Nice. What year are your K31's? I have a '42 and a '50. Need to pick up some GP 11 ammo also.Originally Posted by TGS
Nice. What year are your K31's? I have a '42 and a '50. Need to pick up some GP 11 ammo also.
Check out Samco for GP11, they have some. I'm trying to wait on the Sportsmansguide to restock the 480 round battle packs so I can save on shipping....last I saw they were projecting Dec 10th to be in stock, but they've moved back that date twice already so I'm losing hope.
The beech is a 1948. I can't remember what year the walnut one is, I just remember it's post hardening....the G11 is a 1918, IIRC. The beech K31 was issued to Josef Weber with the 30th Anti-Tank Company, he lived on the southern edge of Lake Constance. Since I don't have the walnut K31 in hand yet, I don't remember any of the troop info except it was issued to Emil Rohner.
I've got a Turner's M1907 sling on the beech K31 right now, along with a St Marie offset clamp-on scope mount (wonderful btw) mounting a Vortex Diamondback 3-9x40mm, along with a St Marie muzzle brake. I might transfer all that to the walnut K31, as the offset scope allows use of irons sights yet the beech's front sight is off kilter. So, I'm thinking about putting a St Marie's P/S diopter on the beech. With all this stuff on the K31, it weighs a good 11lbs+.
Which brings me to why I chose the 1911 for the scout project. The 11 has a true Schmidt-Rubin action with mid mounted bolt lugs. The action is a pretty slim profile like most bolt actions, but it's very long. It also has a slimmer barrel than the K31, IIRC. When the Swiss wanted to go all carbine instead of rifles and carbines, they demanded the new carbine exceed the K11's accuracy (23" bbl) and meet the accuracy of the G11 with its 30" barrel, all while having the same OAL as the K11. Supposedly the 1911 shoots better with the 30" bbl because it dampens vibrations much better than the 23" bbl.
The way Col Furrer of Waffenfabrik Bern addressed this was to make the action on the K31 beefy and stiff as all hell. I can't do it on my phone right now, but search google for posts by "Guisan" showing the difference between a 1911 and K31 barrel shank. The K31 is HUGE. They also moved the bolt lugs to the front, leading to.a much stronger lockup capable of shooting anything sharing a 308 base diameter (the K31 came in 308, 30-06 and 300WM from der Schweiz, btw). The result was a carbine that is the same length of a K11 but has a 25" barrel and is as accurate as the G11. Cutting the barrel on a K31 would also require new bedding, as its bedding is not stabilized laterally like the 1911 which is why the K31 requires up pressure from the fore-end of the stock. Free-floating a K31 barrel ends disastrously for accuracy unless you bed it, and pillars + epoxy bedding means more weight, and moving farther away from the Scout concept.
So, the K31 is heavy as hell so doesn't really fit the scout concept unless you're looking to chamber a 358 Win or 376 Steyr rifle. Given that the 1911 is still respectably accurate, it will do fine for 200 yards like a Scout is purposed. I have a Langois Rhodesian sling on order for it, and am going to put a Burris 2.75x20 on it with Warne QR rings. This would allow the use of iron sights...I'm thinking a Skinner receiver sight would be good.
Wow, that was a lot to write on a Blackberry. Hopefully I wasn't rambling, but it's fun to talk shop and I'm sick and tired of repainting my bedroom, cleaning, listening to the radio, and reading books.
Oh, and check out the Steyr 95 carbines. Crude machines made by apes compared to the Swiss version, but they're going for $100 or so at JGsales.com and might be a good investment.
Thanks for the heads up. I have a Steyr M95, bought it around 2003 from AIM when they sold em dirt cheap and included 1938 Austrian manufactured ammo on the 5 round clips. I've shot my carbine a few times, cleaned it, and haven't really messed wit hit since.
I'm going to place an order for some of that GP 11 from Samco. How are they in terms of shipping, etc?
I haven't ordered from Samco lately so I couldn't say.
Is the Steyr straight up unenjoyable? The Swiss ditched them in 1905, apparently with rejoice. Even with the Swiss manufactured versions, they weren't very accurate. Supposedly the bolt is very complicated to assemble, and a popular tale is of Swiss militiamen showing up to muster with the rifle in one hand and the disassembled bolt in the other.
The K31 is an absolute joy to shoot compared to the M95. It is a superior rifle in every way. A Soviet M44 is a better rifle than an M95.
WOW.....that is pretty damning.
I'd like to get a Lee-Navy 6mm rifle. And a Krag. And a Springfield 03 with an aperature sight. A Swedish Mauser 38 would be nice as well, finally an Enfield....either a SMLE or No 4. Not too much else interests me much. As you might have guessed, nothing interests me as much as the Swiss guns. It would be fun to take a Mosin or Mauser for a project gun, but otherwise they don't get me going.
Have you considered any oddballs, like the French MAS36?
I'd like a MAS 49/45. Very handy, reliable and under appreciated rifle outside of France and it's former colonial possessions. AIM also has surplus 7,5 MAS ammunition at the moment.
I've got a 1901 M96 Swede I haven't shot in over a decade, as well as a Finnish M39 with a pristine post war barrel on it.
I need to glom onto some of that, then.
I think the MAS 49 is massively underrated. The biggest problem with them is the ammo situation; the firing pin is a massive affair designed to deliver mighty licks to hard milspec primers. As a result, using soft commercial primers (such as found on FNM and Prvi Partizan) can induce slamfires. The solution is to lighten and slightly blunt the firing pin, which is one of those things I'm always going to eventually get around to doing...
(The MAS 36 is an interesting bolt gun. As the last turnbolt rifle designed and issued by a major power, it is an amazingly simple design. Not quite the Grease Gun of military bolt actions, but close. It's short and handy and has receiver-mounted aperture sights. I think its looks keep it from being more popular than it is.)
I think the k31 makes a dandy scout.
It's in an ultralight laminated stock that I don't think richard's makes anymore. I remember it being about six and a half with a langlois Ching sling and the scope but an empty box.
I'll weigh it for record and shoot some groups soonish.
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I'm not sure whether that picture makes me happy or sad.
Part of me thinks "Yeah, that'd make an awesome Scout," and part of me wants to run up to the attic and pet my walnut K31 and say "Don't worry, I won't let the bad man hurt you."
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