User Panel
nice!
This thread makes me want to track down more 7.5 swiss to shoot my swiss straight pulls |
|
|
So We ran through the Krieger recommended Break in procedure, the rifle functioned well, shot well for a random powder charge.
Shitty day for shooting, front blowing in, rain and wind blowing all over everything. We got the rounds and cleaning done, groups were satisfactory. Attached File Attached File This was a test day, figure out if everything worked, what if any issues needed to be addressed and take care of them before final assembly. The “ to-do” list; Some final cutting wood to get it flush with the metal. Relieve the magazine well so to can be easily removed. shorten the tang screw. polish and blue the bottom metal. touch up blue on receiver. Polish and blue the charging handle. Re-polish barrel . Sand and finish the stock. Probably some polishing and work on the trigger. It’s pretty good, for an Army Rifle. But it’s no benchrest trigger. There are some things that can be done to improve it. ETA: and polish and blue the scope mount! It came in a matte black oxide, and this rifle has to be SHINY! But it shoots. Almost done. Over a year since the Idea was conceived and the first cuts were made on a test piece. |
|
The 208gr A-Max and Reloader 17 are you friend's new friends. The 175gr SMKs/TMKs are also great in the Swiss.
|
|
|
Quoted: On the range for barrel break in! https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/195613/5ED88A88-7548-4806-9D10-742551A9A136_jpe-2176914.JPG Rifle go BOOM! Break in is tedious, and we’re only at 50 yards, but results are promising. View Quote Jesus OP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
|
I've really enjoyed watching this project come together. Well done.
|
|
|
Quoted: OP you want to build me one? View Quote For us amateur's, this has been an ongoing project for over a year. Still have a bit to go, but everyone involved is ready to be done. I'm sure we could build one in half that time now, with all the experience we've gained! Since I am not an FFL, I don't charge for doing builds for friends, I do it to learn skills and play with fancy guns and tools on other peoples dime. It has crossed my mind to get a license and do the odd job within my skill set once I can fully retire. My Boy graduates college in two and a half years and my daughter keeps threatening to join the Navy, so I'm still working 40 hours a week until that's worked out. So pet projects for now. I've got an AMD 65 kit waiting, and a CETME, both complete, just in need of assembly, and a Parker Hale action in need of a stock and barrel. A Savage 116 .300 win mag in need of a barrel, a Ruger Number 1 .270 with a barrel standing by to go on, a Jack Flat lower that want's me to try out my new TIG welder on it, along with a 7.62X39 barrel and bolt and some crazy ideas involving wood and steel floating around in my head, a couple Mauser receivers floating around, and a strong hankering to buy one of Sarco's 1903a2 kits. And a Remington 600 in 6mm Rem that is basicly intact, but needs bluing and stock fitting and new bottom metal. Call back in three years! |
|
Paladin Machine Services of SC for custom/odd ball bbls. Send em a blank.
|
|
Short update. We’re working the kinks out before we do final finishing.
Having some issues with the trigger being consistent, so we’re trying to figure that out, and I have to do some work to relieve the magazine well, it’s too tight, the mag can’t be pulled out by hand. We lost 20thou Somewhere with the new stock inletting, need it back. I’m also polishing up the RSI scope mount. It’s beautifully made, but the finish is, well, militarily grade. This rifle has to be shiny! So I’m sanding out all the casting marks. The machining marks on the top will just be lightly sanded for blueing. Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File |
|
And while I was down for two weeks with bronchitis, My friend took it out and shot it, a little more load testing.
Attached File The trigger was not playing nice, but showing potential. |
|
Man I wish I had bought one of those and ammo back in the day. Quite a few of them came through the shop.
|
|
So y'all are running 7.62mm bullets from a blown out Swiss 7.5x55mm case?
|
|
Quoted: So y'all are running 7.62mm bullets from a blown out Swiss 7.5x55mm case? View Quote Yes. This is common practice amongst reloaders for the Swiss already, firing .308 bullets in the original rifles is safe, as long as you pay attention to pressures. My buddy was already reloading .30 bullets for his K-31’s in original barrels with no changes made to the rifles. Since we were starting with a new barrel, .30 seemed the way to go, lots more options. The case is just slightly necked up by the expander ball, nothing else changes. |
|
I have 4 K-31’s that I paid $79 each shipped to my door back when I had my C&R license. I also bought 3000 rounds of the very nice surplus ammo. It is easily the most accurate rifle of all my WWII surplus rifles. I would never alter any of them, but watching this thread makes me want too..?? |
|
A little update.
Did the final stock work, final shaping and sanding. fixed a few details my friend wasn’t happy with, and did the final sanding. I took it to 600, way smoother than I thought possible, I assume the laminate is birch, very tight and dense, better than I hoped for or expected. The stock is very slick. The sad part is, we may have to rough it back to 320 for the finish to grab. My friend is wanting automotive clear coat, that’s apparently what all the benchrest guys are doing for maximum slickness for bag riding when you shoot free recoil style. So he has the stock now and is talking to some paint suppliers to decide what finish he’s going to use and how to apply it. Attached File Attached File Attached File Photos don’t really do it justice, I’ve spent hours hunting down every little defect, tiny gouges, scratches from sand paper, tiny bits of paint or epoxy, working them all out. |
|
While he’s getting the stock finished, I’m polishing and blueing the trigger guard, charging handle, action screws, and re-polishing the barrel.
We were having issues with the trigger, losing the first stage and the wall, ending up with a muddy, long single stage that was inconsistent. We worked the problem, eliminating stock and action screw issues, isolated it to the scope mount. with the two rear screws installed, at almost any torque, we created the problem. We determined that with the front screws torqued and the rear screws out, I could get a 7 thou feeler gage under the rear of the mount, so we knew we were torquing the receiver. I tried various brass shims, adding up to 35 thou, still couldn’t get it working right. My buddy finally had the bright idea to call the scope base manufacturer, RSI, and they knew immediately what the problem was and offered an easy fix. Turns out the rear of the K-31 receiver is very thin, and flexible, which we knew, and tolerance stacking being what it is, the slight variations between the mount dimensions and the receiver dimension's often create a change in the receivers shape, which the base manufacturer described as “ making it egg shaped. “ This changes the bolts position in the rear of the receiver, right where the sear is in contact, which changes the dynamics of the sear-firing pin interaction. The fix was simple, the manufacturer said to put a bushing under the two rear screws to remove contact with the rear of the receiver everywhere except directly where the screws are. I had some shim stock and added enough to get a few thousands clearance and the issue immediately went away and trigger function returned to normal. We shimmed where the blue is to relieve pressure on the yellow areas; only in the rear, the front two screws are solidly torqued to 40 inch pounds on the much heavier front of the receiver. Attached File So hopefully that is the last major issue to be addressed, and once the stock is finished, and all the final polishing and blueing done, we will be ready for final assembly and some serious load development. |
|
|
Final polish and blue on the trigger guard.
Attached File Polished the bolt and buffed it out as well. Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File |
|
Working on the charging handle as well;
Right now I’m polishing the handle, two pieces that appear to be riveted on, so a bit of a pain. My buddy says he has seen photos of these apart, and thought they had a spring and a way to disassemble them. Look riveted to me. If anyone knows how to get them apart I’d be happy to hear it One side buffed out. Attached File Attached File After they are shiny I will blue the rest of the handle. |
|
@PR361
The nub in the center of each of the charging handle is the head of the rivet. Excellent work thus far. |
|
|
Quoted: I guess the 96/11s & the 1911 have the wooden bolt knobs. View Quote Not wood. Or unless it was replacement pieces. Originals are some sort of "plastic" or hard rubber that would crack and chip with age. Replacements were available for these and that's probabley what this guns owner saw. The K31 used aluminum pieces to avoid needing replacements. |
|
Quoted: Working on the charging handle as well; Right now I’m polishing the handle, two pieces that appear to be riveted on, so a bit of a pain. My buddy says he has seen photos of these apart, and thought they had a spring and a way to disassemble them. Look riveted to me. If anyone knows how to get them apart I’d be happy to hear it One side buffed out. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/195613/E24604CE-AAF8-44AD-811D-6B90AAE07C1F_jpe-2225163.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/195613/713A2C21-C5A3-4721-A0F7-5B44AF031C44_jpe-2225164.JPG After they are shiny I will blue the rest of the handle. View Quote You pretty much have to destroy them to get them apart. Wyss Waffen does make replacement aluminum knobs in several colors. Attached File |
|
Quoted: You pretty much have to destroy them to get them apart. Wyss Waffen does make replacement aluminum knobs in several colors.https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/489357/68D8B5D0-64FF-4233-97C1-201871B8B5FC_png-2226620.JPG View Quote Those are cool, I could see a pair in anodized blue for this rifle. Almost looks as if they have rubber O rings on them, perhaps to take a little of the sting out if you are slapping the action in a hurry? |
|
Saturday Night update.
Clear coat is going on the stock, Owner is handling that. Coat one Attached File Coat two Attached File Think he’s planning seven or eight coats with wet sanding in between, the last two will be two part clear coat with a hardener. After curing it will be buffed with polish. The goal is a very slick , bag riding finish. And shiny! All that’s left for me is to finish blueing the charging handle and action screws, and re-polish the barrel. Having fun with my Lathe, I made him a custom bore guide. Every custom rifle should have one. Attached File Attached File Attached File |
|
Great project so far.
How many hours do you think you guys have got in it? Definitely a lot of work, glad it's looking good. |
|
Can't wait to see the finished project!
I hope you show us some of the groups once he gets some loads dialed in. |
|
|
I would not even hazard a guess how many hours.
It’s been ongoing over a year; an evening here, a couple hours after work, a day off spent getting something major done. By three guys. I have untold hours sanding, polishing, blueing. The Bore guide took me two evenings after work, three or four hours. But that’s the way it is for amateurs, we are learning how as we go. The bore guide is something that’s been floating around in my head since before I had my lathe, fruition finally, but for someone else! Now I have to make some for MY rifles! Bob, we’ll be sure to post through load development; no point in doing all this work and not showing how it turned out! The whole point was to see how accurate a rifle we could build in a K-31 action. Gotta see where it goes! |
|
Figured out he’s going to need a Loooooong cleaning rod…. Attached File
|
|
|
|
Quoted: I smell some backstory here... Did someone leave a cleaning rod in a barrel and send it downrange with a bullet? View Quote Holy crap the stem had broken off inside the barrel and I had shot it out with the first round. oops now back to the K-31 story... |
|
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.