Swiss match K31

[Calfed]

've developed a serious love for the Swiss long rifles and K31's that have the Swiss match stickers. Tonight I grabbed a few items at an on-line auction, including two 96/11's and a K31 with match stickers and some kind of front target sight.






Blueing on the receiver looks matte.


Description advised:
Swiss Schmidt-Rubin Karabiner Model 1931 (K31) Straight-Pull Rifle, #848135, 7.5x55mm Swiss, 25.7'' barrel, matte blue finish, European walnut stock, with sling. Import marked, with shooter's name and 1972 shooter stickers. Globe front sight included. Condition is fine to near excellent retaining approx. 95% matte blue on receiver. Stock shows minor dings, scratches, thinning to finish, and light oil staining. Action is crisp, bore is mirror bright.

Anyone know anything about matte finishes on K31's and what kind of front sight that is?

I'll post a range report and additional pics when it arrives

Information

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[Uncle Ray]

Calfed,
That's a nice '31 made in 1945. Take the butt-plate off when you get it and see the date when the stock was manufactured. I read many years ago that a K'31 barrel would be good for 80,000 rounds if looked after. Not too many barrel makers can achieve that, even in modern times!
The tunnel foresight I believe is known as a ''W + F'' 'S' - type product. normally you would also see a 'W + F' diopter to be present with the rifle as well. These rear precision sights occasionally come up for sale but can be very expensive. St Marie Products make an excellent replacement diopter; very similar to the original Swiss diopter, with the added advantage of going up to 1,000yds.
Contact them if you intend to purchase a rear sight in the future, but ask them to reduce the price as you already have a tunnel foresight.
Good shooting with your new purchase!

[Calfed]

Thanks, Ray

The rifles arrived at my FFL today and I swung by to get the 10 day "cooling off" period started. Gave them a look over and noticed that the bore on this one was very nice. The handguard had some "match sticker" on it, one from 2003.

I also noticed that the front tunnel sight had a post which seemed to work well in conjunction with the standard rear sight.

Here is a link to a better pic of the rifle.

https://www.proxibid.com/AuctionImag.../54734/237.jpg

[Uncle Ray]

Calfed,

If I could offer a couple of suggestions;

Un-screw the rear of the tunnel and when you slide out the post element, you will see stamped on the stem of the post the post size; perhaps 2.2mm. I find that as I got older I couldn't keep that small gap of white constant between the top of the blade, and the underside of the aiming mark (the 6 o'clock position). I now use a 3.8mm blade and ''frame' the target for 100yds. I then replace that blade by reducing the width of the blades accordingly every 100yds for distance shooting out to 600yds (I have a set of blades from 2.2mm width up to 3.8mm width).

Young eyes of course don't need to go down that path just now. With a diopter you can use a ring element, but a ring element will not work very well with the as-issued military-pattern rear sight. Just remember that your new rifle with the tunnel foresight is positioned somewhat higher than a rifle with a standard military foresight, and the 100 metre mark on the rear sight will not correspond to a sighting-in range of 100 yards.

So that you don't waste rounds which will go somewhat below your aiming mark, bore-sight your rifle first off the shooting bench, so that when you look through the bore to the target, the barrel is positioned just slightly above the centre of the bull.

Keep the rifle securely in this position and RAISE the rear sight until the top of the blade foresight sits in exactly flush with the top of the rear sight notch. you may have to fine-tune this a few times as you move from bore-sighting, then back to the open sight.

This will be enough for you to get in the black of the bullseye when you start shooting, and for you to be able to fine-tune your elevation. Don't forget to write the new 100yd zero down.

If you would rather start zeroing your rifle at 50 yards, no problems; just repeat the above. Remember though that when you do shoot at 100 yards, there may well be some further adjustments necessary.

Good luck, and good shooting!

[Calfed]

Thanks, Ray.

I'll use your method when I get this rifle to the range.

[Calfed]

I was able to pick up the Swiss rifles this morning and got a few pictures.

Here are the match stickers...


Interesting large sticker on the butt...


I'll try and get to the range this week and submit a range report

[Calfed]

I finally got to the range last week and put a few rounds through this one. The front tunnel sight has a post insert that actually worked well with the standard rear sight, except...it is so high that I have to set the rear sight at 800 meters to hit the bull @ 100 yards.

Here is a pic of the target.



I fired a couple rounds of GP11 at the above target (a 12" target) at 100 yards...nothing. I finally figured out that it must be low...because the front sight was so high...I set the rear sight at 300 meters and got the two at the bottom of the target backer. Cranked the sights up to 500 meters and got the one halfway up. Cranked the sights up to 800 and finally hit the bull, while aiming at the lower red target dot.

Obviously going to have to do something about this...probably end up getting the rear diopter.

[samnev]

Yep, that's a real nice K31. Very hard to find in that condition these days.