief concern was the availability of the round, but since you guys say it's plentiful, then I'll probably add one to my growing milsurp collection.

And what I thought was strange was the crate unboxing video. Did these rifles really get sent here in huge crates with no form of protection like being wrapped in bubble wrap? Seems really bizarre. How many of these have dings, dents, scratches and gouges because of damage in transit?

I'll have to see if there are any available next week.

Additional: very surprised we get these at all. Are there just more rifles than Swiss milsurp collectors?
 
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Some have great looking stocks:

K31.jpg


I had 4 Swiss rifles at one time but kept the best looking which is the K31 above and the best shooting, the K11 on the bottom.

K11b.jpg


I was hitting a steel gong 4 out of 6 times at 500 yards with that rifle and surplus ammo with the factory sights.
 
They're stupidly accurate!
You can reload the PPU brass with regular .308" projos; mine shoots great with 168gr Nosler HPBT's.
Some folks have resized Winchester 284 brass down to 7.5x55, but 7.5x55 factory brass is readily available.
 
Interesting read. If I hadn't just ordered two M44's from "them", and had my LGS order two T-53's for Archangel stock builds, then I'd probably jump in on this too. My chief concern was the availability of the round, but since you guys say it's plentiful, then I'll probably add one to my growing milsurp collection.

And what I thought was strange was the crate unboxing video. Did these rifles really get sent here in huge crates with no form of protection like being wrapped in bubble wrap? Seems really bizarre. How many of these have dings, dents, scratches and gouges because of damage in transit?

I'll have to see if there are any available next week.

Additional: very surprised we get these at all. Are there just more rifles than Swiss milsurp collectors?

You really don't want to see how some of the M1s came to cmp then...... I think for the most part is the k31 stayed in service at some capacity into the 80s and most likely stored as back up arms,if needed until ???? Personally I wish I knew more about these 5 years ago. I think there is a lot of collectors who won't touch some of these rifle with the newer style import marks unless a truly rare piece happens to get the butcher stamps....
 
Interesting read. If I hadn't just ordered two M44's from "them", and had my LGS order two T-53's for Archangel stock builds, then I'd probably jump in on this too. My chief concern was the availability of the round, but since you guys say it's plentiful, then I'll probably add one to my growing milsurp collection.

And what I thought was strange was the crate unboxing video. Did these rifles really get sent here in huge crates with no form of protection like being wrapped in bubble wrap? Seems really bizarre. How many of these have dings, dents, scratches and gouges because of damage in transit?

I'll have to see if there are any available next week.

Additional: very surprised we get these at all. Are there just more rifles than Swiss milsurp collectors?

It's plentiful at the moment. It went missing in inventory for a bit. As did the 8mm "sniper" ammo.
Inventory seems back up a bit. I try to budget 1k rounds for any new milsurp cal I may get. I then buy reloading dies and plan to reload. If I can find enough buyers for berdan primer buy to utilize the 8mms,7.5 and 54r berdan brass I have I will be set for some time to come.
You need to order 50,000 primers to offset the hazmat/ship charge. 5000 would last me a real long time.
 
Interesting read. If I hadn't just ordered two M44's from "them", and had my LGS order two T-53's for Archangel stock builds, then I'd probably jump in on this too. My chief concern was the availability of the round, but since you guys say it's plentiful, then I'll probably add one to my growing milsurp collection.

And what I thought was strange was the crate unboxing video. Did these rifles really get sent here in huge crates with no form of protection like being wrapped in bubble wrap? Seems really bizarre. How many of these have dings, dents, scratches and gouges because of damage in transit?

I'll have to see if there are any available next week.

Additional: very surprised we get these at all. Are there just more rifles than Swiss milsurp collectors?

I thought the same thing when I watched the unpacking video. It's surprising they even made the journey packed like that. Where are these stamped with the import info?
 
I thought the same thing when I watched the unpacking video. It's surprising they even made the journey packed like that. Where are these stamped with the import info?
All across the top of the receiver.
 
Well, guess I'll order a K31 next week. Might as well do the hand selects too for the troop tag and leather sling. Oh, and they have a nice cleaning kit to go with them. It's only money, right? [smile]

Oh, and what I was saying earlier about how I'm surprised that we get these here. Since Switzerland is one of the few countries in the world where gun ownership is legal, I figured that most Swiss rifles would be made available for Swiss citizens to own first. Like I was saying, I guess the demand for these isn't that great over there, so we get them.

Whatever the case is, it's cool with me.
 
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Well, guess I'll order a K31 next week. Might as well do the hand selects too for the troop tag and leather sling. Oh, and they have a nice cleaning kit to go with them. It's only money, right? [smile]

Oh, and what I was saying earlier about how I'm surprised that we get these here. Since Switzerland is one of the few countries in the world where gun ownership is legal, I figured that most Swiss rifles would be made available for Swiss citizens to own first. Like I was saying, I guess the demand for these isn't that great over there, so we get them.

Whatever the case is, it's cool with me.

Not sure how it works over there with licensing and ammo possession and all but their choices of weapons they can own is pretty cool 400,000 or so Sig 550s . They are not all,that free to own guns as,far as selection goes from what I think I remember? There's a estimated 3 million guns in Switzerland in private homes. I will with joy take anything they want to import here to the US.
 
Not sure how it works over there with licensing and ammo possession and all but their choices of weapons they can own is pretty cool 400,000 or so Sig 550s . They are not all,that free to own guns as,far as selection goes from what I think I remember? There's a estimated 3 million guns in Switzerland in private homes. I will with joy take anything they want to import here to the US.

Yea, it's definitely more restrictive than over here. They have the right to own, but there is a permitting process to own and buy. I watched a video last year done by a guy who went to visit friends, and they went through the entire process.

And I'm with you. I'm glad they send us their leftovers. .
 
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