Tam at The Arms Room has written a very interesting post about the 40+ years evolution of the Schmidt-Rubin rifle that was adopted in 1889 by the Swiss and evolved into the K31 Carbine.

When the time came for the Swiss army to replace their black-powder Vetterli rifles, they cast about for only a few years before settling on a design by Col. Rudolph Schmidt, working out of Bern.

Well word reading.

K31 Rifle