can anyone tell me about the GP11 cartridge? I just bought a k31 and 50rds for $200. The metal on the rifle is near perfect. The bore is clean, bright, and sharp with a little muzzle wear. The stock is beach in overall very good shape except at the end near the top of the buttplate where it looks like a beaver was gnawing on it. I plan to repair that part my own way, thought I'd be happy to get any suggestions as to how I should do that. Anyway, the ammo was bonus and I'm wondering is it corrosive? Also I have reloading data that states .308 diameter bullets are used in this rifle. I thought the 7.5 was like .307 or something other than .308. Anyone know for sure?
K31 and GP11
- Thread starter lopezni
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TexasRifleman
Moderator Emeritus
GP11 uses non corrosive primer compounds. The stocks all look that way that I've ever seen. Apparently they did some kind of training where they kicked the buttstock with the boot.
Dunno about reloading, I haven't reloaded any 7.5 Swiss.
Dunno about reloading, I haven't reloaded any 7.5 Swiss.
the rifleer
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- Jun 24, 2008
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Its non-corrosive match grade ammo. Its probably the best military surplus ammo available. Its got bee wax around the bullet and case to help water proof it and to reduce fouling. There are people who handload who cannot make more accurate ammo than the GP11. Its .308 diameter, so any .308 bullet will work. I want to say its 174 gain, but im not sure. The cases are berdan primed so you would have to shoot some privi partizan ammo or something if you want to reload.
Chewed up stocked are common. Usually they got stuck in the snow like a shovel, then when the soldiers wanted to move they just kicked to snow off of it. I would leave it as is, thats just how k31's are. thats how mine is, but it isn't too bad.
ps- you got an outstanding deal on yours. most k31's are going for around $300 now, plus the ammo alone is worth $25 or so.
Chewed up stocked are common. Usually they got stuck in the snow like a shovel, then when the soldiers wanted to move they just kicked to snow off of it. I would leave it as is, thats just how k31's are. thats how mine is, but it isn't too bad.
ps- you got an outstanding deal on yours. most k31's are going for around $300 now, plus the ammo alone is worth $25 or so.
Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
K31s are WONDERFUL rifles. You probably will never find another one crafted as well for 5x the price you paid.
Ammo uses standard .308 bullets and you can get the brass from Graf's: www.grafs.com
Good luck making ammo MORE accurate than the GP11 (I've shot 1" groups at 100 yds. off the bench with factory iron sights with that surplus ammo), but the rifle will SHINE with a load it likes.
As for the stocks, they all look like that. I once saw a picture of a bunch of Swiss alpine troops at morning muster outside their pup tents standing at parade rest in 10" of snow on a mountain top somewhere. They had the butts of their rifles rested in the snow, against their boots. I always assumed the combination of snow and boot hobnails must have taken their toll on all those rifles.
As for cleaning them up, I did steam out a few dents on mine and went over the stock veeeeery lightly with fine sand paper (220-400 grit) just to smooth the surface, then applied a neutral oil finish. If you didn't see it before, you wouldn't know I'd touched it -- which is the point. If you don't have a light touch, and/or experience refinishing things without rounding edges and screwing up the wood-to-metal finish reveals, you'd probably be better off leaving it alone. The rifle will always be more valuable (and pleasing) in original form than if you've made detectable alteraions.
Nice buy, by the way! I paid $125 for mine about 6 years ago. Most of the time they go for well over twice that, now.
EDIT to add: You'll want to find some stripper clips, too. They are strange. Waxed cardboard with a metal lip. They look and feel flimsy and disposable, but they aren't ... and they work better than any other stripper clip I've ever used. Bizzare, and very cool!
Ammo uses standard .308 bullets and you can get the brass from Graf's: www.grafs.com
Good luck making ammo MORE accurate than the GP11 (I've shot 1" groups at 100 yds. off the bench with factory iron sights with that surplus ammo), but the rifle will SHINE with a load it likes.
As for the stocks, they all look like that. I once saw a picture of a bunch of Swiss alpine troops at morning muster outside their pup tents standing at parade rest in 10" of snow on a mountain top somewhere. They had the butts of their rifles rested in the snow, against their boots. I always assumed the combination of snow and boot hobnails must have taken their toll on all those rifles.
As for cleaning them up, I did steam out a few dents on mine and went over the stock veeeeery lightly with fine sand paper (220-400 grit) just to smooth the surface, then applied a neutral oil finish. If you didn't see it before, you wouldn't know I'd touched it -- which is the point. If you don't have a light touch, and/or experience refinishing things without rounding edges and screwing up the wood-to-metal finish reveals, you'd probably be better off leaving it alone. The rifle will always be more valuable (and pleasing) in original form than if you've made detectable alteraions.
Nice buy, by the way! I paid $125 for mine about 6 years ago. Most of the time they go for well over twice that, now.
EDIT to add: You'll want to find some stripper clips, too. They are strange. Waxed cardboard with a metal lip. They look and feel flimsy and disposable, but they aren't ... and they work better than any other stripper clip I've ever used. Bizzare, and very cool!
lots of good info here.
http://www.swissrifles.com/sr/pierre/loaddata.html
the GP 11 is great ammo but expensive.I shoot mostly handloads in my K-31 because I am cheap
.one thing on handloading for K-31's most of the reloading books have the OAL wrong
.the K-31 has a short throat and most data in the books is for the 1911 which had a longer throat.
the U.S. G.I. 173 gr match bullet is a excellent one for reloading again just watch the OAL of your rounds.
pete
I liked the round enough to buy one of these to go with my K-31.T/C custom shop made a run of 21 barrels for the encore in 7.5X55 swiss.this one was #11.
pete
http://www.swissrifles.com/sr/pierre/loaddata.html
the GP 11 is great ammo but expensive.I shoot mostly handloads in my K-31 because I am cheap
.one thing on handloading for K-31's most of the reloading books have the OAL wrong.the K-31 has a short throat and most data in the books is for the 1911 which had a longer throat.the U.S. G.I. 173 gr match bullet is a excellent one for reloading again just watch the OAL of your rounds.
pete
I liked the round enough to buy one of these to go with my K-31.T/C custom shop made a run of 21 barrels for the encore in 7.5X55 swiss.this one was #11.
pete
Since you're new to that caliber you might not realize that the GP11 are Berdan primed so, you'll need regular Boxer brass for reloading.
The GP is 174gr as speculated above ... lots of reloading data on the Swiss forums for plinker loads with lead heads up to 175 SMKs. As cautioned above, the OAL for reloads is a lot shorter than the GP11 which has an unusually long, thin taper on the bullet. I think I ended up around 2.93 OAL as kissing the rifling.
/Bryan
The GP is 174gr as speculated above ... lots of reloading data on the Swiss forums for plinker loads with lead heads up to 175 SMKs. As cautioned above, the OAL for reloads is a lot shorter than the GP11 which has an unusually long, thin taper on the bullet. I think I ended up around 2.93 OAL as kissing the rifling.
/Bryan
I have two K31 in original condition landing probably today (and a sporter that I picked up last week). I paid $200 and $175 for them (and $119 for the sporter) and consider them to be a heck of a good deal. It seems that lots of folks leave the buttstock dings be. I think that Sam1911 has offered some good advice if you chose to "restore" the stock. IMO the best restorations are the ones where you can't tell that a restoration has been done. That calls for a very light hand with less being more.
The aforementioned Swiss Rifle Forum is an outstanding source of info as are some of the other milsurp forums on the issue of proper restoration techniques and restoration attitudes.
One other issue with the ammo, some ranges do not allow the shooting of the GP11. It won't pass the magnet test.
The aforementioned Swiss Rifle Forum is an outstanding source of info as are some of the other milsurp forums on the issue of proper restoration techniques and restoration attitudes.
One other issue with the ammo, some ranges do not allow the shooting of the GP11. It won't pass the magnet test.
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