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Posted: 4/3/2004 2:23:55 PM EDT
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So, I went to the range...bringing with me my new FN 50.41 (Snagged at the last gunshow, never fired, only dropped once!  ), and something I picked up for the hell of it...my 'new' Schmidt-Ruben K31.Now, mind you, I am not really a C&R guy. I mean, yah, I have garands and M1 Carbines, and a couple other old neat chintzy things (SVT-40, G-43, Johnson rifle)...but I don't really do bolt guns. They just don't do it for me. Anyway, the FAL shot great, as it should. With the bipod on, I was making one fist-sized hole at 50 yards, once I finally got the gas system tuned and the sights adjusted (shot to the right). I also bought up my L1A1, and shot both side by side...gotta say, it's much nicer to shoot them off of a bipod!  Also, the L1A1 heated up a LOT faster. Put through 60 rounds of aimed fire, and that thing is cooking. Putting 60 rounds through the HBAR 50.41..it was vaugly warm. Unfortunatly, it now has brass dings on it. Fortunatly, I can honestly say, I was the cause of every single brass ding It's nice breaking in a virgin  So, then for the hell of it..may as well check out the K31, right? My father was along with me. Put a round in, chambered a round (whoa!)..and fired. Wow! Ok. The trigger SUCKED. It truly sucked. It was mushy right up until just before it released. There was no easy way to pull the trigger in a way that gave you maximum accuracy. Hopefully, the trigger is adjustable...because it really needs adjusting. MAybe it was just that rifle? I have another one here I need to check out, maybe that one's better... The action is...whoa! It is SO different. I'm used to every other bolt-action rifle on earth; up, back, forward, down. With this, it's just..back, forward. It's slick as all hell, and ejection is definitily positive. (It ejected back, bounced off the rear of the receiver, and bounced straight up...later on, it ejected more forwards than anything). Because the action was so slick and easy, Some of the other people on the line thought I was shooting a semiauto because I was shooting too fast for a bolt-action! I was very impressed with it. Just before we were packing up for the day, one of the guys down the line came over to take a look; he had a Mauser 98k he had sporterized up there, and he was trying it out...he was trying to figure out what the heck I was shooting. He was shocked to find out I was shooting a bolt-action rifle. We talked to a bit, and I invited him to take a couple shots. I had to tell him that yes, you just push it forward to chamber...that's it, no hidden levers or anything. He hated the trigger as well, which was expected. He then looked for a lever or something to open the action...nope! Just pull it back, then push it forward again. He couldn't believe it. After the 3rd round, he was just WOW. Told him how much it ran me (like $120 or something inexpensive like that), and he almost fell over. It wasn't until I told him how much the ammo costs that he calmed down...looks like he'll be buying a couple! Takedown and cleaning are a snap. Take out the bolt, twist the bolt body and head to seperate them from the rear of the bolt and safety, wipe down with CLP, and thats about it. The extractor is a flat spring; pull it right out, clean it if you think you need to, slide it back in. Getting at the chamber is a little tough because it's hard to reach with most normal chamber brushes...or, at least, the M14 USGI one I was trying to use. The muzzle crown is nice and even. As a guy who in general does not like and has no use for bolt guns, this thing is a hoot. I'm considering buying another, making a scout scope mount for it, and shooting it scoped...I'd really like to see what it can do with glass on it. Since it's a lot faster than most conventional bolt-actions, I don't feel under-gunned with it in my hands (Gotta have more thrust per squeeze!). If you're a semi-auto kinda guy and looking for something that's easy to clean and fun to shoot, this is your ticket. Like I said, ammo's a little pricy...that's it's only downside (other than it's hopefully adjustable trigger..and if the trigger is adjustable, that downside goes away!) You can reload for it, though, as it uses .308 bullets. It's the cases that are hard to find  |
| I second what Djenkins said, I have one as well, trigger on it breaks like a glass rod...yours may be gunked up, they're not adjustable. just for fun take off the buttplate and look under it, there may be a little piece of paper in there on it you will find the name, regiment, town, and, sometimes the address of the last Swiss soldier to have been issued that rifle the paper tage in my buttplate had his old address and his old phone # !! whatever you do, don't lose this, the Swiss consider it to be the rifles "soul" and to lose it is bad juju...to say the least.check out www.swissrifles.com if you can't get the trigger to improve, those guys an help you. Hell, they can even help put you in touch with the last guy your rifle was issued to, if you have the paper tag...They also have a guy over there who has scope mounts already made for the k-31, for sale, I think they're a "scout rifle" type setup. Graf and sons has reloadble 7.5 swiss brass for sale, it made by Indept in portugal but I went the other route, using .284 Win brass and running them through a 7.5 sizing die and necking up, the win .284 brass is much better quality than the Indept is. The k-31's like the heavier bullets 168's work very well. |
Don't have on yet...tho if you google for one, you'll find a photo of one.
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