Swiss K31 or Nagant 1891/30

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jedi

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Okay with all of your help I have narrowed it down to these two. Basically I will be using this as an introduction to rifles. Been a handgun shooter for a while and I figured I'll give the long guns a try and I wanted to try something cheap early on to see what I may be interested in and the surplus rifles seemed a good idea. Out of these 2 which is the softer recoiling and which is the more accurate? Oppinions on all of this are welcomed.
 
The K31's are more rare. I've only read good things about them over at Parallax. The problem is ammo. 7.62x54 is plentiful and cheap, not so for the 7.5Swiss.

I'm leaning towards an M38 and a 1891/30. You can get both for about the price of the K31.

If you are a collector and reloader, I'd get the Swiss.
 
For the money you really can't go wrong with either.

The run of the mill Swiss is by far the more accurate of the two.

My 91/30 has less felt recoil (to me anyway) than the K31.

The 91/30 is much cheaper to feed than the K31.

The Swiss was built by the same people that built the proverbial "Swiss watch".

However the 91/30's were made in the millions upon millions while the K31 was a much smaller production run. For your money right now the K31 is the better bet. The M/N will probably still be fairly cheap for years (for when you want to get a second rifle ;) :D ). If I had to decide between just those two, my nod would go to the K31.

Greg
 
There's always the lucky exception, but K-31s are generally quite a bit more accurate than 91/30s. x54R ammo is a lot cheaper, but the Swiss GP11 is much more consistant ammo, some say it's even match quality.

I realize that it wasn't one of your two choices, but the Finn M39 is the happy medium. They are generally more accurate than the 91/30, some can be just as accurate as the K31. Initialy they cost more, but that price difference will be negated by the first or second case of surplus ammo you buy.

Check out the M39s at www.gunsnammo.com You can even get some of them shipped right to you without an FFL transfer. See the bottom of the page.
 
I like the K31 over the 2.
Both are equally priced depending on quality of rifle.
There are a abundant supply of the M/N out there and plenty of ammo.
The k31's seem to be drying up,from what I've seen of the various distributors the prices are going down on the K31's.I'd venture to say with the drop of quality the prices come down.So theyre going quick.Ammo is out there, there are several people out there that sells it and reloading info is out there also.So its more expensive to buy,but it wont ever disappear.
The K31 is more accurate from what I've experienced off-hand and on a rest.Perhaps its the quality ammo,I dont reload yet but the GP11 ammo is accurate.I think I bought 3 bricks of 180 rounds for $72.The brass and bullets are available.So the reloaders can assemble it cheaper.
For the price get the K31,enjoy it.Sell it to a friend if it doesnt meet your needs.Then go after the M/N.
I have both, shoot the K31 more than the M/N.I shoot with a shoulder pad so felt recoil is minimal from both.
Good luck and enjoy the nostaliga.
 
What DMK said.

Do you reload? If not, the Finn M39 is the way to go. Famously accurate, and cheap to feed. You're gonna regret buying the K-31 every time you buy a case of ammo. Ouch.

If you do reload, then the K-31 is a great buy. Prolly the most accurate milsurp out there, all things being equal. Neat design, too.
 
K31- the odds are very much in your favor that you'll get a good functioning gun that isn't shot out.

91/30- I've seen alot of them with rusty or shot out bores, or excessive cleaning rod wear at the muzzle.

Ammo- 7.62x54 is incredibly cheap and easy to find, though not all makes of ammo are equal- some are accurate, some are downright junk.

7.5 swiss costs about as much as a box of remington/winchester hunting ammo, but is match grade. Ammo is pretty dificult to find unless you have a store that you bought the rifle from. You will need to learn the fine art of reloading eventually.

I've shot them both, and would definately give the nod to the K-31.
 
I have a nagant paid $65 for it.
It has a little wear on the stock but it is still a good shooter.After reading about the K-31 now I'm going to have to have one of these. From what I understand tho the ammo for the k-31 is kinda high. And what kind of range does the K-31 have? Is it accurate over 600? yrds. I'm afraid I don't know that much about them. But if it's more accurate them my nagant I have to see this for myself.

Aim suplus has the K-31 for about $89.00

Dev...
 
My K31 will consistantly shoot better than any of my Mosins.

Now, if that holds true for anyone else depends on their particular guns.

The ammo is the only drawback with the K31 but that's one of the reasons I reload.

The last mil surp ammo I bought was a sixty round lot for something like $45 or so.
 
The best of both worlds (cheap and accurate) would have to be the Finnish M39 built on a mosin receiver. They generally will produce 2" groups or better with surplus ammo. At around 10 cents per round you can shoot all that your shoulder can stand!
 
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