tulsamal
April 05, 2002, 10:18
I got a K-31 over a year ago from Empire Arms. That's when they were having trouble keeping them in stock even though they were selling them for $249. It seemed like a good price since I had wanted one for years and of course Empire always hand picks all the best stuff. Anyway it came and it was interesting. S/N says it was made in 1948. Came with sling and muzzle cap. The wood was beech and it was heavily indented and water damaged. The butt plate itself was all pitted and bent. I was still happy though because the metal was very nice. No rust to be seen anywhere and the blueing was somewhere in the 90's. No rub throughs anywhere to be seen. Beautiful bore with perfect rifling. And the shooting has been everything advertised for them; it is easily my most accurate milsurp with iron sights. Anyway that's what I got last year. I thought it important to list out first so I could compare it to the AIM $80 rifle.
It came a couple days ago when I was really busy with the children. I cut the box open for a quick peek and was disappointed. The wood didn't have as many dents in it as my other one but it just looked grungy. The blue on the receiver had lots of bare metal showing through. I could see rust spots all over the receiver although they did look like they were just on the surface. I pulled the bolt and took a quick peek and was amazed at the amount of junk in the bore. It was like half a century of dust or something. Almost like velvet or mold from end to end. I sighed and said, "what can you expect for $80?" I figured I finally had one I wouldn't feel guilty about drilling and tapping and maybe even refinishing anyway.
I cleaned it up last night. At first things got even worse. I pulled the stock off and discovered all kinds of spots of rust under the wood. The wood itself is kind of rubbery feeling in place so I'm going to have to work to clean it up. Then it finally occured to me that one of the reasons it looked darker was because it was walnut! Hey, first good news. Maybe I should check the serial number. I came in and ran it on the Mac and discovered I had a 1937 model on my hands. Wow, a real pre-war model. Getting better. I used up a lot of CLP and one of those super fine "rust removing" metal pads that Midway sells. Just about all the barrel and receiver rust came off. Still thin bluing in places but very solid. There was a bunch of rust growing under the trigger housing but I got it under control. That left the barrel.
I ran the brush up and down the tube a couple dozen times with CLP on it and then started with wet patches. Lots and lots of crud but it really looked like just accumulation of airborne crap rather than firing residue. More brushing, more patches. Quick peek. Wow, very nice. Strong rifling, bright finish. I don't think anyone had fired this rifle for fifty years! I'm going to rectify that situation sometime in the next few days!
So I started out disappointed but I ended up thinking my new one is even better in some ways than my old $250 one. Only problem now is I won't want to modify it either!! I'm never going to have one I feel good about drilling on! I do need to figure out what I want to do to make the stock look better.
Oh, one more thing I noticed. This puppy is numbered everywhere! I don't recall seeing this many on my 1948 model. The receiver, the bolt, the magazine, the last few numbers on the rear of the barrel, the inside of the main stock and even inside the top handguard. I'm probably even forgetting some since it seemed like I saw them everywhere. And they all match!
Gregg
It came a couple days ago when I was really busy with the children. I cut the box open for a quick peek and was disappointed. The wood didn't have as many dents in it as my other one but it just looked grungy. The blue on the receiver had lots of bare metal showing through. I could see rust spots all over the receiver although they did look like they were just on the surface. I pulled the bolt and took a quick peek and was amazed at the amount of junk in the bore. It was like half a century of dust or something. Almost like velvet or mold from end to end. I sighed and said, "what can you expect for $80?" I figured I finally had one I wouldn't feel guilty about drilling and tapping and maybe even refinishing anyway.
I cleaned it up last night. At first things got even worse. I pulled the stock off and discovered all kinds of spots of rust under the wood. The wood itself is kind of rubbery feeling in place so I'm going to have to work to clean it up. Then it finally occured to me that one of the reasons it looked darker was because it was walnut! Hey, first good news. Maybe I should check the serial number. I came in and ran it on the Mac and discovered I had a 1937 model on my hands. Wow, a real pre-war model. Getting better. I used up a lot of CLP and one of those super fine "rust removing" metal pads that Midway sells. Just about all the barrel and receiver rust came off. Still thin bluing in places but very solid. There was a bunch of rust growing under the trigger housing but I got it under control. That left the barrel.
I ran the brush up and down the tube a couple dozen times with CLP on it and then started with wet patches. Lots and lots of crud but it really looked like just accumulation of airborne crap rather than firing residue. More brushing, more patches. Quick peek. Wow, very nice. Strong rifling, bright finish. I don't think anyone had fired this rifle for fifty years! I'm going to rectify that situation sometime in the next few days!
So I started out disappointed but I ended up thinking my new one is even better in some ways than my old $250 one. Only problem now is I won't want to modify it either!! I'm never going to have one I feel good about drilling on! I do need to figure out what I want to do to make the stock look better.
Oh, one more thing I noticed. This puppy is numbered everywhere! I don't recall seeing this many on my 1948 model. The receiver, the bolt, the magazine, the last few numbers on the rear of the barrel, the inside of the main stock and even inside the top handguard. I'm probably even forgetting some since it seemed like I saw them everywhere. And they all match!
Gregg