School me up on the K31

[Mustang]

When you all say "accurate" what does that mean at 100 yards with GP-11? Are we talking 1-2-3 MOA? Do you get flyers with GP-11 in a 5-shot group?

With GP11...1-2 MOA, With good handloads, maybe a bit better.

[pro-nra]

Steve is being conservative. Shooting them @ 100 yards would not do it justice. To the right pilot, they always do well at our monthly silhouette and long range matches up to 800 yards. The GP-11 is a fairly accurate ammo.

[kouye]

I'm just trying to get a baseline on my rifles at 100 yards before extending them. At this point all 4 M39's shooting Russian Match ammo will outshoot my K31 with GP-11 or any commercial ammo I've tried (Hornaday SST, A-MAX, and BTSP, and PPU). I shoot from a bench with a scope to take the shooter out of the equation when testing rifles. The M39's generally shoot 1-1.5MOA with the match ammo and the K31 will shoot 1.5-2MOA but usually I get a flyer in a 5-shot group.

I was wondering how my K31 compares to other K31's in general to see if my rifle needs some work or not.

[1-M-42]

probably the rifle, at 100 yards all of my Swiss rifles (1911s, K31s & ZFK 55) with punch MOA from a rest.

[kouye]

Okay. I figured it was the rifle. Now I have to figure out what the problem is. Bore looks great as well as the muzzle.

[BLR81]

Okay. I figured it was the rifle. Now I have to figure out what the problem is. Bore looks great as well as the muzzle.

Check out accurizing at SwissRifleDot.com. Also do a search on receiver shims. There also is one proper way to tighten the screws; don't tighten in the wrong order.

[gitardad]

The K31 is really one of the best surplus rifles and any serious collector should have one. Unfortunately it leads to the "swiss flu" and they tend to multiply. I have about 9 K31's as well as the older long rifles and the K11.

A side note, I will be selling off about 4-5 of the K31's within the next 30 days here in Sacramento on Calguns. Im thinning my collection down and I've been selling off the Mosins first. They will be FTF cash and carry, so if you don't get one yet, watch the Marketplace here for them.

[kouye]

Okay. So I set up my K31 according to swissrifles.com site and I'll tune the rear tang screw while I'm at the range. We'll see if it makes a difference.

[Varg Vikernes]

$330 is definatly a good price depending on the condition. They probably go for $400+ now right?

[CEDaytonaRydr]

For $330, you should buy it. That was a decent price before this latest "craze". My K31 is "hands down" the best C&R rifle (in terms of accuracy) that I own.

[Guisan]

Okay. So I set up my K31 according to swissrifles.com site and I'll tune the rear tang screw while I'm at the range. We'll see if it makes a difference.

Better don't do that, it can cause cracks in the trigger assembly housing. First the front screw dead tight and second the tang screw.

When playing with the tang screw is reducing your group size there is something wrong with the bedding at the front end of the receiver. To adjust the front end height of the receiver the Swiss use shims that come in four thickness sizes and they are inside the stock at the spot where the front receiver screw enters. Adjusting is done by taking out or adding shims.

Remember that these rifles are 60 or more years old and so is the wood of the stocks, wood tends to work and deform over the years and that makes a re-adjustment pretty normal.

[Divernhunter]

School is in session:
Great rifles that shoot very well.
On average the most accurate mil surplus rifle. Fun to shoot. Graff has ammo/brass for them.
Price has gone up if that is a deal. I paid $99 for mine and it looks new.
Look under buttplate to see if the guy issued the rifle put his info there on a piece of paper. Some did some did not.

School dismissed so take it shooting.

[kouye]

Better don't do that, it can cause cracks in the trigger assembly housing. First the front screw dead tight and second the tang screw.

When playing with the tang screw is reducing your group size there is something wrong with the bedding at the front end of the receiver. To adjust the front end height of the receiver the Swiss use shims that come in four thickness sizes and they are inside the stock at the spot where the front receiver screw enters. Adjusting is done by taking out or adding shims.

Remember that these rifles are 60 or more years old and so is the wood of the stocks, wood tends to work and deform over the years and that makes a re-adjustment pretty normal.

Okay. I was worried about cracking the stock with a loose rear screw.

I did something a bit different a few weeks ago. I put a 0.005" shim under the tang as the action rocked back a little when the screws were tightened down without it and the muzzle raised off of the front of the stock. With the shim, it was seated and the groups were better but still not what I was expecting. I tried a 0.010" shim and it did not improve and even got a little worse.

Perhaps I'll try to work with the front shim instead. I have various thicknesses of brass I can try.


BTW - This is what I was going to try. http://www.swissrifles.com/sr/pierre/accurizing.html

[Latigo]

Ok. Sorry to hijack my Son's name and password, but he directed me to this one. Little time available for me right now so I'll make it short.
Guisan is right about that possibility. We've done this on a very large number of rifles as have many many other SRDC members without that happening. Can it happen? Of course. They're very old rifles, and metals can crystallize with time. Every rifle in the armoury has had this process performed, and the accuracy immediately improved. Two schools of thought. Drop the stock and look at the contact point.
Your rifle.... your decision.

P

[Justintoxicated]

I like mine, but my shoulder does not. I keep wanting to fix my stock too. Not so far as to sand it down, but I'm torn between cleaning it and leaving it. Every time I think about cleaning it up everyone says it will diminish its value. Since it is wood and I feel like it should be re-sealed at some point to avoid it from drying out too much? Especially any areas where the the finish has worn off? Seems like im damned if I do and damned if I don't.