Swiss K31

I've been reading about military surplus rifles on and off for a couple of years. Lately, I've come back to this again and rediscovered the rifle that I'd really like to own sometime. It's the Swiss Karabiner Model 1931 (K31) rifle chambered in 7.5x55mm.



The K31 was in use by the Swiss Armed Forces from 1933 through 1958. It is unusual in a number of respects. It is a bolt action, but unlike most bolt actions, it pulls straight back rather than rotating up and back. They have a reputation for being one of the most accurate production military rifles ever produced - often shooting groups of less than one MOA (minute of angle - 1" at 100yds). There were around 580,000 of them made and many have card under the butt plate that identifies the person to whom the rifle was issued.


In addition to the good reputation, interesting history, and affordable price (currently available from $150 - $450), one thing I find attractive about the K31 is that the ammunition is relatively cheap, fairly widely available, and the surplus Swiss stock (shown above) is all match quality. The ballistics of the 7.5x55 are very similar to the .308 Winchester so it's a good general purpose upper-mid range round.

For more info on the K31, see:

• Swiss Rifles page on the Schmidt-Rubin Series
• Wikipedia page for the K31
• Surplus Rifles section on K31