What's with the K31's popularity?

Status
Not open for further replies.
N

no_problem

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2006
Messages
342
A couple of years ago, I bought a K31 for short of a hundred bills. I thought of it as another milsurp novelty. I thought it was an interesting gimmick to have the serviceman's name on a slip o' paper under the buttpad so I got one.

Well, Ammo was pricey and hard to get, so after I received it and played with it for a while, I put it away.

Seems things have changed and the K31 is more expensive now. What else is new? Is ammo more available? less expensive? Are there more K31's out there now? I'd like to know what is driving the K31's popularity.
 
The milsurp ammo is match-quality, for one, at about 90¢ a round before shipping. People pay more than that for serious .308/7.62x51. The rifles have become more scarce, and as people begin to collect, their interest drives the price onward and upward. It also helps that, wood aside, these rifles tend to be in pristine shape and just as capable as they were when issued. Scoped, in the right hands, with a bit of aftermarket trickery, it's about as good an option as one can have, without having to break out serious bucks on a wonder-stick.
 
TAB said:
its about 50 a shot.
Click to expand...

It is? Oh wait, yeah, it is. My bad math -- Widener's has it for $215 a case before shipping -- I was thinking that a case was 240 rds., not 480.

So yeah, it's match ammo for half the price of fancy .308.
 
So yeah, it's match ammo for half the price of fancy .308.
Click to expand...

At the moment they are the same price. The GP11 spec for the Swiss is "near match".

Right now there is some surplus .308 from Lithuania floating around for sale that also meets the GP11 specs. Ammoman has it at 52 cents a round shipped so it's pretty close.

So, the Swiss and .308 both to the GP11 spec are the same price, for the moment. Availability seems to swap back and forth, for a while no one had the GP11 Swiss, now it seems there is more of it.
 
Easy to reload for, you don't need brass punishing thunder loads for great accuracy, bores are almost always pristine as the Swiss never used corrosive loads, you can install a "no 'smithing, no tapping" scope mount easily, price used to be excellent, now merely quite good, excellent accuracy ... hard to dislike!
/Bryan
 
So, the Swiss and .308 both to the GP11 spec are the same price, for the moment. Availability seems to swap back and forth, for a while no one had the GP11 Swiss, now it seems there is more of it.
Click to expand...

It seems like the GP11, like a lot of ammo these days, has hit the price where it is generally available if you want some.
 
Three or four years back they were selling K31s at a $100 a rifle and the ammo at 25 cent a round for match quality and people snapped them up and found out just how accurate these things are. They have been very well looked after too, so many came in to the country in excellent to like new condition. Though the price has gone up on ammo to about 50 cents a round (even if far more commercial makers are providing it) and the rifles are between $150-200 a rifle, if you were to build such quality from scratch you would pay many times over this price. Very easy to reload too.

What is not to like?
 
i'm looking at getting one of these, and im rationalizing it this way. a) It is a MOA rifle for under $300. b) the straight pull bolt is a pretty nifty concept and c) they're in better shape than any other sub $300 rifle on the market, as they were never used in wartime
 
gun show

I can buy hunting ammo for it all day long at the gun show for around $8 a box.

Just bought some last week. Same price for the 6.5 swede and $9 for my once dropped french mas.


steve
 
Out of the milsurp rifles I've got (garand, k98, 91/30, m44) this has the sweetest trigger and accurate as can be. It also helps that it has the least worn barrel and the straight pull bolt is cool too. For a gun that I spent $130 on, it's one hell of a rifle.

Since you don't seem to have a use for yours, I'll take it off your hands for $130 :D
 
Best, most accurate out of the box ,usually under $200.00 milsurp carbine out there.Thats why they are popular.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top