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Legacy Member
After 20 years of running accuracy matches for as issued military rifles each weekend with about 300 different shooters and every military rifle , I did not see the K-31 as the most accurate rifle ever . They shot well but never dominated the matches . None of our match records were held by a K-31 , 100 yard bench group size , top score , 200 yard , rapid fire , sniper , to name some . There are a few reasons people feel the K-31 is so accurate . First GP-11 ammo is very good ammo and most other rifle types do not have loaded ammo of this grade to use and need good reloads to shoot well and most people can not reload accurate ammo for military rifles . Also K-31's were all checked for wear and rebarreled if needed before storage and are in excellent condition , that can not be said for most other type rifles . And last most people do not shoot old iron sighted military rifles well enough to see a major difference . The only time we had to separate a rifle type was it just was not accurate enough to compete with the others and enough people had that type and wanted to shot them . Two types that come to mind were the Enfield's [ nobody ever got one to be competitive in a pure accuracy match ] and the Type 99 [ the large dia peep sight just did not allow for benchrest accuracy ] . Both did do well in speed or combat type matches . It took a pair of sub 1 inch 5 shot groups at 100 yards shot on demand to win most of our matches and we had many shooters that could do that with about any type of military rifle . That is 5 on demand , no do overs , not the best five of 8 , not the best ever shot once . Also we were shooting for score , so the group had to be in the X ring to win the match .
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02-11-2021 09:17 AM
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Legacy Member
After a few years our matches got very competitive . The top finishers were also the best reloaders . Good ammo could always beat the best shooter with average ammo . The top finishers would shoot about 100 to 300 rounds of reloads in load testing before the match .
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Contributing Member
That would be beyond my possibilities
34a cp., btg. Susa, 3° rgt. Alpini
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Legacy Member
A lot of our shooters were very serious and had the time and budget . We had many national ranked CMP , Benchrest and Sil shooters that got into the military rifles . One guy was retired and spent every day at the range and his reloading budget was close to six figures . I run a ballistics lab and custom rifle shop [ some benchrest rifles ] . So you can see how they got really good at it .
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Contributing Member
I can imagine. My problem is simply time and also available space (ranges) for that. If I had the time, I'd have to drive 80 km to the only range which is open every day. Otherwise I'd have Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning (but this range, Sunday's, would be over 60 km from home).
The only relatively close one is where I usually go, Saturday afternoon. 40 km.
That is really a problem...
The guys from the shooting team there are all retired folks and last year they offered me a place in the team. But they are there every Saturday and they all live closer than me to the other range, that is always open.
And the shooting contests are all over northern Italy just for the first rounds, with some places, like Tuscany, where you need 6 or more hours to reach the range.
With my job (before Covid), I was out traveling on average 4 days a week, so I never felt like taking shooting that seriously. Now i'm home 4 days a week, exactly the opposite, which would make it possible.
My problem is probably that I just like to shoot all my rifles, so I never use the same more than two or three times in a row.
I shoot well, but will never get to very well like this...
I'll have to accept this and remain a shooter who is trying to become some kind of a collector.
And still, there are just the guys from the shooting team beating me at "my" range. And not always.
Bragged enough, I go buy the birthday present for my wife. Tomorrow's the day!
Cheers folks!
34a cp., btg. Susa, 3° rgt. Alpini
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Legacy Member
I quit benchrest shooting because it was so much work it became a job , not fun anymore . The military rifles were much more fun . 20 years ago they were cheap and a new type was imported every week . I would buy what was showing up and then work up a load before the match . Always a different rifle . It was fun winning a match with something different like a M-95 Dutch carbine , back to back sub 1 inch groups . The strangest rifle I ever won with was a 10.35mm Vetterli rifle . It took me over a month to find a bullet and load good enough to be competitive . It was not the smallest groups , but they were dead center on the 10 ring and the big bullet hole does help to cut scoring lines and add points .
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