K31 with diopter sights given a workout

[Pistolero]

This is fun. These two guys have many videos running verious sniper rifles over this course of fire.

I have a K31 fitted out with these sights (cost more than the rifle ) and at one time, I could do this
sort of work with my K31. My eyes struggle these days, although perhaps with those targets, I might
be able to still hit them.
The Swiss qualification target is a grey-green upper half silhouette on a tan and beige splinter background.
It is a green-grey smudge at 300 m.

Bill

 

[Reloader762]

I wish when the nice ones were available that I would have been able to purchase a K31, but I could say that about a couple other old mil surplus rifles. I'm a subscriber to that channel and love watching all the reviews.

 

[Pistolero]

I have 3 K31s, one set up for competition, one with a scope mount I won in a Swiss rifle postal
match. The other is stock. I never paid over $175 for one. All have mint bores. No corrosive
GP11 ammo was ever made, and when the soldier showed up at his annual active duty his rifle was checked.
If the bbl was damaged, he was given a loaner while the armorer replaced the bbl and he was
BILLED for it! I have actually seen a copy of one of the bills. Swiss soldiers learned to care
for their rifles, or else.

A friend (Brad knows him) who ran Swiss rifle matches in Omaha told a story that he heard in Switzerland.
He has a Swiss wife and they visit frequently. The story is that in the middle 1930s the Swiss army and
militias were holding their annual war games and mobilization practice, and as usual, they invited
the military attaches from all the foreign embassies to observe, and to bring other foreign military officers
if they were interested.
One German general attended and was being shown around by a Swiss general. The story says
that the German general asked how many troops the Swiss defense forces could field, and was
told "one million infantrymen". The German general asked, "Then what would you do if the
enemy brought two million infantrymen?"
The Swiss general said, "In that case, each of my men would fire twice and then go home."

After shooting the K31 for many years at long range, that claim doesn't seem as much like
bravado as it might seem to someone who doesn't know the rifle and the Swiss shooter's capabilities.
Each Swiss millitia man qualifies each year on a difficult to see, top half of a silhouette target,
representing a somewhat camoflaged soldier. It is not an easy qualification.

Bill

 

[462]

I had two K-31s. Sold one to a friend for the same price I paid for it -- $89. Paid $99 for the other and sold it for $600!

They are fine rifles, but I just couldn't get overly excited about them.

 

[RicinYakima]

Luckily, I was a buyer for the LGS from about 1986 thru 1996. He only bought the cream of the crop of the imports and I got to play and shoot some very new condition examples. While at SOG in Lebanon, Ohio, on a buying trip, I got to sort thru two containers of direct from rebuild Swedes and picked out two for myself ($65) and brought back to the shop a couple of hundred miscellaneous mil-surp rifles. My rule of thumb was I sold when I could double my cost. While is was fun and funded many other gun projects, if I had waited ten more years prices would have doubled again. Some of my shooting friends still have those rifles and am glad they have enjoyed them.

 

[Pistolero]

"Swedes"???? The K31s are Swiss rifles. AFAIK, the K31s were never rebuilt. Maybe you are just talking about
milsurps in general.


Each K31 was issued to a militia man and he kept it for his whole career. At the end of that, when he reached the
age limit, he had the opportunity to purchase the rifle and many did. Eventually, many were traded in on later
semiauto rifles, and that is how some made it to the USA. Last I heard the final production run of GP11 had been
made and no more was going to be produced. Given the high quality of the ammo, that is a real shame.

They are pretty much the most accurate off-the-rack military rifle out there, with the Finn M39s and US 1903s and
03A3s being right in there, too. They shine when you start doing practical shooting at 300 yds and more, as this
video shows. Really no excuses for missing a silhouette type target at those ranges, if you have the sight settings.

I have a lot of Swiss medals, and have won a fair number of our local "WW2 sniper" matches with my 1903 USMC
sniper replica. No bedding or mods whatsoever to the rifle other than mounting a scope which is a real or replica
of an original sniper scope. I have the replica of the floating Unertl scope on the micrometer top mounts.

 

[RicinYakima]

Mil-surp's in general. K-31's were never my favorites, mostly because the ammo that came in with them was of poor quality, at the beginning, and very expensive. The Swiss knew that if the rifles sold, they could make money on the ammo, which they did. They shoot very well with Norma ammo and are always contenders in CBA Military matches.

Yep, won my share of National Matches with a 1937 USMC match rifle and a Smith Corona 03A3.

The real money maker was the Chinese 1950's SKS with milled receiver. They were $59 when you bought ten, and the last one I saw sold was over $500 on GB.

 

[RicinYakima]

SORRY FOR THE THREAD DRIFT! Just can't help myself sometimes.

 

[Pistolero]

Ric - Not a problem at all. I was just momentarily confused. I have had more than a few folks cross wires on Swiss rifles and
Swedish rifles.....and they start with an S....but Then I realized you were just discussing OTHER milsurps, which
is just fine. I just missed the swerve for a bit.

Being able to pick through and get the nicest.....kinda a dream for milsurp guys.

 

[Brad]

Swiss rifles are the ones with lots of holes in them?
Swedish rifles are carried by blonde stewardesses.

Pretty simple to me.