7.5 Swiss Bliss

About ten years ago I ordered my first K31, your simple shooter, basic birch mil stock. I got twenty new cases and a die set while I was waiting for it. When it came I took it all apart cleaned and decosmo'd it then lubed it properly and reassembled. All I did to the trigger was to clean the surfaces with solvent and a qtip. Everything about the rifle fascinated me (still does), but it is a milsurp, a well used but clearly very well cared for rifle, and every other milsurp I'd ever owned was a roll of the dice if it could pieplate. Sometimes they suck and sometimes you get lucky....

The 2stage trigger is smooth as glass and I estimate around four pounds, (of all my firearms only my Contender has a better trigger than this K31, and of all of them there are only two that can beat it for accuracy, but I get ahead of myself). The cartridge is in the same performance class as the -06, but the case is shorter and fatter. I loaded up a starting load with 3031 and some Sierra 150GK's. I fired three rounds from the rest, then figuring a 5shot group is better than a 3shot group I shot two more (if it even hit the target because god only knows what the sights are adjusted for). I had no Swiss mil ammo to compare. After five rounds the barrel was barely warm. Forgot my spotting scope that day and I couldn't see any holes in the target, so I walked the 100yds not expecting much of anything. I am never enthusiastic about a milsurp, not much anyway, just curious, just in case it's a keeper. I was ten feet from the target before I saw the group in the black of the target and I covered it with a quarter. I shot three more 5shot groups, one of them a nickel covered. And I have to keep repeating this is a milsurp.

When I got home I ordered fifty more new Norma cases and 5 boxes of Prvi loaded ammo that was half the price of the unloaded Norma brass, an unfinished sporter stock, a scope base that replaces the ladder sight, and a Leupold scout scope. A month later it was done with about $800 into it altogether. This is NOT a light sporter rifle (I have been avoiding weighing it like it's a fat girl eyeing a bathroom scale, it's over 9lbs), but it has become just about my favorite rifle ever. I have yet to try a jacketed or cast bullet that it will not shoot superbly. There are some that will not feed reliably as it was designed for pointy mil bullets and not big wide flatnose cast hunting bullets. Those last you have to load singly but we bust clay birds on the bank at 75-120yds with it all day, the barrel never gets more than just warm to the touch. It feeds anything cast with a roundish nose. These days I've got it full of light cast target loads and it's much easier on the shoulder. Two of us shot it yesterday afternoon, each shoot five shots then go check the targets together. Barrel never overheats, still passes the Johnson* test after ten shots, then fifteen, and then twenty when we shot the clay birds offhand. Ran out of targets at that point and had to go place more on the banks, rifle was cool when we got back ten minutes later.

The barrel has a tight bore (.299) and groove (.307). The chamber has a very short throat so with some bullet ogive radii you are limited how long you can seat them even though they will feed from the mag and into the action reliably. Would I like a longer throat? Yes. Am I going to mess with it? F*** no. If it works, DON'T FIX IT. The downside of its weight for carrying is a plus when shooting from the bench or offhand. It would be perfect for a stand or a blind. A 300yd deer sniping rifle. You could mount an adjustable peep sight on the rear bridge and remove the ladder setup, and I would if my eyes were younger but I can use the scout setup with both eyes open. I bought a second one, older and with a walnut mil stock. This one has another first class trigger but I haven't done anything more than function test it as the sporter is too much fun. It will live happily in my safe until someone shoots the sporter and just has to have one for himself. Everyone that sees it wants to shoot it and with light cast loads and all that steel there is less felt recoil than a .223. I would not want to shoot it all day with full charge mil FMJ loads though, or really heavy bullets because it is basically an -06.

Not only is this rifle the most accurate milsurp I have ever owned, it is more accurate than all but a few production rifles sold today. This is the rifle for you guys who shoot the service rifle matches. It will outdo any as-issued AR/M16/M4, Springfield, Garand, M14/M1A, Mauser, Moisin, Arisaka, Enfield, or SMLE I've ever shot.

So who else has one and what do you do with yours?

* The "Johnson Test": Years ago an older Marine taught be a basic lesson about measuring groups. He said: "If you want to measure the accuracy of a target or deer hunting rifle/load, you need a cool barrel. If it gets hot the data is useless on paper or in the field. Put your hand on the barrel over the chamber and feel how hot the barrel is. If it's so hot that you wouldn't touch the end of your johnson to it without discomfort, then it's too hot for shooting groups. Shoot something else while it cools off."