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wallenba
12-25-2010, 08:33 PM
Fiddling around with my K31 today I found a paper tag under the butt plate. It looks like a name and address, but I can't figure out the city if any. It reads:

Marti Karl 15
Lw. Tg. Kp. 17
Basel Magdenstr. 17

and has the serial no, on the back.

Is this an owner, a unit, or something else
Alby
12-25-2010, 08:37 PM
I just googled "Basel Magdenstr. 17" and if this is correct Basel is the city in Switerland and Magdenstr.17 is the street address. This appears to be a shortened version of Magdenstrasse.
JudgeBAC
12-25-2010, 08:37 PM
The owners of the rifles put their personal information on a piece of paper and placed it in the manner you described. Unfortunately, mine was gone.
jhrosier
12-25-2010, 08:39 PM
seems to say that Karl Marti lived at 17 Magdenstr. (street) in the town of Basel, Switzerland.
I am not familiar enough with the Swiss military terms to guess what the second line means, but it would be his military unit assignment.

Jack
wallenba
12-25-2010, 08:47 PM
Thanks for the quick replies fellas. I'm real curious about this guy. When he was issued it, how long he had it, where its been etc. . Possible that he's still alive. I wish it was dated as well.
I put it back and will leave it there.
MtGun44
12-25-2010, 10:29 PM
These are reasonably common under the buttplate of K31s. Some folks have contacted
the former owners or widows. Most report being surprised that some American had
their old rifle.

Bill
TreeKiller
12-25-2010, 11:35 PM
The Swiss rifle site has some samples of the paper under the butt plate.

If I remember right.

Marti Karl name

15 year born
jhrosier
12-25-2010, 11:36 PM
This page will help you decode the tag: http://www.swissrifles.com/sr/tags/

Jack
wallenba
12-26-2010, 12:39 AM
This page will help you decode the tag: http://www.swissrifles.com/sr/tags/

Jack

EXCELLANT INFO Jack!! Everything is there. Karl Marti would be 95 years old today, was in the category of 30 or older when issued to him and was part of a telegraph company # 17. Now, what their duties were I'll have to find out.

Thanks guys, this gives this rifle a sort of personality.
Bloodman14
12-26-2010, 02:00 AM
If you could contact him, I am sure he would be THRILLED to know where his rifle is!
madsenshooter
12-26-2010, 06:03 AM
If you can contact him, I want to know more about the Swiss diet.
Baron von Trollwhack
12-26-2010, 08:24 AM
If you can contact him, I want to know more about the Swiss diet.

I could only speculate. A trusting government controlled by the citizenry, lots of rifle practice in the mountain air, a somewhat long term homogenious polulation in the nation(until recently), a "Swiss" first political attitude, and quite a bit less liberalism, fascism, totalitarianism, communism and political corruption than neighboring countries.

Not sure what they ate though. BvT
wallenba
12-26-2010, 11:37 AM
If you can contact him, I want to know more about the Swiss diet.

Swiss cheese, Swiss steak and Swiss chocolate? :-P
EMC45
12-26-2010, 04:03 PM
My K31 has a soldier tag and MGD45 contacted the owner`s widow via a 3rd party. Very cool! It was real neat knowing that the rifle I have now was once part of this soldier`s daily life on the other side of the world!
wallenba
12-26-2010, 04:46 PM
My K31 has a soldier tag and MGD45 contacted the owner`s widow via a 3rd party. Very cool! It was real neat knowing that the rifle I have now was once part of this soldier`s daily life on the other side of the world!

I think because of Karl Marti's age I'll just leave it alone. I did look at a Swiss map to see where Basel is. It's right on the German/Switzerland frontier. If Hitler would have invaded, Karl would have been in the thick of it. I did find this on the net could be an earlier relative, unless his name is common like "John Smith". http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2587513349.html?key=01-42160D527E1A1161140F031C056A0E332D533648353B1E5620 4C4760641A607F137118731B7B1D6B755B