K31 Barrel Markings

[Mike in Wis.]

Thanks guys... It's a Hammerli barrel. I received information tonight from a former Swiss Army armorer regarding the barrel markings. He said that, by his memory, not all barrels would be found marked with the three rifle serial number digits. Apparently those were often added by unit armorers when missing and not necessarily at the time of assembly. He related to me that in his experience, some rifles would have the barrel number (5 digit) and not the 3 digit serial number prefix, while other rifles would have no barrel number but have only the 3 digit stamping. So I guess it's not entirely clear... but it seems this may not be a replacement barrel. If it were it would have stampings indicating such according to the former armorer. Interesting stuff...

The barrel is the only Hammerli part... the stock, action, bolt and handguard all have the SIG markings. I thought this odd... but the armorer told me it was very common. He said neither Hammerli nor SIG actually assembled the rifles, they made the parts. Assembly was done at Eidgenössiche Waffenbrick (a military armory ?).