Everything about that Swiss K31 rifle including the ammo it uses was meant to mess German minds. The bullets have a narrow band which mikes at 308 and the rest of the bullet mikes at about 302 or 303, meaning that it seals the bore, but has less friction than a normal bullet and likely outranges German rifles of the same power. The cartridge overall length figures you find in reloading books are only good for that standard bullet, if you go to reload them with ordinary American 308 hunting bullets and seat them back to where the bolt first closes easily over them, you get about a quarter inch shorter than the book value.
I was trying to look that up and found this exchange here http://www.neptunuslex.com/2009/12/04/swiss-freedom/ Just FWIW
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Joe in N. Calif
December 4th, 2009 at 4:21 pm · Reply
The Swiss have a long and honorable history of being well armed, and well versed in the use of arms:
Machiavelli commented in his book “The Prince,” “The Swiss are well armed and enjoy great freedom.”
There is a story told among the Swiss about a visit from Kaiser Wilhelm at the turn of the century to view the Swiss militia in training. The Kaiser asked the Swiss commander how many men he had under arms. The commander said, “1 million,” referring to the male Swiss population.
The Kaiser then asked what would happen if 5 million German soldiers crossed the Swiss border tomorrow. The commander answered, “Each of my men would fire five shots and go home.”
Quartermaster
December 5th, 2009 at 11:53 am · Reply
The story is apocryphal. The Swiss Army does not have a single commander, except in time of war. There are actually, iirc, 4 commanders, and they are selected very carefully. One of them will become the commander in time of war, as happened during WW2.
The story is also told with Goering substituted for the Kaiser.
Joe in N. Calif
December 6th, 2009 at 6:46 pm · Reply
Yep. Still a good story. And, given the
attitude of the Swiss I know, it is something that should be true.