So this weekend I went out to the range with a few rifles... A Swiss K31, M1 Garand, and a Lee Enfield No 4 Mk2 to mostly blast away with and to allow the barrel on my 1903a4 build to cool between groups as I start to play with different loads.
The Garand and No 4 were essentially just throw away shots and I didn't really even try to seriously aim. The Garand honestly probably won't see much action in the long run. It's fun, but in terms of milsurp rifles I prefer bolt action guns and because, for as much as the Garand is crowed about I've never found them to be very accurate without more work than it's worth. But the K31 is something else. I always found the straight pull actions of Swiss rifles odd and kinda ugly so it wasn't until recently that I dropped some money on a K31... This was my first range trip with it and all I had was cheap PPU on hand. I took the time to zero it, finding I had to raise the rear sight to 400 for POA/POI but that windage was dead on. I then went thru 3 boxes of PPU at 100 meters off hand. Even with this cheap ammo I was easily hitting a 6 inch plate! I didn't shoot for groups but I probably should have. I now get why these rifles have such a following... I'm sold on the K31!
The No. 4 is a recent mint and virgin Mk2 I picked up a little while back. It only has about 120rds thru the barrel so far and at this point I'm not worrying about accuracy yet. Good thing too as my generic 174gr reloads shot horribly. I'll put another 80rds thru her before I start to seriously look at accuracy and round recipes.
But the real reason I went out this time is I'm starting to play with accuracy loads for my 1903a4 build. This rifle is built off a recovered Remington receiver and is barreled with a 1943 2 groove barrel. I have a Hi-Lux/Malcolm repro 2.5x G82 scope. I went out with 5 different load recipes, all using Nosler brass and loaded with IMR4350 with 168gr Sierra Match King pills. I shot 3 5-shot groups using powder charges of 48.8, 50.6, 52.4, 54.2, and 55.5 The best charge (50.6) gave me an average of 1.18 MOA from the 3 groups, with a best group of 1.02! For such a thin barrel and an anemic scope that's pretty damn good. I have no intention of competing but I've always heard from Vintage Sniper shooters that for an a4 you want at least 1.5 MOA to be competitive. Next time out I'll tweak the charges by tenths of a grain and see if I can improve on the accuracy. After that I may or may not try different bullet weights/brands.
Overall a good day and I'm pleasantly surprised with the results.
Out of curiosity, for those with 1903a4's, what kind of accuracy do you get out of yours?
The Garand and No 4 were essentially just throw away shots and I didn't really even try to seriously aim. The Garand honestly probably won't see much action in the long run. It's fun, but in terms of milsurp rifles I prefer bolt action guns and because, for as much as the Garand is crowed about I've never found them to be very accurate without more work than it's worth. But the K31 is something else. I always found the straight pull actions of Swiss rifles odd and kinda ugly so it wasn't until recently that I dropped some money on a K31... This was my first range trip with it and all I had was cheap PPU on hand. I took the time to zero it, finding I had to raise the rear sight to 400 for POA/POI but that windage was dead on. I then went thru 3 boxes of PPU at 100 meters off hand. Even with this cheap ammo I was easily hitting a 6 inch plate! I didn't shoot for groups but I probably should have. I now get why these rifles have such a following... I'm sold on the K31!
The No. 4 is a recent mint and virgin Mk2 I picked up a little while back. It only has about 120rds thru the barrel so far and at this point I'm not worrying about accuracy yet. Good thing too as my generic 174gr reloads shot horribly. I'll put another 80rds thru her before I start to seriously look at accuracy and round recipes.
But the real reason I went out this time is I'm starting to play with accuracy loads for my 1903a4 build. This rifle is built off a recovered Remington receiver and is barreled with a 1943 2 groove barrel. I have a Hi-Lux/Malcolm repro 2.5x G82 scope. I went out with 5 different load recipes, all using Nosler brass and loaded with IMR4350 with 168gr Sierra Match King pills. I shot 3 5-shot groups using powder charges of 48.8, 50.6, 52.4, 54.2, and 55.5 The best charge (50.6) gave me an average of 1.18 MOA from the 3 groups, with a best group of 1.02! For such a thin barrel and an anemic scope that's pretty damn good. I have no intention of competing but I've always heard from Vintage Sniper shooters that for an a4 you want at least 1.5 MOA to be competitive. Next time out I'll tweak the charges by tenths of a grain and see if I can improve on the accuracy. After that I may or may not try different bullet weights/brands.
Overall a good day and I'm pleasantly surprised with the results.
Out of curiosity, for those with 1903a4's, what kind of accuracy do you get out of yours?
