Taking the online plunge. Buying a K31!

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kawasakifreak77

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For sometime now there's been old guns I've wanted to purchase but couldn't find an example locally or people are asking way over market value.

Here recently, I've read several reports of how good these Swiss K31 rifles are but couldn't bring myself to ordering one blindly online. Well a friend & I were out Saturday browsing the fun stores south of here when I finally got to handle a K31 in the wild. I'm all about old wood rifles. Bolt action, 30 caliber & iron sights is what I use almost exclusively.

Man that is one impressive piece of work! But the tag was $600!

Nope. They did have several pounds of Unique for a reasonable price. :) Anyways..

So my curiousity has finally gotten the best of me. I just got off the phone with AIM & have a beech stocked K31 headed this way. I've got my fingers crossed that it's as good as everyone says they are. Between me & a couple close shooting friends we pretty much have an example or two of every common war rifle between the turn of the century & the adaptation of automatics. Some make fantastic jack handles while others can stack bullet holes on top of each other. I'm looking forward to putting this Swiss rifle beside my other wood & blue world war era rifles.

I'm also glad to see ammo is reasonably priced, considering the quality this stuff is supposedly built to, seems like a good deal.

Has anyone gotten a bad K31? Or are they all as great as everyone says?
 
Hope you paid money for a better or handpicked one. Regardless, the GP11 ammo is the best to use. I love both of mine with slightly dinged walnut stocks. Extremely accurate.
 
I have a sporterized 1911 and love it. A nice k31 is the absolute top of my list right now. I will keep a close eye, PLEASE post pics when you get it! I almost called today to order one. Did you pay the 10$ handpick fee?

Alex
 
I didn't get a hand picked one, think it would have made a difference?

I saw the option but figured they probably just take your $20 & give you the same rifle anyways.
 
I chose to pay extra for a handpicked one and now I'm not sure I should have wasted the money for that. The stock isn't in that bad shape, but the barrel wasn't as awesome as I had wished. I had hoped the "best of 5" was them looking down the barrel and evaluating the action and not on the condition of the stock! However, since the barrel is slathered in grease, I don't think there was much they could compare. It's too cold up here for me to check it out for a couple months, so I'm hoping it'll prove out then.
 
I have owned 7 of these. I have sold all of except one. It is best shooter of the bunch. Also the most beat up.lol. And the cheapest. I ordered it in 06 for $59. :eek: These are awesome shooters. You will not be sorry. Even if it is beat up all the bores are excellent. Gp11 is great stuff but I can out do it with handloads (barley).
 
I got a K-31 in 2002 at BIG5 sporting goods for $90 + sales tax.
I got a K-31 in 2004 in a private sale for $80.

I bought some 284 brass sized with Lee 7.5 Swiss die.
I shot a 4" group with open sights, which is good for me.
The bores were like new, but I did not see a way to put a scope on, at that time.
The action was harder to operate with ammo that just dry cycling.

Both of mine have Birch stocks, not the more desirable Walnut.
But they do have weird Swiss names under the butt plate, that I can't remember now.

I can see what year they were manufactured:
http://theswissriflesdotcommessageb...051/K31-Serial-numbers-and-dates#.VOlu9nzF915

Given my returns [20% compounded annually] in stock market during the same period time, I could have had $1500 cash, instead of these old rifles.

But guns only appreciate at 3%, so these should be worth $120 each. hm.. at $300 they have appreciated at 11%. That is better than Colt revolvers, so it must be an anomaly.
 

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I think they appreciated more than the usual 3% is because the supply has run out. It's the law of scarcity kicking in. If there are no more to buy, the price goes up...

Also with these rifles ammo and reloading brass being available and the stories of how good shooting rifles they are has helped with the appreciation.

I'm keeping mine but it's good to know it's worth more than I paid for it. That's better than can be said for all my gun purchases...

Tony
 
"[20% compounded annually] "
Now, I am one to usually point out that guns tend not to appreciate in a pace much beyond inflation, but 20% isn't a normal comparison either. That is Madoff return rates.

There is almost always a huge jump when surplus supplies "run out." Often 100%. Then the price is more stable. I think I have read the K31's are all gone a half dozen times in the last five years, but they keep showing up.

I have purchased maybe 5 firearms from AIM. I have always paid for the handpick from them, so I can't say it is worth it as I don't know what you get without. I have always been happy with what I get though. I had one Nagant pistol that was superb and is possibly the only gun I regret selling as it will cost much more to replace. I would certainly pay the handpick on a future purchase. It may not guarantee I get a great firearm, but i think it does come pretty close to guaranteeing I won't get a bottom of the barrel firearm.
 
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John,
20% sounds unbelievable, but I went all in on microsoft in 94, and all in on Google in 2004.
I am the Forest Gump of investing.

I bought two antique Winchesters today, based on pictures.
I expect them to go up at 3%.
I hope to feel more love for them than my pair of K31s.
But I do LIKE knowing that there are weird names under the butt plates of my K-31s.
 
I see that the Beech rifles are out of stock now. Still have Walnut on the site. I kinda am waiting to see yours before making the order. Hope they last.
 
Bought a K31 last year. I went for the hand picked one. The metal was excellent, the wood was just fair.
The really good part is the shooting. First, the trigger of my rifle & other K31s I have checked is excellent, clean crisp and not heavy. A fair bit of take-up but overall an excellent trigger. The metalwork of the K31 is superb. They are a machinists dream, a work of art.
Ammo is available & reasonably priced. PRVI ammo is boxer primed, reloadable and its brass is of better quality than expected. My K31 just loves Sierra 155 Palma HPBT bullets over 44.5 grains of IMR 4895, seated at about 2.85". It is consistently sub MOA with it.
You can go to: http://www.swissrifles.com/index.html for more information.
 
Okie dokie.. so it finally came in! I was starting to get worried.

But HOLY FREAKING CRAP this thing is a work of art, mechanically speaking. I'm a machinist & the metal work on her is amazing!

All numbers I can find match. Trigger is amazing! Stock is relatively beat up. High points on the metal are worn through the bluing. Rifling is crisp & bright. There is the fabeled tag under the buttplate with a dude's name on it, but no unit or address? It's freakin' heavy. Overall it looks like she has been taken care of, but definitely shows use.

I would not hesitate to buy another one. In fact I might.. this would make an amazing silencer host, I believe.
 
I shot one back in 2007 and fell in love with it. I proceeded to buy 5. I have one with swiss made diopter shooting sights that are amazing. 200 yards on the bench 20 shots in a group a paper cup can cover.

one with a scope mount and the rest are just resting. whats crazy is I was paying 100-125 for them.

a few years ago I went to Switzerland and stop in Edward ketners(sp) store and was talking with a guy that looked so old he saw dust get made and he showed me some of the $1000 new made k31's and omg they are so beautiful, and his next sentence broke my heart, no one there wants them because they are an old design. I wish I could have got one to bring back.
 
They're still making these things!?

& as of right now I don't have a way to post pics.

Tomorrow morning I'm gonna hit up a local show to buy some ammo. Debating on whether to get GP11 or commercial to reload but dangit I can't even keep up with the calibers I already have!
 
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