Looking for more info about Swiss K11

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MattE93

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I just purchased a Swiss K11 on a bit of an impulse buy as I loved the stock on one I found. Now I’m looking for more info, based on the serial number it seems to be made in early 1929. It was listed as matching bolt, magazine, and receiver. Is there anywhere else I should check for matching serials or are these the only locations that the Swiss numbered rifles?

Also am I correct in thinking all K11’s had walnut stocks? Some are dark brown and then they grade all the way to almost blonde. The one I found was medium brownish with really interesting grain. Is the stock walnut?

Lastly, there is some sheen to this one that I am not used to on milsurps but I know with Swiss neutrality these weren’t used and abused like other battle rifles. What was he original finish and does the sheen make sense?

Thanks for any info that can be provided!

1EuQC4H.jpg
 
Any better pictures?
Original wood was walnut. Finish was linseed oil, turpentine and possibly beeswax.
If it was refurbished after 1944, possible it was restocked in beech like the K31, but not likely.
Refurbs were shellacked.
They used whatever shade of walnut they could get their hands, no color prejudice.

May be just waxed by previous owner to give it the shine.
Nice stock. Don't mess it up.
 
Just bought it so no better pictures yet. I will be sure to post lots of pictures when it arrives.

Was really intrigued by the cool grain patter, I won't go anywhere near this stock with anything thats for sure. Was just curious about the lighter color and grain pattern.
 
nice k11 and some very nice k31rifles .The k11 is a very nice rifle ,priced lower than the k31 but just as accurate and fun to shoot.
 
Is there matching numbers on these on the stocks anywhere, similar to mausers where the stock and handguard are stamped under the wood?
 
Yes there should be a number stamped on the hand guard and the rifle stock wood. Congrats on the purchase of in my opinion the best surplus rifles around! You’ll need a k31 to go with it!
 
Gorgeous collection. The middle one in your last photo has a similar grain pattern to mine. Really excited to own one. Always passed over them due to Switzerland's neutrality and their lack of war history. However, I recently became interested in them as they are just neat and unique. The neutrality has the added bonus of rifles in amazing condition. Excited to see how it stacks up to my K98 which is currently my favourite milsurp.
 
Look at this way, the Swiss, possibly the most fearsome of ALL renaissance mercenaries - they used to go around Europe in units of pike-men - were so skilled in the use of arms that NOBODY would take them on in their own borders. During WW2 it would have been an act of insanity to to so, with a general in charge who could happily order his troops to fight with their bare fists when they ran out of everything else, in a country where the infrastructure had been destroyed, roads, railways, bridge, power stations - everything, to prevent it being of any use to the invader. Every bridge in the country and every tunnel in and out of the country, was rigged ready to blow, and unlike nations with ordinary armies, every male over the age of 18 was a soldier with his gun at home and ammunition to use in it, too.

Neutrality, where the cost to the invader would inevitably be as catastrophic as the Russian invasion of Finland in 1939, is nothing to be ashamed of.
 
Grizzly Adams said:
Not all Walnut, the light ones are Beech.

Grizz
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Not always true. Easy way to tell the difference in light color wood on K31 is the grain pattern. Beech has crescent shapes in the wood grain. Light walnut doe not.

Beech:
Bubbareincar2.jpg

See the crescents from toe of stock to grip swell.

P1010014.jpg

Most pronounced crescents shapes in my beech rifles.
 
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Im guessing the stock in my picture is walnut as I haven’t heard of K11 in beech stocks.

Oh I am not saying they should be ashamed of neutrality. Quite the opposite quite a large feat to be the only country in Europe east of Spain not to fall under nazi rule at some point. It’s amazing they scared off any attack. Just means their rifles never saw combat and lack that historical piece
 
tacfoley said:
Look at this way, the Swiss, possibly the most fearsome of ALL renaissance mercenaries - they used to go around Europe in units of pike-men - were so skilled in the use of arms that NOBODY would take them on in their own borders. During WW2 it would have been an act of insanity to to so, with a general in charge who could happily order his troops to fight with their bare fists when they ran out of everything else, in a country where the infrastructure had been destroyed, roads, railways, bridge, power stations - everything, to prevent it being of any use to the invader. Every bridge in the country and every tunnel in and out of the country, was rigged ready to blow, and unlike nations with ordinary armies, every male over the age of 18 was a soldier with his gun at home and ammunition to use in it, too.

Neutrality, where the cost to the invader would inevitably be as catastrophic as the Russian invasion of Finland in 1939, is nothing to be ashamed of.
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That and the fact that any invaders were not taken prisoner. Any invading army crossing the Swiss border was completely exterminated without mercy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundian_Wars
 
The Germans kind of treated them like a potential Booty call too... "if I get in a bind, might call..."
"Hey, if the Allies win...got to have a safe hiding place til we can get Argentina"
Kept a lot of pilfered loot there purportedly.
wwwnytimes.com/1997/01/26/weekinreview/the-not-so-neutrals-of-world-war-ii.html ( Link broken to abide Forum rules)
 
Interesting how committed they were to total neutrality. There are even documented cases of them shooting down and diverting allied bombers on missions to Germany.
 
If the crossed into Swiss airspace. German and Italian planes too, if any Axis or Allied plane refused to surrender.

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/warbirds_mayday--when-bombers-crashed-in-switzerland/37577434

"Defense of Swiss airspace
During the first months of the war, airmen and anti-aircraft soldiers saw only sporadic combat; it was on 10 May 1940, when Germany commenced the drive into the west, that the Swiss army as a whole was mobilized a second time. At the onset of the campaign, German military aircraft first violated Swiss airspace.


C-3603-1 indigenous fighter/reconnaissance aircraft, in use from 1942 to 1952.
The first serious combat involving the Swiss Air Force began in June 1940. In six days of aerial battles, eleven German aircraft were downed, with a loss of two Swiss aircraft and three airmen killed. Following these incidents, on 6 June, the chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring, protested the attacks, claiming that most of the German planes had been in French airspace and that the Luftwaffe had entered Swiss airspace only by mistake. Germany demanded financial compensation and an apology by the Swiss government. In a second, more pointed demand on 19 June, Germany stated that they viewed the air battles as a flagrant act of aggression, and if these interceptions continued, Switzerland would face sanctions and retaliation. The next day, General Henri Guisan ordered all Swiss units to stop engaging foreign aircraft, and on 1 July 1940, the Federal Council apologized for possible border violations by Swiss pilots, without admitting any had occurred. On 16 July, the German government declared that the events were settled. Engaging aircraft of the combatant nations was prohibited until October 1943, when strategic bombing of Bavaria and Austria by the Allies became an increasing likelihood.

In September 1944, the last Swiss airman died in combat, shot down by an American P-51 Mustang while escorting a crippled U.S. B-17 Flying Fortress to the Dübendorf airfield.[15] During the entire war, 6,501 Allied and Axis aircraft violated Swiss airspace, 198 of which aircraft landed on Swiss soil and were interned, and 56 of which crashed.[16]

Swiss aircraft also intercepted U.S. aircraft who were off-course, or whose crews preferred asylum in Swiss internment camps over German or Italian POW camps; they were then forced to land on Swiss airstrips. When the bombers did not cooperate or even fired at the Swiss (who were using Axis-type interceptors), they were shot down."
 
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MattE93 said:
Im guessing the stock in my picture is walnut as I haven’t heard of K11 in beech stocks.

Oh I am not saying they should be ashamed of neutrality. Quite the opposite quite a large feat to be the only country in Europe east of Spain not to fall under nazi rule at some point. It’s amazing they scared off any attack. Just means their rifles never saw combat and lack that historical piece
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Their rifles might have not seen combat but they will have fired more rounds through them. The Swiss historically prize marksmanship since the middle ages and the population regularly shoot with them so the weapons made for the military are the highest quality you can get for military issue firearms and anybody thinking about invading them has to consider invading a mountain country full of very accurate and capable soldiers.
 
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