Re-Barreling/Re-Chambering my K31 Swiss

[gzig5]

That'll do nicely, congrats. Looks like you have a sweet spot between 45.5 and 45.8. Think I'd split that difference and run with it.

[HollowPoint]

I was thinking along those same lines. If these weren't on the lower end of the powder charge weight I'd probably do just that. I want to test the high end of the powder charge weights to see if any of those higher velocity charge weights will give me similar patterns before I fall back on the 45.5-45.8 grain charge weights though.

I don't consider my self as a velocity or speed freak when it comes to how my bullets fly. Rather, I'd like the highest velocity possible that will give me the tightest groups. I hope I'm describing that correctly.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

Here's a couple more pics showing the Pre-Flattened primers I mentioned earlier. The upper row of seated primers were installed using my Forster Coaxial loading press.

I wasn't able to get the right camera angle to show just how Pre-Flattened they really were. They worked reliably enough, it's just that "Flattened Primers" are one of the main indicators of having too high of a pressure for a given cartridge. This lead to some concern on my part. As it turns out, the low power loads were just that; Low Power-Low Pressure loads.

Until I realized that I had been Pre-Flattening them myself when I seated them, I thought that something had gone haywire in my loading routine.

The other photo is a grainy image I took with my cell phone camera. I wanted you to see how she looks during my Load work up.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

It's been a while since posting anything on this topic. I've been to the shooting range a few times. I'm still working up loads. Virtually every time I've gone I've gotten more than a few MOA or better groups. The problem I've encountered is that when I've gone back to confirm my Sub-MOA loads were not a fluke, I've been met with different results.

Those different results were in the form of Sub-MOA groups from powder charges that were previously giving me just Decent-Groups and Decent-Groups from the loads that had just given me Sub-MOA groups. I can tell this rifle wants to shoot and I know this rifle will do better. I've even tried shooting off of a hands-free rifle rest with a remote trigger switch just to take my self and all of my shooting imperfections out of the equation. The results have been nearly the same. You can't imagine the frustration here; or maybe you can.

A few days ago I was loading up what I hope will be the last of my loads before turning my attentions to cast lead bullets for this newly re-chambered rifle. I was loading the last of the four highest powder charges which will bring me to the listed maximum loads for the 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser cartridge. As luck would have it, one of my loaded rounds happened to tip over while I had it standing on my work bench. I caught it before it rolled off the table but I noticed as it rolled that the tip of the seated bullet was wobbling up and down like crazy. It had massive runout. All this time I'd assumed that my bullets were being seated concentrically.

By the time I found this out I had already reloaded about 40 rounds. When I did the roll-test on the other thirty-nine rounds I found that virtually everyone of them had varying amounts of runout. A light bulb went on in my head. This might very well be what's causing my groups on target to vary from just Decent to Sub-MOA when testing and re-testing the loads I've been working up. The combination of these long skinny-A$$ 6.5mm bullets in conjunction with the Lee budget reloading dies I've been using seemed to have thrown a monkey wrench into my reloading regimen.

I took all of those loaded rounds back apart and re-did them. This time when I was seating the bullets I initially seated them very shallow, then I'd spin the cartridge in the shell holder about an 1/8 of a turn, seat a little more then spin the cartridge another 1/8 of a turn more until I reached my desired overall length. It took a long time but when I Roll-Tested them again there was no longer any perceivable runout. Now I'm anxious to get to the range again to see if this runout was the culprit behind the variance in my target grouping.

I titled this post "One Last Mod" because as I get into the higher powder charges the cycling of my bolt appears to be getting ever so slightly stiffer. The bolt still cycles as it should but, I can feel just a tad more initial resistance just before the fired brass releases its grip on the walls of my chamber. With this in mind I decided to reconfigure my Charge-Handle and incorporate a flip-out lever that will act as a sort of cam at the rear of my receiver. That flip-out lever will effectively facilitate the breaking of that grip of the fired brass against the walls of the chamber and it will also mitigate the distance that factory bolt knob sticks out the right side of the receiver. From the factory, the K31's bolt handle sticks out the right side about an inch and a quarter when measured from the right face of the receiver. This reconfigured Charge-Handle will bring it in a little tighter in to the receiver.

I've already milled a mockup out of 1018 steel just as a proof of concept sort of thing and it cycles and functions as I'd hoped. Even though the Charge-Handle is not a "Load-Bearing" part (for lack of a better description) I think that 1018 steel is a bit to soft for this application so I'll be making the flat part of my Charge-Handle out of 304 stainless. The actual spring loaded lever that flips outward and retracts automatically will be made of 1018 steel; possibly even aluminum. I haven't decided on that part yet. Right now I'm just waiting on some free time to come up. My 304 stainless metal stock is already in place on my mill and the G-Code is already loaded into my mill's computer. It's just a matter of finding the time to machine the part.

It's kind of hard to picture in one's mind what I'm talking about. I'll post a few pics once I've got it done. For those of you non-purists K31 fans, I think you're going to like it.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

I hate not having the free time to follow my dreams; even if my dreams are just 1-Off-Dreams.

Here are a few pics that show the reconfigured K31 Charge-Handle I mentioned in my previous post. Since reaching this stage of this project I've figured out several different ways I could have gone about this that would have improved the form and function of my custom made K31 Charge-Handle.

This means that the images here are just the latest prototypes until I get to what I really want out of this K31 mod. I'm hoping these pics are enough to give you all an idea of what I'm trying to accomplish here. Thanks for your patience.

I wish I was retired and could afford to just tinker away at will. I have a million ideas and not enough time in the day to tackle even one or two at a time. I'll keep praying for that day that I'm able to retire in good health with the financial stability to make it all happen.

In the mean time, here are those pics. The further tweaks will basically be limited to the Flip-Out Lever. All components shown here were photographed about a day after taking them from my mill. As you can see, they are still In-The-White and un-polished. I plan to both cold-blue the 1018-Steel Flip-Out Lever and then powder coat it black. The flat part of the Charge-Handle will just be polished Stainless steel.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

It's still a work in progress but, I finally got the Flip-Lever I've been working on done for now. I most likely will make one last tweak to it before calling it done. I'm going to run it as it is until I can get some more free time to play around with it both in my CAD/CAM software and on my milling machine.

Here are a few more pics to give you a better idea what I'm getting at. I've tested it and it works perfectly; as far as I'm concerned. I still have yet to make it to the shooting range to test my latest batch of loads. I'll be doing that testing before I do any more tweaking to my Flip-Lever. It's just a matter of finding the time. These pics include images of my previous prototype and my latest prototype so the wording on some of the pictures may be a little confusing.


HollowPoint

[Blackwater]

HP, FWIW if anything, people today seem to have become victims of "group think," and it's nice to see someone step out into the unknown, with little more than an intention. This is the kind of spirit on which this country was built, and it'll always be valuable wherever it's found and flourishes. One never knows what they'll learn until they give it serious effort. And with a little judgment, it'll usually turn out very well to great. It's that little "judgment" thing that is always the joker in the deck. You seem to have pretty well taken care of that with all your research and measuring.

I've seen some folks do this type of thing the way you're going about it, and they always came up with good results provided they simply didn't get in a hurry and start "assuming" things before they do their due diligence. I can't wait to see your results, and read the story of your journey. It's kind'a like the journey of Ulysses. There were sirens and cyclops along his way too, but he cut them every one down to size and came out victorious. Looks to me like you'll do the same. It's so often just a matter of willingness and having the time to do it all. Pros these days have to make a living, and they do that by doing what they're familiar with. New stuff takes time to think through, and nobody wants to pay them to do all that thinking and measuring, etc, so they tend to pan such efforts. But as a way to learn guns and gunsmithing and machining, etc. it's one FINE way to do that! PO Ackley's students used to be given things to do and problems to solve as a simple opportunity to learn to think quickly, accurately and usefully. One of the things I've heard he'd do with his metal working students is to give them all a piece of scrap steel of some kind and varied shapes, and tell them to make it into a 1" cube with dead on perpendicular sides, and they had to do it all with hand tools. No machines or power tools allowed. They all hated this exercise, I'm told, but it forced them to learn to think things through and get a harmonious result, and also helped show them the real practicality of hand tools as well, when used with attention, skill and focus. Only years later did most allegedly appreciate Ackley's tougher assignments. The old man was always thinking. Even his enemies would have had to give him that!

I'll be looking for your results and the attendant story. Thanks for posting it here. I suspect all the naysayers will probably be saying "Darn! I didn't realize it could be done like that!" FWIW?

[HollowPoint]

Thanks for the kind word Blackwater:

I found that most of the "Naysayers" kind of went silent about half way through this project. I did get some negatively opinionated replies from those professing to be military surplus rifle "Purists" but, for the most part the vast majority of the folks who have taken the time to post any comments have been positive.

Some have even contacted me via email asking for pointers. It makes for kind of an awkward situation cause I'm not a qualified gunsmith or anything like that. I'm just a home tinkerer that couldn't afford to have this work done by a real gunsmith.

I figure that this K31 project will be completely finished about the time that our Arizona weather starts to cool down a bit. I'll be able to take it out in the field then; maybe coyote hunting just for the heck of it. After that I'll start looking for some cast bullet loads.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

Last week I got a little free time in between jobs. It's those moments of time I spend waiting for incoming customers to show up for their appointments or waiting for those same customers to pick up their cars.

Anyway, I still had that spare K31 Charge-Handle that I had originally intended to alter to fit my dreams of a Flip-Out type of charge-handle. My original Charge-Handle was now in storage because I've been running the stainless steel one I'd made a couple of weeks back.

I decided to use this small amount of free time to go ahead and alter the spare factory Charge-Handle just to see if it could be done without any milling involved.

I removed the bolt-knobs and proceeded to cut off the part that held the bolt-knobs in place. After a little shaping to fit, I then welded that part I'd cut off, back onto the rear most part of the Charge-Handle. I never did find out exactly what type of metal was used in the making of the factory Charge-Handle so, I figured if it couldn't be effectively welded and I ruined it, it was not to great of a loss.

I'm happy to report that it took all of 20 minutes or so to complete. The weld appears to be a strong one so it should not break any time soon. No machining necessary, except for the die-grinder I used to actually cut off that part of the Charge-Handle that I welded in a different position to get what I was after. Counting the time it took me to research the metal type, research the milling of different metals and then actually milling my replacement metal of choice. I think that the stainless steel Charge-Handle I made took close to two months until I got a good usable stainless charge handle; made from scratch.

Now, in only twenty minutes I had a fully functional altered factory charge handle that required no finessing to get to work. Live and learn.

I did have to make a new Flip-Out-Lever but, this time I made the main body out of aluminum; piece of cake. The under side I made from a piece of 4140 steel I had in my junk box; and the pivoting cam-arm was made from a piece of 1/4" copper rod I had laying around. I used copper deliberately because I didn't want it to mar the reciever were it made contact as it cam'd open the bolt. And get this; this time around I used only my little Harbor-Freight mini mill to do the shaping of my Flip-Out-Lever. The remainder was done with files. I could have made the hole thing with hand files but I only had a little free time to work with.

The hardest part of making this new iteration of my Flip-Out K31 Charge-Handle was winding the little spring that would return the Flip-Handle back to its resting position against the receiver. I'm not kidding, I must have made at least two dozen attempts at getting that little spring just right before I came to the right configuration.

Anyhow, I got it done. I took several pics of my progress. I just have to edit them for posting.

One other thing; I just took delivery of my new Tikka T3 chambered in the same 6.5x55 caliber. I mention this because I needed a good scope for this new Tikka so I removed the one I had on my K31 and now my K31 is running with peep sights. I had already made a Globe-Front-Sight for it. Now I'm in the process of making an adjustable receiver mounted peep sight for the rear. I'm gearing up to start testing cast bullets out of my K31 so I want to get these new sights done for that reason.

I have an inbound Lyman bullet mold that I'll use as my cast bullet testing platform. I was able to get the 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets consistently down to just under MOA in my 6.5x55 chambered K31. I'm hoping for the bestwith cast lead.

I'll be back after I've edited the pics I mentioned.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

If this is true, the following group of seven new pics should mean that you don't have to spend to much of your valuable time reading more of my ramblings.

The home made peep sight is a bit on the bulky side compared to store bought units but, no matter. It works for me; and it was free.

HollowPoint

[samari46]

Been following your journey from the first post. I am amazed at both your photography and machining skills. Had to look twice at the rear sight and yep sure a pretty piece of work. Now all you have to do is convert your rifle to semi auto and you will be done. Kidding at the last part but fine skills. Frank

[HollowPoint]

Thanks for the kind word samari46;

I don't know about a semi-auto but I have had thoughts of making one into a pump-action. The K31 action is not to far off from a pump action shotgun's action so it's not beyond the realm of possibility.

I've mentioned before in other posts of my wanting to do another K31 project. Next time I'd attempt a 6.5x284 chambering but, every time I've managed to come close to saving up the money to do so, life tends to dump a more pressing matter on me that requires the use of those saved up funds.

I'm still waiting on my Lyman 6.5mm bullet mold to show up. It's taking longer than I'd like because I wasn't told at the time I put my money down that it was not in stock. It was on back order. I didn't want to cancel my order cause I got a good deal on it compared to the going rate for the same 150 grain mold on other websites. It should be here next week some time. Then I can see what my K31 can do with cast bullets.

I was glad to read a post from another member here. I've noticed the number of views this project thread has received to date and it makes me wonder who all these folks are. It's rare that anyone will post a comment either negative or positive. I wonder if they are guys who have thoughts of re-working their own K31's or if they're just bored so they click on this project just to see how it's coming along.

In the grand scheme of things it's not really important. I'm just glad I'm not the only one who likes this kind of stuff.

HollowPoint

[samari46]

Well you did this build right even with the do overs. excellent photos, your inclusion of captions in your thumbnail photos, easy to follow writing style and you are working on a rifle that up until about 5-6 years ago many of us had either never seen one or shot one. Everytime the big boat of happyness shows up with the swiss made GP11 gives all of us to see what these rifles can do in the accuracy department. Frank

[EDG]

No not silent. They just quit coming back.
Since you seemed to want to talk down to at commenters I think many of them decided to ignore this.

Thanks for the kind word Blackwater:

I found that most of the "Naysayers" kind of went silent about half way through this project. I did get some negatively opinionated replies from those professing to be military surplus rifle "Purists" but, for the most part the vast majority of the folks who have taken the time to post any comments have been positive.

Some have even contacted me via email asking for pointers. It makes for kind of an awkward situation cause I'm not a qualified gunsmith or anything like that. I'm just a home tinkerer that couldn't afford to have this work done by a real gunsmith.

I figure that this K31 project will be completely finished about the time that our Arizona weather starts to cool down a bit. I'll be able to take it out in the field then; maybe coyote hunting just for the heck of it. After that I'll start looking for some cast bullet loads.

HollowPoint

[Artful]

Pump gun? really?

If I were to offer any thoughts about mod's to K-31 it would be

http://theswissriflesdotcommessagebo...r#.WAhZSdQrK9I

[M-Tecs]

Pump gun? really?

If I were to offer any thoughts about mod's to K-31 it would be

http://theswissriflesdotcommessagebo...r#.WAhZSdQrK9I

Never knew about this one. Ugly but very cool

[Jniedbalski]

Great build. I also have a k31 and love it. It's one I won't get rid of any time soon. I thank the reason most don't reply it's because this project is way above what the home gun smith can do. I rember when they first imported them. They where only 69$ ffl price. I didint get one until a few years later for 200$ but I know should of bought more

[HollowPoint]

No not silent. They just quit coming back.
Since you seemed to want to talk down to at commenters I think many of them decided to ignore this.

Hi EDG:

If you were one of those who felt talked down to I hope you will accept my apology. It was never my intent to talk down to anyone.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

Pump gun? really?

If I were to offer any thoughts about mod's to K-31 it would be

http://theswissriflesdotcommessagebo...r#.WAhZSdQrK9I

In the back of my mind I knew it would be possible. I actually had more of a shotgun-type of pump action in mind but this just confirms the possibility. The way I've dreamed of doing it would require the fabrication of custom stock with the linkage to cycle the action running along the side of the stock within some milled slots.

The K31 in the photo appears to be a bull-pup configuration with a secondary cocking lever up front. It looks like it weighs a ton but still, the thought that went into it is commendable.

HollowPoint

[samari46]

HollowPoint, just in case you don't know me by my handle it was Frank46 but the old computer crashed and decided to go with a new handle and password. I've now written down all the websites I go to with handles and passwords, at 70 sometimes the old brain cells don't function as well as they used too. Frank