Fourth: My First Rifle

Up until this point, rifles and shotguns hadn't been much of a consideration. And, to this point, I was also not much of a fan of anything in the used counter. But a throaty boom and a warm stock changed my heart and, truth be told, was the beginning of the end for this girl.

It was a co-worker named Chris who began this trip for me. Chris was an avid collector and a colorful bird. He liked talking guns and to this day I've never met a person more knowledgeable about firearms than him. But he sat me down one day with an unlikely rifle on the shop's firing range.

I shot rifles and shotguns before this, but none had tweaked my interest. And when he pulled the old, worn looking rifle with the steel butt plate out of the bag, I had my reservations. But a few rounds later and my heart was turned.

At the very next gun show, I was on a mission. I was going to bring home my very first rifle, and another lesson would be learned.

I picked up my Swiss K31 (Karabiner 1931) back in 2006. The first thing I did was take it to the firing range.

With a beaten in walnut stock and slightly damaged steel butt plate, accompanied by an odor that can only be described as old wood, my love of long guns was forged.

My K31 was made in 1936. That makes it 75 years old. Weighing in at around 9 lbs., this straight pull bolt, magazine fed rifle was an innovation for its time. Not as famous as the Mauser, the K31 is best known for the bolt system which requires two movements to do a lot of work inside. Pull back, push forward... this motion causes the bolt itself to turn and cock the gun. It made it a fast shooting bolt rifle and still held accuracy only a bolt rifle could give you at the time. The iron sights on this gun were easily adjusted to sight you in at 1500 meters. Of course, with iron sights, 1500 meters is pretty optimistic even for the best of eyes.

So what's the fascination with these old guns? Well, for starters... the history. I like an old gun with some dings in the stock. Each ding and funky colored stuck, each proof mark and fix tells a story.

One of the things that grabs the attention of history buffs when it comes to the K31 is the fact that the Swiss tended to put name tags for the soldier the gun was issued to under the plate. So many people have taken that steel plate off to find the name of the soldier who depended on that rifle, and in some instances that soldier was still alive. Chris had contacted the soldier and sent him a photo of himself with the rifle. In return, he received the bayonet that went with it and a photo of the soldier also holding the same rifle. Upon getting the rifle home, removing the plate was the first step. Mine had no tag under the plate, but I didn't regret removing the plate. I found two interesting pieces under there. One was dried grass... the other was a few pieces of blonde hair stuck to a stain by the damaged section of the plate. Imaginations can run wild assuming how that got there... but I left it all untouched and replaced the plate, so to the best of my knowledge, it's all still under there.

A rifle like my K31 is extremely accurate and fun to shoot, but the history is the best part. You find yourself researching each individual marking and how the dings got there. For instance, you may notice a color difference in the back to that of the front... it's a water stain. The Swiss would camp for the night and plant the rifles in the snow, barrels to the sky, and over time the stocks darkened where the snow was. The dings are worse in that area, too. The Swiss soldiers wore boots with spiked cleats on them, and while walking they would bang the rifles on those cleats to clear ice and snow and give them better traction.

On the modern day side, this rifle is always a lot of fun at the range. It can group as well if not better than most modern rifles it lays next to. Chambered in 7.5x55 Swiss, it is close to the .308 round. However, being designed as a complete fighting tool, the K31 has no padding or anything to make it lighter or shorter. So most at the range will take a step back when you hand them a round and offer to let them have a shot at it, especially after getting a view of that steel butt plate! And it does shove the shoulder. As I always say, "It's a good pain!"

When I worked on a firing range we broke in new employees this way. If they wanted instant respect, they had to go a full magazine with the K31. A full magazine is six rounds. Only one or two actually took the challenge, and only one succeeded.

But I fully blame this rifle for my love affair with older weapons. I love WWII vintage rifles, but have a soft spot for anything older than myself.

You'll be seeing plenty with the K31 in this blog. Although I have a lot more rifles in the ranks these days, "Alden" is secure in his position as a mama's boy and my favorite.