K31 - Is "Love" too strong a word?

S

seanc

New member
I finally took my new to me K31 to the range today and I'm almost at a loss for words to describe how nice it was to shoot, both the accuracy and the gentle recoil impulse. Right now, I just have the stock iron sights, but after seeing what it's capable of, I plan on getting a scope mount someday. Shooting the mil-surp GP11, I had decent groups, this one was the best from 50 yards - for 6 shots, the high flyer was all me:

K31_2nd_grp.jpg


I also shot 4 rounds of PPU SP that gave about 1" group at 50 to the same POA/POI as the GP11, so I'm VERY happy about that. The only problem I had was when I went to 100 yards, I was vertical stringing mostly with 1 group that was fat instead of tall. All the 100 yard groups were about 3": that's the best my eyes could do at that distance: much larger bullseyes gave much larger groups, but the bullseyes had to be 3" for me to see them. I was also shooting a Mosin Nagant, and comparing the recoil impulse between them was like night and day. The K31 has a gentle nudge. Very easy to get back on target and chamber another round with the silky smooth straight pull action. What a sweetheart! :)

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Running that straight pull bolt is marvelous, isn't it?

My job had me in Middletown, Ohio a few years ago...home of AIM Surplus. I took the opportunity to go there and buy a k31. I think they were $139 at the time.
I put a Swiss Products clamp on scope mount and a 4-12x scope on it, and managed a 1" group at 100yds with GP11.
 
Before going to the hassles of mounting a scope on this rifle, try some longer range shooting with what's already there.
You may come to appreciate why the Swiss didn't bother with making most of them for scopes.
 
I know my K31 could outshoot me with ease. I love it too much in its original form to add a scope, though. I do have a Euro-sporterized K98 8mm Mauser with custom scope mount for longer shots.

GP11 is killer, and I've had great results with Hornady 150 and 168 gr ammo. Still need to try some Priv and Wolf Gold, which are both considerably cheaper.
 
The Swiss Products mount works with no alteration or damage to the rifle. I've shot my rifle plenty with irons.
 
The only problem I had was when I went to 100 yards, I was vertical stringing mostly
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that os probably you not the rifle

amazing for such an old gun and surplus ammo thou

would probably cost 5 times what you paid if it was manufatured today
 
I shot a couple friends K31s and they really got under my skin. Finding one to buy private party here in California is tough, they don't last long on classifieds. I do have one jailed now and will shoot it in 10 days.
 
since you have the K31, now try to find a 1911 and a K11, both are excellent shooters and are every bit as nice handling as the K31.
 
I have owned 7 of these. I bought them when they where cheap. I sold all but the worst looking one. For some reason it always has been the most accurate and the smoothest. I could be because it is also the newest of all of them. They are all very accurate. I would like to scope the one I keep to see how accurate it really is. I would think well under 1" at 100 yards considering it can do close to that with the original sights.

gentle recoil impulse
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I have found the k31 to have a good amount of recoil especially with the gp11. With my reloads not as much. To me it seems to be as bad as a 91/30 mosin. Not as bad as a M44 though. My 1903 seems to be a little better on the recoil.
 
g.willikers:
Before going to the hassles of mounting a scope on this rifle, try some longer range shooting with what's already there.
You may come to appreciate why the Swiss didn't bother with making most of them for scopes
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g.willikers & Husqvarna:
I was vertical stringing mostly
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I have a 50% astigmatism in my right eye, right eye dominant, right handed. When I go iron sights much beyond 70 yards, the vertical stringing kills anything called a "group" :D. Beyond that, I can barely see the target with my right eye at all, so there's not much to superimpose the sight picture with the target image from the left. It's definitely me. I was just glad I could do so well with this rifle, even if it was just 50 yards. I really like my scoped .22LR at 100 and would like to do the same with a .30 cal at longer distances, I just can't do that with the naked eye.


98 220 swift:
To me it seems to be as bad as a 91/30 mosin. Not as bad as a M44 though.
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Yep, my Moist Nugget is an M44. I have a nice Pachmayr recoil pad that I was swapping from one to the other. I went through about 100 rounds total and no sore shoulder (I had to cut it short for a weekend trip). The guy next to me was shooting his 91/30 and I let him shoot "that funny looking bolt action". I think I sold him on the K31 and the Pachmayr!
 
Chuckle, while the K31 is not the traditional looking military rifle from its era of military firearms, no doubt, its a darn good rifle. One I owned, made mistake of letting a fellow range member shoot it and ended up selling it to him. Like me, he marveled at the design of the K31, especially its action. After several times at range with the rifle shooting paper, he had to know just how well the rifle shot, so he installed a scope mount and put a decent scope on it.

Was with him first time he shot his scoped K31, mostly at a 100 yd target for groups. He was very happy with the groups. Mind you this gent hunts in Africa, is our shooting club president, and has quite a collection of very nice and accurate rifles. I will comment to him something to the effect, darn shame that K31 seems to be more accurate than most of your rifles. He looked at me, thought about my comment and then agreed with me, that it was more accurate than a lot of his rifles.
 
Totally agree with your opinion on the K31 rifles.
Mine gives me sub moa groups with my handloads using
PPU brass, 155 grain Sierra Palma bullets over 44.5 gr of IMR 4895.
a fairly mild load and very accurate.
 
I'm shooting my new to me '42 K31 on Friday. I feel like a kid counting down to Christmas.
I have 60 rounds of factory PPU and then I will reload with 168gr Hornady FMJ BT's.
 
Good luck, tomorrow, smarquez :).

I know how you feel. I had mine a couple months before I was finally able to get to the range, and even then, it was just for a couple hours. You're going to want more than 60 rounds!

Please update with your results. I'm curious to how the FMJ PPU groups, if they also go to POA. After I posted here, I realized that when I shot GP11 and then the PPU, the different powders might have thrown off my groups, even thought they appeared to group the same. Next time out, I'll have to just shoot the PPU at 50 and then 100 yards to get a "clean" dataset.

Reading other posts on TFL, the one thing that strikes me with these vintage rifles is: we don't have to season our barrels!!!
 
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