I am bit by the Swiss rifle bug and curious
About these rifles. I am sure we have plenty of
SMEs here.

Owners, tell me about them please.

Excellent shooters. I bought one quite some time ago from AIM Surplus when I have my C&R license. I think I bought it for about $90.......probably going for 5 times that amount now. The one I have was made in 1937.

Very accurate rifle, ammo is easy to reload. I don't know about the availability of factory ammo.

I like mine, just don't get to shoot it enough.

I have one, bought 6-7 years ago. I consider the round sorta comparable to a 308. I mostly hand load for it. The son used it on a youth deer hunt one year.

The trigger is very good for a milsurp. If you don’t reload should be ammo available mail order, normal times.

Also bought one many years ago. Like Steve I had an C&R license at the time and probably paid about $100. A lot of them are a little chewed up at the end of the butt stock, but otherwise in good condition with excellent bores.

Personally, I've never been crazy about the iron sights, but the triggers are excellent and the bolt design pretty ingenious. Very high build quality (no surprise as it's Swiss). Accuracy is very good with original Swiss military ammo, which is expensive. My memory is that when I bought the rifle I also bought a couple of cases of ammo and the ammo was more expensive than the gun. Wolf also used to make ammo for this rifle and it's much more reasonably prices.

Unscrew the rear plate on the stock and you may find a slip of paper with the name of the original owner.

quote:

Originally posted by Houndog:
Also bought one many years ago. Like Steve I had an C&R license at the time and probably paid about $100. A lot of them are a little chewed up at the end of the butt stock, but otherwise in good condition with excellent bores.

Personally, I've never been crazy about the iron sights, but the triggers are excellent and the bolt design pretty ingenious. Very high build quality (no surprise as it's Swiss). Accuracy is very good with original Swiss military ammo, which is expensive. My memory is that when I bought the rifle I also bought a couple of cases of ammo and the ammo was more expensive than the gun. Wolf also used to make ammo for this rifle and it's much more reasonably prices.

Unscrew the rear plate on the stock and you may find a slip of paper with the name of the original owner.

I do not own one...yet...

My Favorite milsurp rifle. Can't go wrong with a K31.Hand loading is your best bet for ammo. Getting expensive and really nice one's are hard to find now. Best bet to find one is Simpson's Ltd Link below.
https://simpsonltd.com

Great rifle. Very well made. Interesting mechanism. Fun to shoot. Accurate.

However, I got in while the rifles and their match-grade surplus ammo were cheap and widely available. That's no longer the case.

I'm not sure how easy finding ammo for it would be these days...

Great rifles. The best straight pull military bar none. Very accurate but, I think a Finn M28/30 and/or a Finn M39 are more accurate as issued not modified. Again all subjective and a K31 will shoot better than most of us. Many cast National matches have been won with the K31 and the expensive Swiss diopter sights. Those in themselves are marvels of Swiss engineering!!!!! This can be a rabbit hole for you!!!

Check out Edelweiss Arms and their Swiss rifles for sale.

If you can find a bag or two of .284 Win, you have brass for a lifetime.All you need to do is expand the neck back up to hold 308 dia bullets and you are good to go. Loads in most loading manuals. 308 Win loads are usually about the same thing, but with a bit less pressure due to the larger case volumn in the 7.5. You need to join the swiss rifle forum, a world of information there and a a friendly group too.
And now, you know where Winchester probably got the design for the 284, rebated rim and all.

Have always wanted one. Didn't have the ability when they were more available & ammo easier to find.

Older ones have walnut stocks, later have a softer wood (birch?)
The military GP11 ammo is match grade, but dried up now, it was excellent
Privi still loads it, shoots fine

Always check under the butt plate for a soldier/armory tag

The metal is outstanding on most I've seen or owned, the butt stocks not so much due to they way they were stacked in the field.

The bayonets are pricey, if you can find them.

My favorite milsurp, have owned dozens over the years. They were the main reason I got a C&R license.

Any decent example under $500 is a must buy, nice examples are going in the 600-800 range online.

I use one all the time in Warzone. Regularly getting 650-700 meter 1 shot kills. It’s way better than the Kar98

quote:

the butt stocks not so much due to they way they were stacked in the field.

It's from the hob-nail boots they used and knocking the snow off them with the butt of the rifle (or so the story goes).

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The bayonets are pricey, if you can find them.

about $100-125. Not bad, not cheap.

They're excellent. This was my first (sold awhile back) and had as many as three but down to one now. I got two 480rd cases of GP11 and a dozen stripper clips. They're a ton of fun to shoot and are accurate out to 1000M where the leaf sights are not much help.



this former Marine was banging steel at 400yds so easily, it was boring.

Looks like the big selloffs of K31s has about dried up. I have been seeing ads for 1911s.

quote:

Originally posted by 357fuzz:the K31 and the expensive Swiss diopter sights. Those in themselves are marvels of Swiss engineering!!!!! This can be a rabbit hole for you!!!

My friends in Kalispell MT, Swiss Products, make and sell direct to the public a range of very useful accessories, one of which is their take on a the diopter sights often seen on the K31. Their version, however, works up to 1000m and is fully compliant with the Swiss National Shooting Federation. I have such a set on MY K31, and they also make an adaptor for the earlier K11/IG11.

Reloading in the US of A is a cinch, since 2/3rd of your powders have not been banned as they are here in Europe. Quality replications of GP11 can be made using 175gr SMK, or, if you're rich, Berger's older 175's, although I recently read that they have been discontinued. Still I reckon that ten round groups of around an inch are not too shabby from ANY military issue rifle/carbine. No one year is any better than another - start to finish they were all quality from butt-plate to muzzle. A thing to remember is the the Swiss don't use oil to clean their small arms - grease has been in use since at least 1889. My two rifles, one from 1914, the other from 1944, have not altered the muzzle crown dimensions in 32 years of shooting in MY possession.

Buy a good one, and your grandson will be grateful.

Simpsons is my go-to, if I lived stateside - they send you pics of the one you choose.

The most accurate WWII bolt gun you'll find. The straight pull is fun to operate but do they kick a fair amount. Love mine!

As I get closer to grabbing one. Ammo availability seems to be rough at the moment.

quote:

Originally posted by leonidas211:
As I get closer to grabbing one. Ammo availability seems to be rough at the moment.

Half of my stash of brass is Grafs, the other half is PPU. Needless to say, with no GP11 around, I reload.

You have to remember that you are on the end of a long line of folks ALL wanting GP11, and with years of background into finding it - there is only so much to go around. One person of my acquaintance boast of having at least thirty battlepacks in his 'stash'.

The last tranche, made in 2017, has not been sold outside Switzerland, and it looks unlikely that that we'll ever see it.

People finding it in the US are sucking it up like crazy, buying all there is on sale, and then some. Asking the store clerks to go to the stock room and emptying it out in a couple of cases I've heard of.

Luckily, the support for the range of Swiss military firearms in the US of A from the forum on gunboards, well-supported by Americans and Swiss. And the odd ex-pat living in the UK. Advice on reloading, or even ab initio loading, is there for the taking, as I mentioned in my post above. there are even dedicated Swiss shooting clubs - something unheard of outside the USA and Canada that we lack here in UK, in spite of the popularity of the rifles and carbines themselves. the FB pages are also very useful.

quote:

Originally posted by leonidas211:
As I get closer to grabbing one. Ammo availability seems to be rough at the moment.

PPU still makes plenty of it. GP11 is almost non existent or stupidly expensive. I'm sitting on a 480rd. battle pack. The rest is PPU. ~1,000 rds.