Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles K 31 Swiss anyone?

Don't hear much about these guns. Do any of you hunt with these? I've been tempted a few times to pick up a surplus rifle as they look well taken care of. I would probably sporterize one if I found one that I liked. Would love to see any pics of K 31's that are going hunting this fall.

They are well-made rifles, but the safety and trigger aren't so hot. Does anybody make an after-market stock for the K31?

Jeff

trigger not so hot?? mine sure works great, its just as good if not better than some of my gunsmith tuned ruger and remington triggers and that is with no fiddling, 3#'s out of the box.

I have 2 k31's with a clamp on scope mount both guns will run swiss surplus ammo into sub moa, they are amazing military rifles. they safety is a bit hockey but its idiot proof. if I had to go to battle with a ww2 bolt action rifle as issued k31 would be my choice without a second thought

SACRILEGE!

Try Parallax Bill's "Milsurpshooter.net" for K31 info. Darrell's Scout Mount will mount a scope on a K31 for $85. Only takes 10min to install or to go back to original sights. NOBODY sporterizes a K31

I own a K 31 ("P" rifle made by SIG in 1938)and wouldn't feel handicaped at all to take it out hunting, if needed. Scoped in a EAW side-mount (like the one mentioned by Cumminscowboy), it groups 5 shots in < MOA. And BTW, the issue 2-stage trigger is one of the best I ever met on a military rifle.

I paid $79 for one and $99 for a handpicked rifle, that was about 6 years ago, I bet andre paid alot more than that for his. these guns will outshoot any as issued milsurp including the vaunted swedish mausers how many milsurps will likely shoot sub moa doing NO teaks to the rifle, not even a trigger job?? even using military surplus ammunition,

in fact if you had to grab any mass produced commercial rifle right now off the shelf, whats the chance of it doing MOA with a random factory load, grab a k31 and GP11 surplus ammo and my money is on the k31 every time.

Check out the after-market K31 stock at www.lprgunsmith.com.

I have 2 K31s, 1 set up with a Lyman receiver sight and 1 set up with the clamp-on mount from Brownells'. The triggers aren't bad for a military 2-stage style, but they aren't what I would call great triggers.

Jeff

Best used as shooters in military form, sporterizing them is difficult, changing to US calibres a big problem because barrel breech form is intricate and few smiths know how to do it. Larry Racine, at LPR, makes a sleeve out of the issue barrel, threads the inside and screws a .308 barrel into it. But he specializes in target rifles. There were a few K31s made as fine sporters by some of the Swiss firms, I think including Hammerli and Emig & Grumiger (not sure of the spelling and definitely not sure of the pronunciation) but I have never seen one for sale in the US. Most were 7.5 Swiss but I have heard of .30'06, 8x57, etc. There are three really fine European Schmidt Rubin sporters in odd calibres for sale November 23 at Bonhams's San Francisco, lots 5792, 5793, 5794, engraved, fancy wood, etc., but they are primitive actions compared to the K31.

These are AWESOME rifles (IMHO), that have excellent two stage triggers and typically shoot better than most (talking about myself here) can hold

As others have said sporterizing can be problematic (both physically and philosphically ;)), but some have done it with good (likley fairly expensive) success. Me I would leave as is and hunt with it like that - many of my friends and family have hunted with these - with the results that you would expect from any well made firearm (the safety, once learned is fine......and idiot proof).

The "lastest" 50 yard group just after I added diopter sights on mine
[img:left][/img]

Mark,

My K31 with the receiver sight is the K31 that I bought from you in April 1998.

Jeff

I picked up five for under $100, over a period, a few years back. Some are beech and some walnut. Three had info under the butt plate on the gentleman that it was issued to. The only Swiss ammo that was issued was the GP11 and it is all match ammo. All 18yr males were issued a K31 and GP11 ammo, that they kept in their homes in closets and behind doors. The Swiss have never been attacked. Life is good.

The Mod 39 Finn Mosin is another overlooked tackdriver. They had to shoot in 1 1/4" at 110yds with open sights before being issued.
They are a real find at the pawn shops because the stocks are so ugly. I always look for the pistol grips.

One of my all time favorite WW II stories might be apocryphal but it's still good.

A German general was touring Switzerland before the war and was told that they had 250,000 reservists with rifles in their homes. So when the German general asked the Swiss General what they would do if Germany invaded with 500,000 men, the Swiss General replied "shoot twice" ...............................DJ

I've heard that as a pre-WW1 story, with Kaiser Wilhelm trooping the line and asking an old Sergeant-Major that same question and getting the same answer.

Jeff

Too good a story to not reuse ...........DJ

Love mine.Shot my first deer with one back in the early 1970's.It was my first high power rifle and the one that got me started on the addiction I now have.A powerful very accurate round.My Dad had a 7.7 Jap that he brought home from WWII and my brother had a 303 British, my Swiss would always out shoot them.It will drop a buck in a hurry if you hit him good.My current k-31 will shoot a 1 1/2 group with open sights and I take it hunting ever year.My trigger is all most to light for me.If you go to the swiss rifle forum a lot of the guys that shoot military match get disqualified because of a light trigger