The Swiss Karabiner 31 Rifle and Swiss Feldschiessen Competition

This is one of my favorite firearms! The K-31, or Karabiner 31, is a Swiss surplus military rifle which is still used in the deeply valued global Swiss rifle competition program. Let’s take a closer look. But first a short word about Switzerland. Switzerland is a small country. 10 times smaller than California. Switzerland has a population of about 9 million people versus California’s 39 million people, so it’s about 23% the population of California. In terms of the economy, though, Switzerland produces slightly more per person than California, which means it has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world, and it’s more evenly distributed. So it’s essentially a success story. We can learn from Switzerland. But it wasn’t always like this. It took massive self discipline to build that economy. Switzerland was once a land which supplied warriors to the rest of Europe. Since there are a lot of mountains, such as the Matterhorn and the Eiger, Switzerland was mostly a hard place to farm, and starvation was a real issue. They declared independence 735 years ago. Compared to them we are new to this democracy game. Despite the fact that they speak four languages, they have managed to stay together. That has resulted in the evolution of a very loose confederation of cantons. Think about that. 4 languages. German Italian French Romansch They had some catastrophic defeats such as getting invaded by Napoleon in 1798. That led to some serious reflection. In the 1815 Congress of Vienna after the defeat of Napoleon their independence and neutrality were confirmed. Since then they have mobilized their entire nation to avoid another national disaster or invasion, and through much of history the entire population has been part of the military. This applied to Swiss going abroad, which they did due to starvation. Swiss workers emigrated all over the world and when they did, they were required by the Swiss government to turn in annual rifle qualifications scores. That is still in effect. Thus there is an official Swiss rifle qualification taking place every year, globally, from Swiss Rifle Club Cape Town South Africa https://swissrifleclub.capetown/club-... Swiss Canadian Mountain Range Association in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, https://www.swiss-society.org/swiss-c... The National Capital Region Rifle Association in Ontario. http://ncrra.ca/index.php/side-swiss-... And in Australia. https://swissclubnsw.com/the-history-... Link: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-di... All Swiss competitions, at least for us, are prone. The concept is that the Swiss soldier lays down, uses his or her pack for a rest, and defends his or her country. Nowadays the STG 90 has a bipod, so no pack is needed for that rifle. In California we use this wonderful rifle right here for our safe, law abiding, and very social qualifications, and most of us aren’t even Swiss. Why are we using a rifle from 1931? Well California firearms regulations keep us from competing with anything more modern. But we are NOT disadvantaged because this is one accurate rifle with the officially-approved clamp-on target sights. And, yes, the dark wood sometimes seen as K-31 stocks is walnut, not oak. Error on my part! NOTHING IN THIS VIDEO IS FOR SALE. #Karabiner 31, #K-31, #Swiss, #Swisshistory, #7.5Swiss, #Swissarmy, #Worldwar2, #WorldWarII, #Swissneutrality, #Swissriflecompetition, #riflecompetition, #straightpullboltaction, #Carmelgunclub, #MontereyCountySwissRifleClub, #Swissshootingprograms