School me on the swiss

[A 7.62 Exodus]

Well, I did something I probably shouldn't have done, but I know I won't regret it later. I walked into Bradis and walked out with a K1911 Swiss carbine. I thought they were K31's, but found the writing on the side of the rifle. The problem is, I don't know much about the Swiss and their rifles. I'm more of a Russian surplus guy, but decided to branch out. I've heard amazing things about the K31's, and still plan on getting one in the future, but I figured I'd give the k11 a swing.

So tell me INGO, what do you like about the K11's? Anything unique or cool I should know about these rifles?

 

[DanVoils]

Well, I did something I probably shouldn't have done, but I know I won't regret it later. I walked into Bradis and walked out with a K1911 Swiss carbine. I thought they were K31's, but found the writing on the side of the rifle. The problem is, I don't know much about the Swiss and their rifles. I'm more of a Russian surplus guy, but decided to branch out. I've heard amazing things about the K31's, and still plan on getting one in the future, but I figured I'd give the k11 a swing.

So tell me INGO, what do you like about the K11's? Anything unique or cool I should know about these rifles?

There's your first problem: going into Bradis since they fired all of their good employees!

 

[SSGSAD]

There's your first problem: going into Bradis since they fired all of their good employees!

THAT, is what I was thinking.....

 

[Sniper 79]

Always thought they were interesting rifles. At the time I was looking they were around a hundred bucks or less depending on how bad the stock was beat. Soldiers beat the snow off their boots with them.

Ammo was drying up and I like to shoot so passed on buying one. I think prices have gone up a bunch.

Look under the butt stock. I think some had soldier info under there.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Always thought they were interesting rifles. At the time I was looking they were around a hundred bucks or less depending on how bad the stock was beat. Soldiers beat the snow off their boots with them.

Ammo was drying up and I like to shoot so passed on buying one. I think prices have gone up a bunch.

Look under the butt stock. I think some had soldier info under there.

I'm not sure if they did this with the 1911's, but they definitely did with the K31's. And it wasn't necessarily "soldier" info. Swiss citizens were issued these rifles as well (I think they actually required all citizens, but maybe just the men, to have a rifle).

To the OP, I've not shot a 1911, but I have a K31 and love it. Very accurate rifle. If you can find some surplus GP11 ammo, it's incredible stuff. Match grade ammo basically. It's still available from time to time for around 65 or 70 cents a round. It's Berdan primed, but noncorrosive. PPU also makes commercial ammo for it for about the same price. The straight pull bolt takes a little getting used to, but is very smooth and just a beautiful piece of engineering.

 

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

Only diffrence was length of the rifles, and if I remember correctly, the bolt lug lock up is a tad different, but it's made for GP-11 Ruag ammo. Enjoy it. Look over the Swiss rifle forum, tons of knowledge there. I'm a K31 owner so, I could be mistaken.

 

[amafrank]

I'm not sure if they did this with the 1911's, but they definitely did with the K31's. And it wasn't necessarily "soldier" info. Swiss citizens were issued these rifles as well (I think they actually required all citizens, but maybe just the men, to have a rifle).

They did it with all their firearms issued to Soldiers. Many of them had or have a special place to put the tag. The Stgw 57s have a little card holder on the front end of the bottom of the buttstock. The Stgw 90 has a little pocket inside of the pistol grip cap. On all the older bolt actions the tags were placed under the buttplate. On the Lugers the tag was inside one of the grips. In any case the Swiss Soldier is a Citizen soldier and civilians are not issued firearms....ever. They have to buy them and soldier tags are something done by the military so you won't find them in civvie firearms. Men at 18 go into the Army and do their training. Women are exempt from compulsory service and men can be exempted for medical or other issues. I can't recall how long this lasts but its a specific amount of time. After that you do training each year and qualify with your issue firearm. At 40 years old you are moved to reserve and at 50 you are moved to a sort of inactive reserve and can keep the weapon you were issued. If the weapon was select fire like the Stgw 57 or Stgw 90 they will modify it so that it fires semi auto only.
There is a lot of information on the Swiss rifles and other weapons at swissrifles.com . There is also a forum on gunboards.com . both have a lot of good and useable info.
As for the 1911 rifles (G11) and Karbines (K11) they are both excellent rifles of very high quality and accuracy. The long rifles gain a little velocity and some accuracy but the Karbines are also outstanding. There is GP11 ammo out there for sale and also Privi Partizan makes loaded ammo and new brass for sale. Graf and Sons has brass if you reload. The locking lug setup on the 1911 series rifles is the same as the Model 96 rifles which were improvements of the model 89 rifle. The lugs on the 1911 are at the front of the locking coller which is at the rear of the bolt. The model 89 had the lugs at the rear of the collar. The model 31 Karbine (K31) had the locking lugs at the front of the bolt and was pretty much the final improvement. The straight pull action is pretty simple in operation and despite rumors from some it won't fire unless the bolt is locked.
So check under the buttplate and see if there is a soldier tag. There are threads at swissrifles.com about how to read them and what they mean. Get out and shoot the thing. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. They are fun rifles.
Frank

 

[DoggyDaddy]

They did it with all their firearms issued to Soldiers. Many of them had or have a special place to put the tag. The Stgw 57s have a little card holder on the front end of the bottom of the buttstock. The Stgw 90 has a little pocket inside of the pistol grip cap. On all the older bolt actions the tags were placed under the buttplate. On the Lugers the tag was inside one of the grips. In any case the Swiss Soldier is a Citizen soldier and civilians are not issued firearms....ever. They have to buy them and soldier tags are something done by the military so you won't find them in civvie firearms. Men at 18 go into the Army and do their training. Women are exempt from compulsory service and men can be exempted for medical or other issues. I can't recall how long this lasts but its a specific amount of time. After that you do training each year and qualify with your issue firearm. At 40 years old you are moved to reserve and at 50 you are moved to a sort of inactive reserve and can keep the weapon you were issued. If the weapon was select fire like the Stgw 57 or Stgw 90 they will modify it so that it fires semi auto only.
There is a lot of information on the Swiss rifles and other weapons at swissrifles.com . There is also a forum on gunboards.com . both have a lot of good and useable info.
As for the 1911 rifles (G11) and Karbines (K11) they are both excellent rifles of very high quality and accuracy. The long rifles gain a little velocity and some accuracy but the Karbines are also outstanding. There is GP11 ammo out there for sale and also Privi Partizan makes loaded ammo and new brass for sale. Graf and Sons has brass if you reload. The locking lug setup on the 1911 series rifles is the same as the Model 96 rifles which were improvements of the model 89 rifle. The lugs on the 1911 are at the front of the locking coller which is at the rear of the bolt. The model 89 had the lugs at the rear of the collar. The model 31 Karbine (K31) had the locking lugs at the front of the bolt and was pretty much the final improvement. The straight pull action is pretty simple in operation and despite rumors from some it won't fire unless the bolt is locked.
So check under the buttplate and see if there is a soldier tag. There are threads at swissrifles.com about how to read them and what they mean. Get out and shoot the thing. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. They are fun rifles.
Frank

I stand corrected! Lots of good info there. I must have been confused about the citizen vs. citizen soldier thing. Thank you for that!

Here's the tag that was under the butt plate of my K31.

 

[natdscott]

Minute of Angle with ball ammo. Course...GP11 may be the best "ball" ammo ever made...

My thought is, before you do much of anything except clean the rifle, get some GP11 on order. It is becoming more scarce.

Second: don't take the bolt apart fully until you have an hour or so to look at it carefully. It's not particularly complex once you understand it, but that can take a minute. Remchester, it ain't.

The casings, in prone, will land on the backs of your knees if you run the bolt assertively, so take that into account.

Lastly...I'm NOT hawking here, but I have a spare Magazine for the 1911, and somewhere around here a bayonet and frog. I'd offer you both of them at a very reasonable price if you are interested. I don't really care if I sell the bayonet or not, but the magazine really needs to be with another rifle.

The more you shoot and work with Swiss stuff, the more respect you will have for their craftsman...and make no mistake, the 1911 was and is a craftsman's rifle. Not until the K31 did they standardize dimensions and have interchangeability.

-Nate

 

[A 7.62 Exodus]

I figured I'd update everyone. Late last night I started doing some research on the rifle. Turns out, it was made in 1917. I now can say I own a rifle that is 100 years old. From what I can tell, all the numbers match. Even down to the magazine. Best part of all, it did have an ID tag in the stock. The rifle belonged to a soldier who was born in 1904, and served in the auxiliary units. It even looks as if this particular soldier kept the rifle, as it was privatized in 1935.

Talk about a true piece of history. I could hardly contain myself last night.

 

[knutty]

You are in for a pleasant surprise when you take it to the range. The Swiss rifles are outstanding shooters, my K31 puts my 03a3 to shame.

 

[Gary119]

Good job on a fine rifle. Bradis has GP11, bottom shelf, straight ahead as you walk in. Not hard to find online for about $.52 a round. Ruag is going to continue to produce 20 million rounds a year. I prefer the K11 to the K31, lighter more balanced (but I like the 1911 infantry the best).

A couple of good sites

Manufacture Dates of Swiss Schmidt-Rubin Rifles

swisswaffen.com: Serial Number Database Search

 

[bstewrat3]

If you plan to reload pay attention to which dies you buy. There is a K31 specific set that does not size the shoulder back to the standard GP11 specs. The K31 has a wider diameter at the body/shoulder junction.

 

[Clay]

Congrats!! Swiss rifles are probably some of the BEST shooting milsurp out there! Quality of their arms and ammo is 2nd to none.