The Swiss armed forces considered individual marksmanship to be of utmost importance. Karabiner Modell 31s are noted for their excellent accuracy and quality for a service rifle. This allowed the Swiss to eliminate the aluminium barrel mounting collar used in the Schmidt-Rubin series. The action itself is only connected to the stock by two screws, one attaching to the recoil lug, with the second attaching to the tang. The Karabiner Modell 31 barrel has 4 rifling grooves and a 270 mm (10.63 in) rifling twist rate. 31's straight-pull bolt action bolt group Features Ĭompared to the previous Schmidt–Rubin series Model 1911 rifle and carbine, the Karabiner Modell 31 bolt and receiver were significantly shortened, allowing for a rifle length barrel and sight radius, without increasing the overall length of the Model 1911 carbine, moving the rear sight element closer to the eye, and cutting in half the amount of time for the firing pin to strike the cartridge after the trigger was pulled. 31s were made in May 1931 for troop trials (serials 500,001 – 500,200), thus the model number of 1931. The Karabiner Modell 31 was a new design by the Eidgenössische Waffenfabrik in Bern, Switzerland under Colonel Adolf Furrer (1873–1958). Mechanical engineer Eduard Rubin (1846–1920) was the designer of the 7.5×55mm Swiss ammunition previous Swiss service rifles and the K. 31 was not designed by Colonel Rudolf Schmidt (1832–1898) as he was not alive in 1931 to do so. 31 is a straight-pull carbine broadly based on previous Swiss ' Schmidt–Rubin' service rifles and carbines, the K. The Karabiner Modell 1931 replaced both the Model 1911 rifle and carbine and was gradually replaced by the Stgw 57 from 1958 onwards.Īlthough the K. A stripper clip can be used to load the magazine from the top of the receiver. Each rifle included a 6-round detachable box magazine with matching stamped serial number.

It has a 6-round removable magazine, and is chambered for the 7.5×55mm Swiss Gewehrpatrone 1911 or GP 11, a cartridge with ballistic qualities similar to the 7.62×51mm NATO/. It was the standard issue rifle of the Swiss armed forces from 1933 until 1958 though examples remained in service into the 1970s. 31) is a magazine-fed, straight-pull bolt-action rifle. 31) rifleĪ rifle grenade launcher was available from 1944 on.

Bern swiss k11