My first milsurp rifle! and a nice restoration K31

Slipery

Slipery

CGN Regular
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Location
Ottawa, Ontario
I picked this old gal up a little while ago and though it was worthy of a full restoration, i did all the work myself and just took my time with it (stripped, steamed and sanded along with any steel parts that needed to be surfaced and re-blued) . I made a cheek riser for the rifle because it wasn't very comfortable using the diopters the way it was.

this is my first milsurplus rifle that i have owned and a very well put together one at that i think. I love full-stock rifles and this one is no exception!

A few guys have asked me about the diopters, they came with the rifle and they look to be a good age. there is a troop tag under the buttstock and the barrel is stamped with a P and a hammerli mark (hammer the circle) it had a bunch shooting competition stickers on it (i saved them all) and i may add them back on... seeing as how its part of the history of the rifle.

im no collector and i know a lot of guys wont like the restoration job but i plan to keep it and enjoy it. hopefully take a deer with it come fall.

thanks for having a look!







 
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My opinion on surplus restoration is as long as you dont permanently ruin it by cutting something off, and it looks good, then it's a win. Great job. You just gave her another 50 years of service. While I appreciate an original , untouched war relic, it is also nice to see ones that look new.
 
Hitzy said:
All good, and you probably found out Beech is not the easiest to refinish, it's an odd wood for staining.
Click to expand...

It doesn’t take stain well but I knew that going into it. Biggest thing was getting all the oils and dents out of the stock before the stain so it takes as evenly as possible. The stock was pretty much much white after I finished stripping and getting all the oils out.
 
Now you need to get on the either swissrifles.com or the Swiss weapons forum of gunboards where the rest of us, Diopter included, hang out.

Lucky you for surplus ammunition - there hasn't been any here in UK for years - I've been reloading for my K11 and K31 as a result. Prvi Partizan is quite good, but around 200 fps slower than GP11 - it's also CAN$1.30 a shot.

BTW, if you are new to Swiss schtuff, there are a couple of things that you might be unaware of - NO oil - the Swiss use a light natural grease since at least 1889 on all the moving parts, and diopter can give you the accurising method to get the best out of your new rifle.
 
I opened this thread with some trepidation thinking the worst lol. Great job though!! What bluing method did you use? Have pics of the before? Did you do much sandind on the stock?
 
Wow, very nice restoration! Makes one appreciate how gorgeous these rifles must have been when they were newly made (not that I don't also appreciate the character a rifle has from decades of use). :)
 
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