Dave DeLaurant
Member
Ever had a rifle project that took more than one try to get right? Here's one of mine -- maybe you could share yours.
I've spent a little over three months recently working on a do-over Swiss K31 project, and am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Let me say at the outset that if I could go back about 20 years, I would have left this rifle in its original condition. I had what seemed like a good idea at the time, back when K31s were cheap and plentiful and I had two in the safe. Lately my appreciation for Swiss military hardware has grown considerably, and I've added several more rifles and a revolver to my arsenal. If I'm not careful it might eventually grow into a proper collection.
Anyway, my modified K31 wasn't restorable and I didn't really care for the way my first attempt came out. That meant I could either cut my losses or try once again so I opted for the latter course. In the first go round I had shortened the barrel, removed the military rear sight and had the receiver D&T-ed for a Redfield aperture sight. The metal finish on the barrel was pretty rough where the original rear sight had been soldered, but that didn't bother me as much as the stock. I'd originally had Richard's make me a semi-inletted walnut stock by duplicating an altered military stock; this was back before they added the K31 inlet to their regular catalog. I had ordered a full-length stock that would reach to the muzzle of shorted barrel. Sadly, when this one-off stock arrived the barrel channel inlet was both oversized and crooked. I should have just sent it back, but in the end I just shortened the forend and AcraGlased the channel. It worked, but wasn't pretty.
I decided to give Richard's another shot, this time with one of their standard patterns in gray laminate. I figured by now they would have the bugs worked out for this action. I likewise decided to have the barrelled action and a few additional parts refinished. I checked into several different options and eventually chose to go with an Armoloy (Jartex in Ft. Worth, TX) industrial hard-chrome job. I've owned several handguns plated with this finish and it's never disappointed me. Their service is quick and economical too -- the refinished parts were returned within 3 weeks, and the job cost less than Cerrokote or Parkerizing.
As an additional touch, I had wanted to install a neat oversized cocking handle I'd spotted on a Swiss website. https://lk2236.ch/en/product/k31-charging-handle/
I had some questions about ordering this and could not get an email response, so after a couple weeks I gave up trying. While I was killing time waiting for the new stock I decided to try making one myself. I bought a spare K31 op-rod from Gun Parts/Numrich to keep the original as-is. I made the handle from a stainless steel Allen screw and wingnut covered with threaded aluminum tubing. This photo is mostly self-explanatory; the bottom nut is secured with a transverse rollpin.
It makes working the bolt a bit slicker, but it's pretty bulky and better suited to the bench than the field. When desired, swapping back to the original 'beerkeg' handle takes just a few seconds.
I also looked around and found a slightly different Redfield rear sight bridge on eBay, which was a better fit dimensionally to this rifle than my original.
Once I had the new stock I spent about a month reshaping it and fitting the action. The options at Richard's were somewhat limited so I went with a stock design that required considerable modification. Since I was using iron sights, the cheekpiece and rollover comb had to be rasped off. The grip was overly long and flared for my taste, so I cut about half an inch off the bottom. I trimmed the forend back about 1" with an angled cut. I hadn't realized that the buttpad I'd ordered had a white line spacer (which I detest), but I had a plastic buttplate on-hand that required minimal fitting to swap.
As I was fitting the barrelled action, I noticed that the barrel channel had been cut several degrees to the left of center. It was a neat, straight cut, but in order to get the barrel centered in the channel I had to hog out quite a bit of wood and then reshape the exterior to match. The barrel is extremely free-floated now!
After the action and triggerguard were fitted I AcraGlas-ed in a pair of aluminum bedding pillars. The rear pillar was a little tricky since it was larger in diameter than the tang -- I needed to take care that my drillbit didn't poke clear through to the top of the stock.
So far the stock has had about 9 thin coats of TruOil finish. There are a few shaping blemishes I still need to hide, but I can come back to fix those after I've done some shooting with it. I had the ring of the Lyman Globe front sight matte chromed to provide some low-light contrast. My eyesight isn't the greatest anymore, so a little extra contrast can be a big help when aiming at a dark target.
I've spent a little over three months recently working on a do-over Swiss K31 project, and am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Let me say at the outset that if I could go back about 20 years, I would have left this rifle in its original condition. I had what seemed like a good idea at the time, back when K31s were cheap and plentiful and I had two in the safe. Lately my appreciation for Swiss military hardware has grown considerably, and I've added several more rifles and a revolver to my arsenal. If I'm not careful it might eventually grow into a proper collection.
Anyway, my modified K31 wasn't restorable and I didn't really care for the way my first attempt came out. That meant I could either cut my losses or try once again so I opted for the latter course. In the first go round I had shortened the barrel, removed the military rear sight and had the receiver D&T-ed for a Redfield aperture sight. The metal finish on the barrel was pretty rough where the original rear sight had been soldered, but that didn't bother me as much as the stock. I'd originally had Richard's make me a semi-inletted walnut stock by duplicating an altered military stock; this was back before they added the K31 inlet to their regular catalog. I had ordered a full-length stock that would reach to the muzzle of shorted barrel. Sadly, when this one-off stock arrived the barrel channel inlet was both oversized and crooked. I should have just sent it back, but in the end I just shortened the forend and AcraGlased the channel. It worked, but wasn't pretty.
I decided to give Richard's another shot, this time with one of their standard patterns in gray laminate. I figured by now they would have the bugs worked out for this action. I likewise decided to have the barrelled action and a few additional parts refinished. I checked into several different options and eventually chose to go with an Armoloy (Jartex in Ft. Worth, TX) industrial hard-chrome job. I've owned several handguns plated with this finish and it's never disappointed me. Their service is quick and economical too -- the refinished parts were returned within 3 weeks, and the job cost less than Cerrokote or Parkerizing.
As an additional touch, I had wanted to install a neat oversized cocking handle I'd spotted on a Swiss website. https://lk2236.ch/en/product/k31-charging-handle/
I had some questions about ordering this and could not get an email response, so after a couple weeks I gave up trying. While I was killing time waiting for the new stock I decided to try making one myself. I bought a spare K31 op-rod from Gun Parts/Numrich to keep the original as-is. I made the handle from a stainless steel Allen screw and wingnut covered with threaded aluminum tubing. This photo is mostly self-explanatory; the bottom nut is secured with a transverse rollpin.
It makes working the bolt a bit slicker, but it's pretty bulky and better suited to the bench than the field. When desired, swapping back to the original 'beerkeg' handle takes just a few seconds.
I also looked around and found a slightly different Redfield rear sight bridge on eBay, which was a better fit dimensionally to this rifle than my original.
Once I had the new stock I spent about a month reshaping it and fitting the action. The options at Richard's were somewhat limited so I went with a stock design that required considerable modification. Since I was using iron sights, the cheekpiece and rollover comb had to be rasped off. The grip was overly long and flared for my taste, so I cut about half an inch off the bottom. I trimmed the forend back about 1" with an angled cut. I hadn't realized that the buttpad I'd ordered had a white line spacer (which I detest), but I had a plastic buttplate on-hand that required minimal fitting to swap.
As I was fitting the barrelled action, I noticed that the barrel channel had been cut several degrees to the left of center. It was a neat, straight cut, but in order to get the barrel centered in the channel I had to hog out quite a bit of wood and then reshape the exterior to match. The barrel is extremely free-floated now!
After the action and triggerguard were fitted I AcraGlas-ed in a pair of aluminum bedding pillars. The rear pillar was a little tricky since it was larger in diameter than the tang -- I needed to take care that my drillbit didn't poke clear through to the top of the stock.
So far the stock has had about 9 thin coats of TruOil finish. There are a few shaping blemishes I still need to hide, but I can come back to fix those after I've done some shooting with it. I had the ring of the Lyman Globe front sight matte chromed to provide some low-light contrast. My eyesight isn't the greatest anymore, so a little extra contrast can be a big help when aiming at a dark target.
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