Yea the Swiss did on their guns they used for target rifles though I suppose that they would be pricey. I do not know who may make a sight but I am sure that some model of peep sight should be able to be adapted. I would ask over at the swiss rifle site they know their stuff over there. St Marie makes a peep sight but they are pricey over 200 bucks. This was posted at the Swiss site so maybe this will help. One other alternative would be to buy a mount that clamps on the side rail and get a peep sight that fits a scope base which they do make.
Re: Diopter or Peep Sights for my K31
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Traveler:
Installing a Williams Fool-Proof is not exactly “inexpensive”. The basic sight is $70 now, and if you want target knobs, it’s another $15-$20. If you need someone else to do the drilling and tapping, it may be $20 per hole. And the installation has limitations and faults.
First of all, it doesn’t really fit. The Williams FP-Swiss, which is supposed to fit the M1911 series of rifles, uses the 70AP base … that is the same base that is used for the Remington Model 700 and Winchester Model 70 … both with symetric cylindrical cross section receivers. The M1911 S-R receiver is a tapered cylinder, so the Willimams base does not really fit properly without some grinding … the gallows arm will be cattywhompus (a technical term which means “not perpendicular to the axis of the bore”). The K-31 receiver bridge is not round at all, but a trapezoidal prism with rounded edges, so the base of the Williams sight will have to be ground to match. You can use some bedding compound like Marine Tex to get the fit more secure, but the bottom line is that the Williams FP-“Swiss” doesn’t really fit anything “Swiss”.
The second issue is durability … the adjustment screws are steel, and they thread into aluminum blocks. This is “OK” only for fasteners that are intended to be semi-permanent. Sight adjustment screws are there to be moved constantly, and in this constant sliding contact, the aluminum wears out quickly, and the adjustments get sloppy and unpredictable. I had a Williams sight on my first K31, and used it for a full season of highpower before it just got too unreliable for me and I tossed it, and replaced it with a Redfield International. If your application does not require constant sight adjustments, maybe the Williams FP will be satisfactory for you.
The option that I discussed briefly with a few readers by email is gluing a Williams Guide Receiver Sight (WGRS-FN) on the receiver bridge of the K31. I did this on an Argentine M1909 Mauser that I did not want to drill, and it lasted a few years and several range sessions until I decided to remove it with some lacquer thinner. Parashooter related to me how he had glued a receiver sight on an Enfield with 5-minute epoxy and it lasted for several years until he decided to remove it. The WGRS-FN is $35 from Brownell’s; the base will have to be shortened about ¼ inch to avoid interference with the clip slots. It has sufficient elevation adjustment for 100 to 600 meters with GP-11 using the issue front sight; you can use the one remaining mounting screw in addition to adhesive if you are willing to drill and tap the one hole (you lose one mounting screw when you shorten the base); you will have to remove the issue rear sight.
You get what you pay for … instead of the convenient, precise quarter-minute click adjustments of the St Marie sight, you have to remove the aperture from the carrier, loosen a binding screw and move the aperture carrier by hand, retighten the screw and replace the aperture. For casual shooting with service-type ammunition at 100 or 200 yards, this probably isn’t a big deal, but if you’re going to shoot 600 yards and chase spotters with The Big Dingers, this would not be the best approach.
I wasn’t going to post this until I had thoroughly put this through its paces, but now the cat’s out of the bag for anyone who wants to experiment. It worked for me on a Mauser, I’m pretty confident that it would work on a K31 (or a Vetterli … which is why the WGRS is sitting on my desk at the moment)
