K31 value question

You can buy a new manufacture K31 from hammaerli(sp?) in europe for around $2200. That being said the K31 is unlike any milsurp, a true gem of fine swiss engineering. Ammo is still available much cheaper than mausers etc, but its starting to dry up. I wouldn't trade my K31 for anything after the first day I put it on paper from a bench and hit sub moa with my first 5 shots at 100 yards.

They make soft points for them, the clamp on scope mount leaves no marks and is rock solid. The only issue is its off center to account for the shell ejection.

My gun is only 75 years old with im sure thousands of round through it, and I can see it lasting another 100 years no problem. I doubt you can get that much accurate mileage from a bargain basement gun in the 500-800 range.
 
BSproff said:
And with that, i thought to myself, k31's are going on Equipment exchange for 450 to 600 depending on their condition, and really, does that make sense?
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I've seen some for less than that, but I can't quite understand the ones landing in that price range when I can buy a "new" good+ one for $425 or a vg+ one for $600 at CSC, and Wholesale Sports/Bullseye London were selling them for $370 (WS had them on sale for $280 at one point). I'm in the market for one now, but if I can't find a reasonably priced one on the EE I'll just buy one from CSC.
 
Grizzly Adams said:
Expected to and lasted a hundred years, can't say that about today's mass produced firearms. :)

Grizz
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Sure you can. Remember, the K31 rifles we are getting here as well as other milsurps like the M91, K98, M96 etc are the survivors of what was produced. You can bet a lot less survived and were lost, destroyed through harsh use, poor care etc. Many M16s of Vietnam vintage are still going strong even with the same abuse and believe it or not that rifle was put into production in the early sixties. Close to sixty years old and the design is still just as viable today as it was back then. I will admit some of the other plastic rifles like the Steyr Aug and seemingly the British issued SA80 have some serious drawbacks and nations using them are opting for the AR platform rifles again. Some of the new designs out there are designed to be cheap as well as handy. The attrition rate on military issue firearms is horrific. Some of the new models are almost meant to be thrown away rather than continuously rebuilt. IMHO, comparing a Remington Model 700 to a Rem 710 is like comparing nuts to oranges.

We live in a throwaway society. Firearms tech is changing as are production methods. I am surprised nobody has come up with a replacement for metallic, powder filled cases with projectiles. I wonder what is sitting on the scientists shelves. Maybe some new battery tech will enable the troopies of the near future to carry proton weapons or lasers??
 
underscore said:
I've seen some for less than that, but I can't quite understand the ones landing in that price range when I can buy a "new" good+ one for $425 or a vg+ one for $600 at CSC, and Wholesale Sports/Bullseye London were selling them for $370 (WS had them on sale for $280 at one point). I'm in the market for one now, but if I can't find a reasonably priced one on the EE I'll just buy one from CSC.
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The $280 K31s aren't the pick of the bunch. You get what you pay for. The mid range rifles with VG metal and dinged stocks can still be found in the $400 range. Excellent throughout units will be much pricier. One of our banner sponsors in Calgary had some that were issued to the Swiss Police or maybe even unissued with all accessories. When they first came out they were running around $500 delivered now add a couple of hundred to that with delivery charges if you can find one.
 
BSproff said:
thought about it, I was concerned that the clamp on one would leave marks on the gun or would not be solid. Perhaps I was just looking for an excuse to buy another gun, either way, I picked up a modern rifle for a comparable price, that is in a common caliber, easy to modify, and it gave me second thought about the perceived value of purchasing k31's
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The Swiss Products scope and diopter mounts [made in Kalispel Montana by our friend Latigo St. Marie and his production team] leave NO trace whatsoever of ever having been on the K31. I take mine on and off at least four times a year so that I can compete in various types of competitions, and trust me, it leaves no mark.

As for solid, all that tells me is that you've never seen one in the reality. Sticking a heavy modern scope on a hard-recoiling military rifle needs a firm basis, and the SP mount, with its built-in stop, is just that. It can only fit the action in one exact spot, with about 2mm of 'wiggle' in the for-and-aft plane to ensure that it is correctly located before tightening up the single securing clamp.

Find one, take a close look, and then come back with your verdict. There are many thousands of happy customers, me and Diopter included, and both he and I have both scope and diopter sets on our K31s. Don't bother with the steel version - it weighs twice as much as the alloy and has no appreciable advantage that I can detect. The alloy version is deeply hard-anodised and has a surface that is far more scratch-resistant than the steel.

tac
swissrifles.com

PS - here in yUK an average K31 costs us around $800-900 - even a Model 1889 is around a thousand bucks. You guys get them for nothing.
 
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bigjohndatsun said:
My gun is only 75 years old...
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My K31 is only 61 years old, but my K11 is a hundred and two! Both were bought by me within a week of each other in 1989, and have a guaranteed minimum of ten thousand rounds of GP11 and home-loads down them since- they are both shot most weekends. We'll never know, or course, how many went up the spout before that.

Both have like-new bores and perfect chambers and muzzles, and are a total delight to shoot. Noobs, shooting either of them for the first time, are just blown away with the sheer feeling of quality in the action.

tac
swissrifles.com
 
bearhunter said:
The $280 K31s aren't the pick of the bunch. You get what you pay for. The mid range rifles with VG metal and dinged stocks can still be found in the $400 range. Excellent throughout units will be much pricier. One of our banner sponsors in Calgary had some that were issued to the Swiss Police or maybe even unissued with all accessories. When they first came out they were running around $500 delivered now add a couple of hundred to that with delivery charges if you can find one.
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I don't expect them to be prime examples, but what I'm saying is some of the ones landing on the EE that haven't been gauged and that you don't know the source of are priced the same as one that has been gauged and that you do know the source of, to me that seems odd.
 
underscore said:
I don't expect them to be prime examples, but what I'm saying is some of the ones landing on the EE that haven't been gauged and that you don't know the source of are priced the same as one that has been gauged and that you do know the source of, to me that seems odd.
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Why would you find that odd???

Many people will sell for the same or less than what they paid for an item, especially if they really need the money. I think we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg as far a used firearms of any type goes. Many laid off oil patch workers are getting desperate enough to start letting their stuff go. First they ask their friends, neighbors, family etc. Usually they haven't kept up with pricing other than retail prices and even then very intermittently. One thing to be aware of on the EE, the banner sponsor and the WTS in the yellow panels are retail outlets and unless they are from Alberta there may be provincial taxes/GST on top of shipping. Private sales will still require shipping on top of the asking price.

I see you're in the Okanagan. We don't have access to local stores that carry a lot of milsurps. Especially big retail chains. Del Selin's in Vernon is one of your best bets. Nothing in Penticton, Wholesale Sports in Westbank didn't have anything other than a couple of field grade SKSs. Same for Kamloops. Just about everything else either has to be found at gun shows or from the internet. If you are serious and not just tire kicking, figure out what you are willing to pay and place a WTB ad in the EE.
 
My completely WAG is $3350. I base this on the price of many military rifles circa 1900 costing the equivalent of 1oz gold. Now double that due to the increase in the cost of labour.

It's a number that I just pulled out of the air so take it for what it is worth.
 
bearhunter said:
Why would you find that odd???

Many people will sell for the same or less than what they paid for an item, especially if they really need the money. I think we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg as far a used firearms of any type goes. Many laid off oil patch workers are getting desperate enough to start letting their stuff go. First they ask their friends, neighbors, family etc. Usually they haven't kept up with pricing other than retail prices and even then very intermittently. One thing to be aware of on the EE, the banner sponsor and the WTS in the yellow panels are retail outlets and unless they are from Alberta there may be provincial taxes/GST on top of shipping. Private sales will still require shipping on top of the asking price.

I see you're in the Okanagan. We don't have access to local stores that carry a lot of milsurps. Especially big retail chains. Del Selin's in Vernon is one of your best bets. Nothing in Penticton, Wholesale Sports in Westbank didn't have anything other than a couple of field grade SKSs. Same for Kamloops. Just about everything else either has to be found at gun shows or from the internet. If you are serious and not just tire kicking, figure out what you are willing to pay and place a WTB ad in the EE.
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I find it odd because in the EE there's usually nothing to differentiate between one that was bought for $600 and one that was bought for $280. As you said we don't have much locally here and I'll be paying shipping either way, so I may as well just pay the tax to know I'm actually getting a vg+ gun. Maybe my view is skewed because when I joined here (pretty recently) the prices I was seeing for K31's was a lot lower than I've been seeing the last few weeks, although perhaps my ignorance has me missing some subtle detail that makes one more valuable than the others.

As far as buying one, I chucked up a WTB and I've been keeping a close eye on the EE, I've had a max price in my head for a while now but we'll see what comes up over the next while.
 
I got one recently off the EE with an unbelieveable tiger stripe but it was still beat on the butt and $450 to my door. Shipping was probably close to $50 as its a long and heavy gun. I was happy to pay that much as I wanted one with the stripes. Its your typical K31, sub moa from 1930-50 era in great working shape. In comparison you can get equally nice guns in the $400 range but I bet they won't be as accurate or smooth operating.

I still wanted to see pictures of the $600 K31 posted last week... there are a lot of people refinishing stocks and claiming them as unissued, especially on gunbroker in the states as I've noticed on the K31 facebook group. One was recently posted for a min bid of $1500 and was a clear rip off, even agreed by Pierre!
 
Philthy1 said:
Some of those 280$ K31s at WSS were outstanding. Wish I would've bought some.
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That's where I got mine, and a case of GP11 for $299.
The stock is kind of beat, but the metal is in great shape.
The counter guy was really helpful too. Kept bringing out 3 at a time until I was happy. Mine has the muzzle cap and sling as well.
 
I have a k31 that looks outstanding to me . Who would grade these guns to set a price ? It looks authentic but I could be fooled , I would like to confirm what grade a collector would give this gun.
 
You could post pics? Looks like the going rate is 4-600, although I'm sure there's a few beaters around too. Looks like CSC wants 100$ more for the beech stocks. I'm not sure why that would be.
 
Again to me the walnut is more valuable, I think the sales pitch sets the value sometimes. I have 2 one with matching s.n. On barrel
The other no number on barrel , I assume this means the barrel was replaced ?
 
Philthy1 said:
Some of those 280$ K31s at WSS were outstanding. Wish I would've bought some.
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I got mine when they were $300, and I got a really nice tiger-striped one. Has the usual knicks and marks in the stock, a couple rub marks on the reciever, bluing on the barrel is excellent, not a hint of rust anywhere, and it even came with the infantry tag under the buttplate!

I picked up a case of GP11 for $300 that day as well, so for $660 all in I was one happy camper! A few months later they had a 10% off sale so I picked up another case for $270, $297 all in. I should have bought the remaining pallet at those prices. There was 63 cases left when I bought mine, and I honestly did ponder buying them all and rolling around in a pile of GP11!

I see the prices now and...ovrec
 
I love the Swiss rifle. I tried to buy another k31 and wss doesn't have it anymore. They break up the gp11 case and sell one brick for around 60 bucks. I still have one crate left and wish I bought more. Unfortunately my wallet prevented me to do so when they're selling for 300 bucks a crate.

Almost won a g11 on fb group auction, but admin said the other guy won it. Want too happy.

I have swiss product clamp on scope mount on my k31 and k11, that work pretty good.

600 bucks k31 better be unissued with perfect metal and wood, and matching muzzle cap, sling, and bayonet.
 
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