How does the M24/47 compare to the K31

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Bigoledude

New member
I am trying to decide which old rifle to buy. It has come down to the K31 or the M24/47. The K31 sure looks weird. Nice weird though.

I'm not really interested in the value added by being unusual in design. I would just like to buy the one that is the best all-around shooter. Both rifles are advertised with bores rated as NRA "very good" to "like new".

I am not gonna be able to go shooting or hunting much longer. I'd just like one good-ole gun to finish-up with.

Is the quality of M24/47 comparable to the German Mauser's?
Is the K31 worth the extra $100 dollars?
 
Given your requirements I'd say go with the K31. The only downside is ammunition expense/availability.

Probably the biggest advantage of the 8mm (Model 24/47) is that there's still some cheap corrosive surplus floating around.
 
If hunting is the purpose, finding 7.5 Swiss softpoint ammo could be an issue; they don't carry it at the local Gander Mountain, f'rinstance.

The K-31 is by far the more accurate of the two, however.
 
You can't go wrong either way. I own both but prefer the Mauser action. Both guns accuracy is limited by my shooting ability. As was stated above, 8mm should be the easier round to find locally.
 
I own a k31. It was my first C&R. I love it. I have no problem saying it is the most accurate, easiest to operate, best finished rifle I own(except for the stock which has more character than any rifle I own). The recoil is supremely soft. The straight pull bolt is like briefs lined with rabbits fur.

The ammo is expensive. There are no more in Swiss warehouses. Parts are going to start drying up. I don't shoot mine very much at all. I mostly let people take a few shots with it.
Ammo is a little less than $.50, if the gun goes down and you may be looking at buying an entire new rifle for parts. I doubt this would be a problem, but I would hate to read a post about how your last great rifle doesn't work and you had to take up fishing.
I don't think the $100 compares to the difference in ammo cost. If it was just $100 I would definitely say the k31.
 
K31

.

The K31 is the rifleman's rifle of the milsurp world.

The Swiss cannot help themselves and built a
target rifle disguised as a service rifle. The long
and deep Swiss culture of fine craftsmanship and
firearm technology come together in the K31.

Wonderful rifles. I have done much target work with
them and also hunting. I also invested in them
when they were even more ridiculously priced than
they are now. They are still at bargain prices.

K31 kudos profile --

1. Shoots standard 30 caliber bullets, brass readily available
2. Very easily, cheaply, and effectively scoped
3. Virtually all have excellent bores and crowns
4. Most are very accurate
5. All have excellent triggers
6. They have very good iron sights
7. Superb build quality
8. Handles well
9. Nice diopter sight sets available for the K31
10. The 7.5x55 is a superbly balanced and inherently accurate cartridge

I also have a couple of Yugo M24/47's. They are fine rifles
at a modest cost. But the K31 is in another class. Same class
as the M96 Swedish Mauser in respect to quality, accuracy, etc.
It is not by accident that more and more you see these two rifles pitted
against one another at military rifle matches.

dxr


P.S. JW062 is mistaken about the "shortage" of GP11. It is readily
available at this time and there is plenty in Swiss warehouses.
The last GP11 to be loaded was vintage 1995. The vintage showing
up here now is 1978. We are a long way from running out of GP11.
If anything, 8x57 surplus is the cartridge that is drying up.

If any military service ammunition can be described as "match grade" it
is GP11. Considering the quality it is not expensive.



House-of-K31-2.jpg


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GP11-bullet-1.jpg
 
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Doctor, how do you remember which k31 you were shooting last? It must be a chore to work up handloads for all those :D
 
K-31s and 24/47 are both good rifles but i think a M39 would be a good compromise. Lots of parts, plenty of ammo (surplus, hunting) and very accurate.

Mike 56
 
I would go with either, but the 24/47 has an intermediate action, so standard Mauser parts will not fit. Im not sure about the K31 parts on the market, I never looked.
 
I have both of these rifles, and to me, the K31 is the better rifle, both from quality of tooling and construction, and for accuracy. The 7.5mm Swiss round is readily available from online dealers. Cabela's stocks the round in the Hornady loading. Prvi Partisan also makes the round, it's available online at a good price, and the brass is boxer-primed and reloadable.

8mm Mauser ammo, the cheap surplus is gone. Prvi Partisan makes 8mm Mauser in boxer-priming, also, about the same cost as the 7.5mm Swiss. The days of cheap ammo are over, it's not going to come back, unless it's 7.62x54R.

If cost of the ammo is a concern, both are about equal in commercial loadings. There is more surplus Swiss GP11 ammo available than there is surplus 8mm Mauser, even including the recent Iranian trash that's on the market.
 
K31 by a mile.
K2501.jpg


I have multiples of both Swiss and Mausers, the K31is like a Swiss watch. Good supply of GP11 ammo around and it's match grade.
 
I tried handloading for the K-31 with the venerable 175 SMK's...
Couldn't do any better than the GP-11 ammo...it's amazing stuff.

And at .50 round, I can't handload match ammo any cheaper (especially these days).
 
Jeez, I guess I didn't subscribe to this and missed Docs replay. I just stopped my entire household to show everyone the picture of that safe. Filled with Envy.

The GP11 is CHEAP for match ammo, but if you just want some normal stuff there isn't anything available.
My comment that there are no more in Swiss warehouses related to the rifles and the following sentences about parts. Not a concern if you have a safe full of THIRTY rifles.
 
I'm a huge fan of Mausers. But given the two choices, K-31. I have one and they're as good as people say they are. I dropped mine into a modern stock, easy to do and didn't require modifying the rifle so it can go back to it's original military config.
 
Graf & Sons has Swiss parts. About the only spare I would think you would need would be a striker and spring.

Spare parts bag for ZFK55, the 55 parts are different than the K31.

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sniper33.jpg

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k31trigadj.gif
 
Does anybody have info indicating (or suggesting) that being in western Europe, though it's officially neutral, Swiss GP-11 ammo is, or will be banned from export to the US?

I hope that the Swiss govt. doesn't cave in to pressure from any UN group or those Brit/Euro "arms control" groups, which use taxpayer funds to pay countries to destroy even surplus bolt-action rifles (i.e. Enfields etc) and their ammo.

Although Enfields are my favorite, I might consider a K-31 when the panic cools off a bit more.
I've read and heard that the 7.5 Swiss ammo can use most or all of our available .308 bullets.
 
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