[Glock Glockler]

I had the distinct pleasure of firing one of these this weekend, absolutely loved it, but I don't like the price or scarcity of the Swiss round, did they ever make these in .308?

Thanks

[El Rojo]

They technically are in .308. The bullet diameter is .308. From my perspective, as accurate as these guns are, I would get one anyway. You are going to have to spend an arm and a leg for 500 brass, but once that is done, you will have little other cost. 500 brass for a K-31 should last a life time unless you shoot a 100 rounds a weekend. If you already shoot .308, you already have the bullets, the powder, and the primers for 7.5x55 Swiss. As far as I know, no one has made a .308 Winchester conversion.

[Sir Galahad]

Some of the nicest milsurps are in rare calibers. Luckly for me, I like Mosin Nagants! :D I got a Finn M-39 and that opens up a whole new ballpark in Mosin shooting!

[Preacherman]

I'm in the process of having a K31 converted to .308. A local gunsmith, who's pretty darn good at rifle work (he's built a number of VERY nice custom rifles from the ground up) is willing to do the re-chambering and barrel set-back for $150. If all goes well, it should give me the great action and heft of a K31 with readily-available low-cost milsurp ammo.

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

I saw several Swiss rifles on a rack at a gunshow maybe 10 years ago; they had been converted to .308 Winchester by the gunsmith who was working said table. IIRC they were priced in the $450. US range. The rifles were probably K31's. I don't remember much about them anymore, but the workmanship was decent on the setback.

I'm not sure I'd undertake such a project these days, but I've been known to change my mind and do odd things before.

Regards,
Rabbit.

[Mike Irwin]

K31s have a significantly stronger action than the 1911s, and should be able to handle the conversion without too much trouble.

1911s used to be offered in a number of conversion calibers. I wouldn't want to fire one converted for .308.

As an alternative, you can form cases from .284 Winchester.

[Ian]

The gun shop I worked for this summer had a converted .308 K-31 on the rack for several months. The asking price was $175, but not many people were looking at it. I think it finally sold in mid August...

[swingset]

If you buy a K-31, just handload for it.

You can get the brass fairly cheaply, especially .284 Win which can be easily reformed. The bullets are cheap, common .30 caliber bullets (308's), and if you neck size your brass will last forever (and you'll be more accurate).

The cost of the reloading stuff is probably the same as a conversion, and won't destroy the value of the gun.

[Detritus]

the concept of rechambering a straight pull rifle to use a HIGHER pressure round, than it was designed for, even if that rise in pressure is only slight, gives me the heaping willies!!!

and since as others have pointed out it isn't difficult to get good reloading components i see no need to.
somewhere I read that another route is to find a source of the cheap, (i think) portugese made, boxer primed, 7.62x55, take it to the range and blast away at close range (stuff is truly sucky accuracy wise the article said), and use the brass for your handloads.


Anyone know if there is a load manual that lists (and marks as such) a duplicate of GP11??

[0007]

K-31 over on assaultweb.net says that the K-31 action is more then strong enough for the .308 round. It's completely different then the 1911 action. The problem arises in the conversion because of some odd shoulder angles on the bolt/receiver interface apparently. That said, I'm in the process of having one converted. I started the job before I found out that there were sources for boxer-primed brass. Oh, well, I'll guess keep my other one original. :D

[Andrew Wyatt]

the concept of rechambering a straight pull rifle to use a HIGHER pressure round, than it was designed for, even if that rise in pressure is only slight, gives me the heaping willies!!!


Why?

[Detritus]

the possibility (even a remote one) of over-stressing the lock-up, and eatign the bolt maybe the K-31s have a bolt system that allows it, but for my own peace of mind i'd rather just not do it.