Oh my gosh.. the K31!

[kawasakifreak77]

Seriously. I feel like the kid that didn't get invited to the party..

So I ordered a Swiss K31 & a brick of ammo after reading so many articles about it's finess. Only reason I was leary before was since they're so funny lookin'

I just got back from abusing my shoulder quite a bit, otherwise known as 'the range' & man I am seriously impressed. I'm no Hathcock by any means & managed several sub 2" groups at 100m with stock irons & GP11.

I've shot just about all the major powers WW era bolt guns through my life (Mausers, Arisakas, Enfields, Mosins, Springfields, Carcanos, Eddiestone & even a Ross rifle & a Lebel carbine)

I had come to the conclusion that the sweet little Swedish Mauser was the creme de la creme of the war era boltguns with the Springfield or Eddiestone coming in a close second. I'm having a custom 1919 Gustav built now with a Shilen barrel & helped dad put meat on the table with a Springfield by the ripe age of 13.. stickin' gun was as big as me!

But man, this Ruben is NICE. Between a good 30 caliber punch, detachable mag, the speed of a straight pull & the side mounted sling I am sold! Then being able to order crates of match grade ammo for 50 cents a pop...

Which brings me to a few questions..

What do you do with the GP11 brass? I'm an avid reloader & it seems like such a waste to toss this stuff. Are berdan cases worth keeping around?

I read the 7.5 dies size the cases a wee bit small, as one of the earlier rifles had a smaller chamber?

For pete's freakin' sake where can I get an extra magazine?

I'm debating now on just ordering a boatload of GP11 or gettings dies & brass. I dunno if I could make a load this good. But man I sure wouldn't mind to tone the recoil down a bit & it hits about 5" high anyways.

Lemme know what ya'll think, thanks.

-Ray.

[mrrch]

The cases can be reloaded but the primers may be hard to find.
I have some reloaded rounds waiting for warmer weather to be tried out.
I was impressed the same way after an afternoon of shooting my new K31 and GP11 ammo last fall.
Sweet shooter for sure.
If you don't reload the brass save it for me ��

[mrrch]

Walnut or beech stock?
I picked out a nice walnut stocked one.

[bouncer50]

I and a few friends use Lee dies to reload the Swiss. Buy some brass in the long run it cheaper to reload. I got a few inch and a half groups with mine. Why extra magazine just buy some stripper clips. With the right load you can match or beat factory ammo.

[leadman]

Spare magazines are scarce and expensive. The Lee dies work fine for my K-31s.
Somwhere here there is a sticky on how to convert berdan primers to boxer. I believe Graf & Sons may have the berdan primers, along with powder Valley.
If you don't want to convert or load them sell them on this site as somone will probably want them.
Graf & Sons does sell the brass but don't know the stock status right now. One can load 284 Winchester brass also.

[koehlerrk]

PRVI Partizan, also sold as Wolf Gold Line, is good ammo with great brass. Have a bunch of it, I've adjusted my dies to "just fit" the brass to the chamber, and I anneal the necks every 5 reloads. Result? I have brass that's working up to nearly 30 reloads and still going strong.

Bug-boos - watch your sizing of brass as you do not have a lot of camming power, so brass must be full length sized for smooth operation. However, you can stop at the point where it just slides in reliably.... no need to squish it down any more than that. The other big one is don't hot-rod it... they were specced out at 3200 BAR with a copper crusher. That has been verified to be 3800 BAR on a chamber transducer, or, in American, 55,000 psi. Folks often try to use 308 Winchester or 30-06 loads in this case and have problems because those two run all the way to 62,000 psi and 60,200 psi respectively.

http://theswissriflesdotcommessagebo...om/topic/10355

I load mine relatively light, 150gr Sierra Gameking with Varget, and it pops out of the barrel at 2600 fps... more than enough for NY white tails, and it will give honest 3/4 moa groups all day long. Chamber pressure for that load is in the 42,000 range, so plenty safe, and it doesn't beat on the rifle or the brass, or the shooter.

http://theswissriflesdotcommessagebo...55.html?page=2

Check out the Swiss Rifles forum... tons of info on these old guns out there.

Enjoy it, those guns are real gems.

[1johnlb]

I disagree with the FL sizing, especially if your shooting cast bullet loads. If your shooting full power, I FL resize every other loading, but for cast pressures I only neck size with absolutely no problems and full length after annealing the brass.
I'm on my 5th k31 and with 1 k11 and 1 g1911 under my belt, I'm hooked. The k31 is my favorite milsurp hands down for fun and only 2 imports can compare for accuracy, the swede and the Finnish Mosin but these get just boring sometimes. The k31 is always a blast to shoot. I've had my best loads with the Lee 155 but if your rifle has a tight throat, it will have chambering difficulty.
Congrats on the k31

[Baron von Trollwhack]

excess650 is right about using quality K-31 dies. Both correct loaded case fit and correct bullet seating depth are required. These guns have first class chambers, throats, and barrels.

BvT

[JMtoolman]

Find a Berdan decapper from RCBS, and some Berdan primers and reload away. The brass is some of the best you could find, hold the case upside down and deprime. I use my padded vice to hold the bullet seating die, just drop the case in and deprime. Works good with few lost cases. I had to slightly open up a shell head holder and primer cup to hold the Berdan primers, but that is not a big deal. Good guns, shot deer and elk with mine. The toolman.

[leebuilder]

Hi Kawasakifreak. My cousin experienced some problems with his dies. The were specific to the K11 and the were some feeding problems when he used the reloaded ammo in his K31. With a bit of reshearch he was able to make them work. There is a slight difference.
They are very accurate once dailed in!!!

[kawasakifreak77]

Okie dokie thanks for all the replies!

I think I'm gonna pop for the Hornady K31 specific dies.

Gotta have brass first though so I just ordered a pile of PRVI.

I'll hang on to the Berdan cases. Once I have a little pile I'll polish them up & auction them off here.

That's a bummer about extra mags. Might just buy another for the mag!

I might thread it for my silencer.. Seems like it'd be a great host.

Oh it's in a Beech stock that got just the right amount of 'character'

[1johnlb]

The k31 definitely has a larger chamber tolerance for dirty operating conditions, just remember that k31 die won't work on the older Schmidt rifles.

Sounds like your off to a good start.

[Adam Helmer]

Kawasaki,

I would stick with the magazine serially numbered to your K31. A spare mag will run about $50+, if you can find one and it may not feed reliably in your rifle. The Swiss use a neat six-round charger clip that fully encloses the ammo and is made of heavy mill board with metal edge that fits the charger guide on the rifle. I got a dozen charger clips a while back for $10.

I like the Swiss Schmidt-Rubin; I got my first, a M1889 Rifle, in 1961 for $14.50. The M1889 is historically significant, but has a less than .308" bore. I have the M1911 Karbine, M1911 Gewehr and the K-31.

Adam

[VintageRifle]

I use a Lee collet sizing die for one of my K31s that I shoot light loads in. Last count was 7 reloadings before I had to full length size again. Using full power loads, a full length sizing was required each time for the same rifle.

You will like the K31.

[A pause for the COZ]

Dang it!!! Now I am gona have to buy one O these....

[alamogunr]

Berdan primers available here:

http://www.dagammo.com/shop/non-corr...mers-p-47.html

[kawasakifreak77]

I'll look into the chargers. I was just thinking it'd be nice to have a spare mag in case I ever lose the one.

For now I'm going to go with mostly full power Jword loads. But will start experimenting with making subs once I have a source of reloadable brass & dies come in.

[VintageRifle]

Load the magazine from the top while still I the rifle. It does not have to be removed to load it.

[skeet1]

kawasakifreak77
Powder Valley has Privi Partisan brass for $46.45 per 100 http://www.powdervalleyinc.com/

Ken

[rondog]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfGTvWNI43s