proud owner of Swiss K31

So I'm excited to say that I am now the owner of a Swiss K31 circa 1944. This is my first milsurp firearm and I've gotta say I have become pretty enamored with it. I should be receiving the rifle sometime towards the end of next week so I will give yall a range report then. In the mean time, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for where and what brands of ammunition to look for? I'm not set up for reloading...although I'd like to get into it someday, so whether the ammunition is reloadable or not doesn't make much of a difference at this point. I would like to stay away from corrosive stuff if thats possible. Thanks guys!

Don't have the time now, but I have a good source. I'll get back asap.

 Conratulations! You will love this rifle, (until you take the bolt apart and try to put it back together the first time without help!)       

Haha, yeah that bolt assembly looks a bit daunting as I've never had any experience with a straight pull. I did go online and gather a lot of information regarding maintenance, disassembly of the rifle and action, and other odds and ends in hopes of being slightly informed about my rifle and how it works by the time it ships to me next week. 

 Will this the ammo work?

 It's just kind of wierd the way you have to turn a bolt-within-a-bolt together and hold everything together when you slide the whole works back into the receiver. It's not hard to do once you know how, but it doesn't work the way one would expect it to.  It's not an intuitive thing.

Edited by RONK - June/02/2009 at 20:44

300 S&W, that looks like it would work just fine, thanks. I also found some stuff loaded by Hornady that has soft points for hunting. I think I might just pick up a couple boxes of hunting ammunition and then buy something cheaper to plink with...like that Prvi Partizan. I assume there is some other FMJ type stuff out there that would be pretty cheap too?

 GP11 is surplus FMJ, but it isn't really cheap compared to other military surplus ammo in different calibers. It is almost Match grade quality, though.

 I think Wolf also makes new-manufactured 7.5x55  now also, in FMJ and Softpoints.

Well this is embarassing. Gary Cole carries FMC ammo (also produced in Yugo), and it's brass and boxer primed. He usually has an ad in Shotgun News, but the last three issues I have don't have his ads. I'll have to do some more checking, and get back with you.

I have a few K31s and they are a blast to shoot.  They have the best trigger ever put on a military rifle.

I used to own one of these but got too involved with my LTR. They're great rifles. Have you looked under the buttplate yet to see if there's a Swiss soldier's name and address?

Prvi Partisan shoots great. I got the same groups with it as I did with GP11 - just 1.5" higher and 2" right. It's boxer so at least you can save it and someone can reload it. Grafs sometimes has unprimed Prvi brass too.

The bolt is not that hard to disassemble, clean and put back together. It looks more like a surgical instrument than a rifle part. Just don't grease up the firing pin or spring. A very light touch of lubricant at most is all that is needed there.

Some people don't like to touch the finish on a mil-surp rifle, but my stock was dinged and water damaged. Those rifles apparently spent some time with the butt stuck in snow in a tripod with other rifles. (I wonder if the Swiss hang a pot from them to boil their stew). I stripped the finish, steamed out the dents and used oxalic acid to remove the gray weathering from the butt. Then I refinished it with true tung oil and an occasional coat of gunny paste. Here's the one I had:




Edited by jonoMT - June/08/2009 at 09:55

Looks great! Mine is circa '44 and has a walnut stock- any tips on refinishing??? I think I have the idea down, but this will be my first attempt so any help would be awesome.