Just bought a K-31

[graheim]

After doing a LOT of research and pondering I picked my first mil. surplus rifle a few weeks ago.  This is currently my only centerfire rifle and will serve as a deer rifle, so you can imagine how much thought went into it.

My choice was a Swiss Schmidt-Rubin K31 from a local gun store.  I won't have a chance to take it to the range until the end of the month but it is in really excellent condition.  Almost all of the metal parts look like they were made yesterday and the bore and crown are outstanding.  The stock is better than most K31s I've seen.  It doesn't have the long gouge marks that tend to mar the buttstock.

I'm looking forward to shooting it immensely and plan to order a couple of boxes of Wolf gold line ammo from grafs.com.  Anybody have any experience with Wolf's 7.5 x55 Swiss ammo? (good or bad)

[james]

Congrats on selecting a fine rifle.  I liked my first so well, I bought another.  I started out with the Swiss surplus ammo and it is excellent but going up in price and becoming more scarce.  I bought a couple of boxes of FNM soft points to hunt with but didn't get my scope sighted in until hunting season was almost over.  I picked up a clamp on scope mount (cost as much as the first rifle) that works nicely.  I did put a cheek pad on the stock so my eye would be aligned with the scope.  I have also bought dies but haven't reloaded any yet.... because I haven't shot up enough reloadable brass.    I'm sure you will enjoy your rifle.
good shooting to you
james

[prairiedog555]

Same here, I bought first one and then bought another.  First was Beech the next walnut.  they seem to have different trigger pulls.  both light but the walnut has about 1/2 again the travel on the 2 stage pull.  I like the beech better but both are great.
I plan on cutting down the beech so it is handier to shoot out of a blind.  that is why I bought the second one to keep original. 
Have you tried any of the Privi Partisan ammo?  I have not but it is as cheap as buying just the cases for reloading.

[jh45gun]

Congrats on getting a fine rifle!

[wtroger]

Whose scope mount did you use. Is it a side mount? If not how did you handle the top eject problem.

[graheim]

I haven't scoped it out yet, but when I do I'll be using a S&K Insta Mount.
It replaces the rear sight but there's no drilling or taping required and you can switch it back at any time.

Check it out:
http://www.scopemounts.com/instapics.html

[jgalar]

I used a clamp on St Marie mount from Grafs. Uses a standard rifle scope.
http://www.grafs.com/vendor/735

[graheim]

I used a clamp on St Marie mount from Grafs. Uses a standard rifle scope.
http://www.grafs.com/vendor/735

Looks nice.  Does that put the scope overbore?  How far forward does it sit?

[TBS]

I used a clamp on St Marie mount from Grafs. Uses a standard rifle scope.
http://www.grafs.com/vendor/735

Looks nice.  Does that put the scope overbore?  How far forward does it sit?

The st. marie offsets the scope

[graheim]

I really want the scope to be overbore.

Gorgeous rifle, though.  Very nice stock, especially.

[TBS]

I really want the scope to be overbore.

Gorgeous rifle, though.  Very nice stock, especially.

Thanks, you'll have to go with a scout setup if you want directly over bore. There are a couple available but I'm not familiar with them.

[jh45gun]

I have the scout mount that Darrell makes. Check with Parralax's forum. They cost about 60 bucks and are worth it. Very nice scope mount for a scout set up. Very well accepted on the net lots of great reviews.  Jim

[Casull]

Like several others here, I bought a beech stocked K31, and liked it so much that I bought the walnut stocked version.  Both shoot great.  I'm not the best offhand shooter around, but I found that I am able to hit better than 50% on 3 1/2" orange clay birds at 100 yards, standing offhand.  I picked up one of the St. Marie clamp on mounts, but haven't mounted a scope on it yet.  Yes, it is not overbore, but it does allow you to use the scope or the iron sights at the same time (for what that's worth).  So far, all I have shot through both rifles is the PRVI ammo, and it is pretty good (good enough to bust those clay birds more often than not).  I have reloaded some of the brass, but have not yet tried any of my reloads (waiting till I mount the scope).  Anyway, I think you will enjoy the rifle very much, smooth and accurate. 

[graheim]

I finally got a chance to take my K-31 to the range.  I was using Wolf's Gold Line ammo. (174 gr. FMJ & SP)

I'm very happy. 

The range is only 50 yards long so I didn't have much to work with but I have no doubt that when I can get to a longer facility there won't be any problems.

My first target was at the 25 yard line and I got 4 shots into a 1.25 inch group.
I tried shooting offhand at a 50 yard target and put four into an area the size of a deer's vitals (about 6 inches across) with two of the shots dead center right next to each other.
With ironsights I call that more than good enough.

I was also impressed with accuracy of the SP ammo.  It was definitely as good as the FMJ.

[TexasShooter]

I shot my K31 in a Military Rifle only shoot this last Sunday and came in third place. This was a 100 yard 6 3/4" target with a 10 shot prone rapid fire, 10 shot slow fire prone and 10 shot rapid fire free hand standing.

My K31 will do a 3/4" group at 100 yards and a 1 1/2" at 200.

[qajaq59]

Try it without a scope before you buy one. You might find you wont need one. The military sight on the K31 are pretty darn good.