Mounting a Receiver Sight to a K31

[35 Whelen]

I know there has been quite a bit of discussion on the subject of mounting reciever sights to K-31's. A couple of years ago, I was successful in mounting a Lyman 48 tp my 1953 match K-31: http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/1953%20K-31/K-31Rearred.jpg

I've had LOTS of questions regarding this sight. I've been using the Lyman sight for a little over a year now, but in the back of my mind, I've always thought there should be a simple way to mount a readily available and relatively inexpensive Redfield Olympic, International or Palma sight on one of these fine rifles. Well, while thumbing through my Brownells catalog, I found the answer in the Lipski WR sight base: http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=7917/Product/COMPETITION_REAR_SIGHT_BASE

I ordered one and upon its arrival, immediately went to work. Digging through my leftover Weaver bases, I discovered that a #46 fit the contour of the K-31's rear receiver ring almost perfectly and was just about the perfect length as well. I used my fathers old B-Square scope base drilling jig for Mausers to drill and tap the rear receiver ring:
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/1953%20K-31/P1010084.jpg

Next I mounted the base and Loc-Tited the screws as the receiver ring is fairly thin.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/1953%20K-31/P1010087.jpg
The Lipski base was then mounted and it fit the Weaver base to a "T".
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/1953%20K-31/P1010090.jpg
All that was left was to mount the sight which of course was a breeze:
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/1953%20K-31/P1010112.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/1953%20K-31/P1010109.jpg

And of course an Olympic or International would also work.

As they say, the proof is in the puddin', so I fired a couple of groups with one of my cast bullet loads:
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/1953%20K-31/P1010115.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/1953%20K-31/P1010114.jpg

Hope this helps someone. Over the last couple of years I've had so many PM's and e-mails about my original sight setup, that I'm going to post this elsewhere, so bear with me if you see this post on other forums.
Regards,
35W

[218bee]

Good info...I've got my eyes on a K31 locally and I'll have to remember this ifn I buy it.
Question....Lipski case??? looks like mounts to base and then sight mounts to it??? Tell me more please. How close can ya get yer eyeball to sight with the strange projection coming out back of the K31?? I may be asking ya for some load data...looks like ya got a NOE mold by yer notes

[35 Whelen]

Good info...I've got my eyes on a K31 locally and I'll have to remember this ifn I buy it.
Question....Lipski case??? looks like mounts to base and then sight mounts to it??? Tell me more please. How close can ya get yer eyeball to sight with the strange projection coming out back of the K31?? I may be asking ya for some load data...looks like ya got a NOE mold by yer notes


Lipski BASE...I corrected the typo. Yes, exactly as you observed: the scope base mounts to the rifle, the Lipski base to the scope base, then the Redfield sight to the Lipski base. Almost TOO simple!
That "strange projection", the cocking piece or ring, has never gotten in my way. The base has four holes by which the Palma sight may secured, as pictured, and my sight is on the second hole from the front which means there are two more mounting holes by which the sight could be moved even further to the rear. Done so, the eyepiece would be further to the rear than the cocking ring. Ultimately I will be using my Gehmann diopter in place of the fixed rear aperture which will move the rear aperture even closer to my eye.
Regarding load data, I haven't done just a whole lot of load development (yet). 13.0 grs. of Red Dot and 14.0 - 14.5 grs. of AA#7 both shoot from 1 5/8" to 2" @ 100 off the bench with the NOE bullet. The rifle will do better, but I just haven't had time to work on load development.
35W

[Bob S]

Greg,

Great job! Are you able to get the windage centered with the Palma sight?

I did my first "match sight" mounting in 1999 with a traditional side mount, before the Lipski was available. I added the third screw.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/BobS1/K31/K31Redfieldbase.jpg

The only problem I had was that the width of the K31 receiver seriously limited the amount of right windage that was available with the Redfield International sight.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/BobS1/K31/Loading_Adaptor.jpg

My "solution" was substitute a John Wilkes rear sight (grandfather of the present-day RPA sight). I don't think I will ever run out of windage or elevation with this one.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/BobS1/K31/JohnWilkes1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v76/BobS1/K31/LeftyK31Match2.jpg

Since the Lipski mounts on the centerline, not the side, you may never have windage issues. It's good product; I have one on an AR flat-top upper made by John Holliger (White Oak Precision) in 6mm HAGAR. I use a PNW rear sight on it.

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[35 Whelen]

Greg,

Great job! Are you able to get the windage centered with the Palma sight?

Bob,
I checked the sight to see how close it was to center and found that sighted in as shown in the targets above, I have 102 clicks, or 25.5 minutes of adjustment to the left and 72 clicks or 18.0 minutes of adjustment to the right. So it is fairly well centered. If you look closely at the fourth and fifth pictures abive, you can see that the base is a bit closer to the center of the receiver than it would be if a Redfield type base was mounted to the side of the receiver.
Thanks,
35W

[ks_shooter]

35 Whelan,

I just ran across this old post showing how you attached a Lyman aperture sight to your K-31. I would like to put a sight like this on my rifle, but I have a question. Looking at your picture and comparing it to my rifle, it seems like this rear sight could be used with the standard front sight if the aperture were adjusted as far down as possible. Can you confirm this?

I would prefer this so I could get a cheek weld instead of a chin weld, or avoid having to add a riser to the stock. The rear of the receiver is lower than the front receiver ring and it looks like the center of the aperture would need to be about 3/8" above the rear receiver to line up with the issue front sight. The type of sight you show in the first picture looks stout enough for field use, which is what I am interested in using this for.

Can't figure out why the normally smart Swiss failed to put a good aperture sight on this rifle from the get go. We've been using them for 110 years on our service rifles.

Thanks.

[35 Whelen]

35 Whelan,

I just ran across this old post showing how you attached a Lyman aperture sight to your K-31. I would like to put a sight like this on my rifle, but I have a question. Looking at your picture and comparing it to my rifle, it seems like this rear sight could be used with the standard front sight if the aperture were adjusted as far down as possible. Can you confirm this?

I would prefer this so I could get a cheek weld instead of a chin weld, or avoid having to add a riser to the stock. The rear of the receiver is lower than the front receiver ring and it looks like the center of the aperture would need to be about 3/8" above the rear receiver to line up with the issue front sight. The type of sight you show in the first picture looks stout enough for field use, which is what I am interested in using this for.

Can't figure out why the normally smart Swiss failed to put a good aperture sight on this rifle from the get go. We've been using them for 110 years on our service rifles.

Thanks.

Yes, the Lyman I put on my K-31 did work fine with the issue front sight. I don't recall if I had to adjust the sight all the way down or not. I DO know that with the Lyman/issue front sight set up I was able to use GP-11 and sight it to P.O.A. with no problems.

With regards to a riser to the stock, after I installed the Redfield Palma, I got a lace-on check pad from Brownell's and it was perfect.

Who knows why the Swiss didn't utilize aperture sights...

35W