Swiss K31 vs. Remington M700

[Perplexed]

I had an interesting discussion with a friend about whether or not a scoped WW2-era Swiss K31 could beat a modern Remington M700 as far as accuracy goes, at distances of 100-500 yards. If both rifles (in standard factory guise with no accurizing mods such as bedding) are scoped using the same scope, the K31 is loaded using milsurp GP-11 ammo, and the M700 is loaded using off-the-shelf standard (i.e., not match-specific) factory ammo, what calibers in the M700 could compete with the K31? Now we're talking common calibers that you can find at Bass Pro, not esoteric calibers developed specifically for target shooting and which have to be special-ordered. I realize this is a question with rather vague parameters, but... any thoughts?

 

[Sanjuro82]

I can confirm that nice K31 shooing GP11, will in fact hold its own against ANY rifle in regards to accuracy from 100-500 yards. I've seen guys reach out past 1000 yards with the GP11 with excellent results. The K31 will embarrass a lot of $2000.00 rifles.

 

[HiredHand]

Most of the surplus GP11 that I've seen is marked match grade. I've been told from several sources its preety hard to beat with handloads. I have a feeling that the K31 can hold its own as long as the barrel is actually free floating.

 

[Perplexed]

So all else being equal, there's no way a M700 can compete with a K31 in terms of accuracy? In any caliber?

 

[HiredHand]

So all else being equal, there's no way a M700 can compete with a K31 in terms of accuracy? In any caliber?

When my friend was gunsmithing in San Diego he got to know Tim LaFrance really well. Tim told my friend that it if K31 actions where being built today it would cost several thousand dollars to build each one. The Swiss didn't slack off when they produced the K31.

As far as accuracy goes, I will say both rifles are both accurate enough to do the job they were intended to do.

 

[MoBoost]

Not every K31 I own(ed) liked GP-11: some shot well (1MOA) some shot bad (4MOA). IMHO an average remmy will be slightly more accurate than K31s, that's if you use comparable caliber.

If you can chamber 700 in 243. 22-250, 223 etc - I believe it should shoot circles around K31.

With that said, I hate Remmington and don't own any (except for the 1903(a3) models) - and I love K31s ... so I really wish K31 can beat pants off remmy.

 

[brennan]

You would have to shoot the same caliber to show the difference in rifle accuracy.
How small of a group can a K31 shoot at 100 yards?

 

[ez bake]

I don't know much about the K31 rifles, but modern-day Remington 700s lack a lot in the way of QC (I've seen MOA 700s out of the box and I've also seen 700s that couldn't hold 3 MOA with several different samples of ammunition).

It would depend a lot on which model 700, and what year it was made. Modern-day Remington Police, Tactical, and the 5R-Mil-spec rifles are pretty darn accurate (the modern-day Varmint and other heavy-barreled commercial variants are hit/miss). Remington 700s built in the 60s-70s will hold their own with just about any rifle out there (and had triggers that were amazing).


I don't know what a K31 sells for nowdays, but I've seen them on Gunbroker and such for anywhere from $300 or so to $5,000 (I've never been actively looking for one, so I've never paid much attention to their prices - they're nice guns, but I've just never been into them), but it would seriously be hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison if you spent more than $2000 on a K31 - a Remington with an action-blurprint, afte-rmarket barrel/Recoil lug, and after-market stock can be had for less than $2000.

I've got two 700s that are well under 1MOA guns and neither have more than $3000 in them with all the accessories (but only the bolt and receiver say "Remington" on them and both the receivers/bolts have been blueprinted/modified).

 

[HiredHand]

EZ, I'd bet the K31s selling for $2000+ were the K31/55 and those were the sniper versions of the K31 carbines. I'm going to assume the K31s we are talking about are the sub $200 surplus rifles.

 

[MoBoost]

CDNN just had K31s for $179+shipping: I'd put one of those against ANY $179 remington .... heheheh