I love this kind of stuff. I hope you didn't get to much grief from the "Purists" or the "Self-Appointed-Experts" that seem to spend their days scouring the internet for projects they can use to make themselves appear knowledgeable.
Here on this forum everyone who commented on my K31 conversion to the 6.5x55 chambering were highly supportive and some of the comments I got were actually quite helpful. That was several years ago now.
I liked the reduction of the felt recoil so much that I eventually bought a Tikka rifle chambered in 6.5x55 and put the original factory barrel back on my K31. I'm pretty sure that someone somewhere on planet Earth had already rebarreled and rechambered their K31 to shoot the 6.5 cartridge but at the time, I got the feeling that I was the only one on God's green Earth who had done so.
Even after all this time of having successfully rebarreled and rechambered that K31 (I even posted video proof on my YouTube account) I'll still get messages from those offended by me having done so. I have to admit, proving all the naysayers wrong felt really good. I hope your Grand project proves to any other DIY shooter that such projects really are doable.
In addition to receiving the aforementioned grief, I've also gotten an equal amount of messages asking how I went about it. When likeminded folks see the results of your project I'm sure they'll be contacting you too to ask for advise.
HollowPoint.
Interesting build. I’ve been messing with putting a Ruger Mini 300 blkout into a Garand stock to recreate a T20 experimental garand for a while.
Yes, the project actually turned out really well! Here are a couple videos I posted on my FB page:
https://fb.watch/7aGwxHJw6i/
https://fb.watch/7aGyxkwrzC/
I actually managed to get repeatable hits on a (massive) steel plate at 1200 yards later in the same day. I was a range officer at a PRS match, and was plinking at the steel targets at various ranges between stages.
I didn't really get any trouble from purists. After all, I didn't permanently bubba anything. I'm going to be trading a USGI receiver for a Danish one with the FKF and crown, just to make it look more nordic. I may do some accuracy testing with and without the flash hider, but I suspect that the weak link is the guy behind the rifle looking through iron sights, not the muzzle device.
A 6.5x55 K31 sounds really neat! Did you have to do a lot of work to the bolt face / extractor? Any changes to the magazine? I've owned a K31 and a G96/11, but I don't remember the specifics of their workings. I've moved away from the Swiss rifles because I have a bit of astigmatism, and my eyes do much better with peep sights. I thought about getting the bolt-ons, but I spent the money on an 03A3 project instead. My next 6.5x55 project will be an FN49 that I built from the remnants of an Egyptian rifle that blew up in someone's face, and a collection of safer parts from later contracts. I'm just holding off until I work through the remainder of my 8mm ammo.
My advice is to build a BM59 instead. I've done a couple, and the end product can turn out well.
https://imgur.com/g6Tdywo
On the bottom one I used a Shuff's Mini-G barrel and op rod. I cut a stock at the wrist and installed a Remington 870 AR stock and grip adapter. The grip is an AR wooden grip from Ironwood, and the stock is an ACE with a Hera Arms Side Folding Unit that lets it fold out of the way. I ended up putting it back into a regular stock because I like the old-school look much better, and repurposed the AR parts for other projects.
You might also like a Mini 14 project I did.
Before: https://imgur.com/6jShnwo
After: https://imgur.com/xjrh55N
I milled eight cool-looking SVT40-style vent holes in the top of a wooden handguard, shortened a stock, and also shortened the barrel. It has a pinned/welded flash hider to bring it a bit past 16". I topped it off with an adjustable rear sight from TechSights. I think I posted more pictures of the project somewhere, but I'm kinda blanking on where they might be.
Last edited by s11033; 08-04-2021 at 04:30 PM.
[QUOTE=s11033;5237404]Yes, the project actually turned out really well! Here are a couple videos I posted on my FB page:
https://fb.watch/7aGwxHJw6i/
https://fb.watch/7aGyxkwrzC/
I actually managed to get repeatable hits on a (massive) steel plate at 1200 yards later in the same day. I was a range officer at a PRS match, and was plinking at the steel targets at various ranges between stages.
I didn't really get any trouble from purists. After all, I didn't permanently bubba anything. I'm going to be trading a USGI receiver for a Danish one with the FKF and crown, just to make it look more nordic. I may do some accuracy testing with and without the flash hider, but I suspect that the weak link is the guy behind the rifle looking through iron sights, not the muzzle device.
A 6.5x55 K31 sounds really neat! Did you have to do a lot of work to the bolt face / extractor? Any changes to the magazine? I've owned a K31 and a G96/11, but I don't remember the specifics of their workings. I've moved away from the Swiss rifles because I have a bit of astigmatism, and my eyes do much better with peep sights. I thought about getting the bolt-ons, but I spent the money on an 03A3 project instead. My next 6.5x55 project will be an FN49 that I built from the remnants of an Egyptian rifle that blew up in someone's face, and a collection of safer parts from later contracts. I'm just holding off until I work through the remainder of my 8mm ammo.
The magazine remained the same; and it fed the 6.5x55 as easily as it fed the 7.5x55s. I too did not alter any of the factory parts of my K31. I did have to fabricate a barrel adapter to match the geometry of the K31's original ejection cam setup.
At the time of that project I had an ongoing write up with photos and such here on the Cast Boolits forum. Incidentally, I rebarreled my K31 using the "Savage Barrel Nut" method. This was so that if I screwed something up along the way I'd be able to reassemble my K31 back to it's stock configuration.
Also; I too have enough of an astigmatism problem that I modeled and 3D printed a set of adjustable rear peep sights for my K31. These DIY Peeps Sights worked well enough but it just made my rifle look slightly out of character for some reason so I machined a scope mount and just shot it with a scope instead.
A few months after completing and testing my rebarreling and rechambering project I also modeled and 3D printed a higher capacity magazine; which also worked out well.
Following are some of the photos and Computer renderings of the various mods I've done to my K31.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlyOpOJnD3_/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl1D-h4nlAs/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkltUJ1nnyy/
https://youtu.be/ooED6pbBojA
https://youtu.be/_lr2IIkp4s0
https://youtu.be/b2VP5cp9W6g
HollowPoint
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |