The K31
If I had to choose one rifle to keep, this would be the one.
I shot 50 rounds through this rifle today, and every time the steel buttstock hit my shoulder, I grinned.
I’m inordinately pleased.
The barrel was warm for a long time. I held it by the upper handguard and felt the warmth for what seemed like an hour.
Wow.
I’ve loved this rifle since I got it- but I love it ever so much more now.
10 comments Og | Uncategorized
That’s a serious endorsement.
Any chance of new pics of the fine K31?
soon.
Ahhh, the Swiss…
I have a predecessor to the K-31, a Model 1911 long rifle. Bought it back in the late ’80s at a gunshow back when California was still a Free State. Shoots superbly, though gads is it LOooONG and Heavy.
There were always a few K-31 rifles in the country, but they were rare and went for a great deal of $ until the wave of surplus ones hit back in ’99.
That’s when I bought what I call old “666.”
I call it that because 666 are the last three numbers in the rifle’s serial number.
It too shoots superbly.
Last, I found that the popular 168-grain Hollow Point Boat Tail Match projectile is perfect for relaoding the 7.5X55. It’s very close both in mass and aerodynamics to the slug the military load uses. (And the RUUAG surplus ammo ain’t gonna be available forever!)
I always wanted one – they are the ones with the funny bolt action on them, right? I was going to buy one once but it was chambered in a weird 7.5mm calibre and ammo for it would have been a pain. I don’t think you could even reload for them back then because nobody sold brass or bullets for it.
I want to see a picture of your prize rifle too young fella.
Bulets are 7.62. The swiss measured the lands, not the grooves. Ammo is more common all the time. Wolf, prvi partisan.
7.5X55MM Schmidt Rubin has been available in the US since at least circa 1970. Admittedly it was only available as the rather $ Norma, but it was available.
More, the Norma 7.5X55 was boxer primed and as such perfectly reloadable.
In fact when I bought the first 1911 in the ’80s Norma was the only 7.5X55 available even then. I reloaded that one bax at least seven times, before I hit the proverbial jackpot and found about 400 rounds of Norma new factory unloaded brass at a gunshow. Twenty years later and I’m still just using that brass.
Last, 7.5X55 is no more difficult to reload than is .308 or .30/06.
The Norma Brass is the good stuff, that’s for sure. That said, I’ve found the Swiss GP11 to be an amazingly accurate round. It’s like competition ammo in surplus milspec clothing. The brass is nice, too (if you have some extra, let me know! I’ve got a few thousand berdan primers to reprime them with. It’s a pain decapping, though.)
If you’re a member of Sportsman’s guide, you can get 480 rounds of GP11 and pay out over 4 months. Takes a bit of the sting out of the cost (about .50/round) when you spread it out.
The last RWVA shoot I attended had a former Marine who shot expert on the AQT with the K31. I brought one as a backup for my Garand, and lent him my magazine as a spare. It’s a timed shoot, and he was working the bolt like a pro.
PS> I’ll send you up a half-dozen or so chargers for your K-31, gratis even, if you’d like. I think I even have an old leather swiss pouch to send with them.
To Mr. Jim Delahanty
Way cool! A fellow reloader who has ventured forth into the hostile regions of reloading Berdan primed cases.
I have reloaded 7.5X55 Berdan cases. I got some with a batch of odd stuff at a gunshow back circa 1990. I sort of thought that if I ever hunted with one of the Swiss rifles (and I have another, an 89/11 that was sportsterized) I might want to use more expendable cases.
Wish there was still some source of Berdan primers.
The Old Western Scrounger used to carry the superb RWS Berdan primers, but no more, especially since they got engulfed corporate.
Jim:
I’ll gladly swap you some Berdan primed brass for stripper clips. Email me at mhardig -at- aol -dot- com and we’ll hook up.
Actually, i’d love to get my hands on some berdan primers, but hey.
Way to go. Secret’s out on the blogosphere and the market’s REALLY gonna dry up. they are truly impressive for both accuracy and speed. (No wonder Willhelm Tell’s a national hero, if he could have linked up with Andreas Hoffer it would be a different Alps.) Fuckme, would you invade a country that had a K31 that the owner had to qualify with in every bootroom ?
Not that I don’t feel safe or anything.