K31 swiss and more bullet questions.

[lead collector]

Good morning everyone,

I'm still fighting with my K-31 Swiss, just a little. I am actually getting pretty good accuracy, with the RCBS 30-165 SIL mold that I bought a few months ago. With 16.5 of 2400, I can usually keep 5 shots at or around 1.5 inches at 100 yards, with a 3 x 9 scope. Most of the time, I have a couple touching, and the a couple out a little bit, but over all I am pretty happy.
The struggle continues to be the hard seating into the chamber. I guess I was blessed with or cursed, depending on your perception, with a gun with little to no throat erosion.
Every bullet that I have tried is difficult to seat into the chamber. My k-11 closes on this same bullet really easy, and I am hoping to get the k31 to work the same.
The RCBS is the best so far, but when seated to the correct depth, I am engraving the rifling into the nose 2 - 3 thousands. If i seat down about .100 it goes in way better, but my accuracy suffers some.
I feel bad for slamming the bolt shut to close, and I fear that this will eventually have consequences.
Any ideas? I know there are methods of nose sizing, but I dont know how that works.. Can some one explain that process to me. Sorry to be ignorant of this procedure.. :)

Also, I could borrow an old Lyman .309- 334 mold, from a guy. Has not been used in many years, but looks like it would work. I hate to borrow anything, but the bullet profile looks a lot like my 30-165 and I wonder if the nose might be smaller? Do any or you guys have any knowledge of this bullet?
I think this is an obsolete mold design, and I had not heard of it, until he showed it to me.
Any thoughts would be appreciated..
LC.

[airone46]

credo che la palla RCBS non sia molto rastremata in punta. penso vada meglio il Lee STAMPO DC CTL312-160-2R
(google traslator)
I think the RCBS bullet is not very tapered at the tip. I think the Lee MOLD DC CTL312-160-2R is better

[garandsrus]

I really like the Lyman 311413 mold in the K31. It has a smaller nose which helps seating.

[ukrifleman]

280197
I found the Lee bullet No. 90385 155gn shown on the right and gas checked to .309, worked well in my K31.
The one on the left is the Lee 160gn No.90361.

ukrifleman

[Maven]

I know there are methods of nose sizing, but I dont know how that works.. Can some one explain that process to me. Sorry to be ignorant of this procedure..


No need to apologize lead collector, as I had a similar problem with my K-31's. To wit, the CB noses were too "fat" to easily chamber (which is a good problem to have in most rifles!), which meant seating the bore riding CB's more deeply in the case. The solution was to have someone make a nose reducing die, which was of the Lyman H & I sizing die type and mounted in my #450 lube sizer. It took a lot of careful measuring and several bullet samples to get my machinist* to produce the nose reducing die, but it worked perfectly: No more forcing the bolt closed + longer OAL's + improved accuracy in both K-31's. Btw, the bore riders that needed such treatment were Ly. #311291 and Lee C-309-180-R, which ironically, had noses that were too small for my .30-06.

*the late Joe Wiest aka the Mad Machinist.

[lead collector]

Thank you for the relies to my post. I have a buddy that might be able to make such a sizing die.
Might try and enlist his help on this project.
Maven, you are right a tight throat is a good problem to have. keeping the bullet centered up until it gets into the bore is a good thing. I am guessing my bullet is engraving .002 - .003, and would be no issue on a standard bolt action.
Sure makes the bolt hard to shut on the K31.

[beemer]

280197
I found the Lee bullet No. 90385 155gn shown on the right and gas checked to .309, worked well in my K31.
The one on the left is the Lee 160gn No.90361.

ukrifleman

I don't have a K-31 anymore but the boolit ukrifleman mentions worked as well as anything I tried. Lee molds are made from unobtainium at the present time.

[webfoot10]

The old Lyman 311414 bullet for the 300 savage is the bullet you want for the
k-31 swiss. Gas checked and sized at .309 it will chamber with ease. I think
NOE makes a copy of the 311414. Give it a try can't hurt.

[samari46]

Some of the K-31's have really tight bores. Mine if I remember right has a groove diameter of .298. And just so happens both my 311291 and 31141 (not a typo old mold) both have .298 noses. Will have to check some already cast bullets and measure them just to double check. Frank

[Wayne Smith]

NOE makes a nose sizing die, with interchangeable inserts. No need to re-invent the wheel.

[dalek]

Without trying to derail the thread, is this issue K31 specific or it also applies to, say, the K11?

[lead collector]

Dalek,

No problem.. The K11 that I have will eat about any bullet that I put in it. Maybe they are made to different specs, or just worn more than the K31? Can't say for sure, but it's an easy gun to load for. Accuracy seems good, and if I could see better... I am sure it would help a lot. I have a scope on my K-31, and its a real deal changer for me. The sights are good, but harder to see than some of my other guns.

[Pressman]

K-31's have a shorter throat than the K-11, bullet profile is the determining factor for COL. See: https://www.swissproductsusa.com/faq for more information on loading these rifles.

[John Boy]

311413/44gr 4350
Berger VLD/47.5gr 4350
Sierra 168 HPBT/46.6gr 4350
311413/46.6gr 4350

https://forum.nosler.com/viewtopic.php?t=22429

[17nut]

280764
280767

[iron brigade]

Something you might look at.. My last k31 had a warped stock. Couldn't get to shoot no matter what I tried. My k11 and 1911 don't have this problem and are excellent cast bullet shooters. I have the old 308334 bullet mould with a cast diameter of .297/.313. It chambered with no problems in my k31. Best of luck.