General recoil question

I have used all kinds of rifles but recently got into Mausers and boght 2 98's and also picked up a K31 swiss straight pull rifle and built a 20" bbl 8x57 mauser and 22" bbl 9.3x62 mausers and built the K31 into a scout rifle with an 18.5" bbl.

After about a year I finally got them all set up and was test firing and sighting in with some factory loads.

The two I was shooting was a 8x57 mauser with a 20" replacement barrel that weighs roughly 9.3# and the K31 swiss with a 18.5" barrel that weighs roughly 8.8#.

Both are in Boyds stocks with Limbsaver recoil pads and roughly the same stock geometry.

Was using Prvi 8x57 ammo with 196 gr bullets with an advertised vel of 2200 FPS out of a 24" bbl (mine is 20")
Other was grafs 7.5x55 Swiss loaded with 168 gr amaxes with an advertised velocity of about 2760 out of a 26" bbl.

If I do a recoil calc the 8x57 mauser comes in at about 13# or so and the K31 at about 15-16# but the K31 feels more like 25#+- or like a real heavy 30-06 load.

The Mauser is a pleasure to shoot at that low velocity, but the K31 kicks like a mule. Shot about 10 7.5x55 K31 rounds yesterday and my shoulder is still sore and I was standing.

I used to have a 338-284 with a 19" bbl Savage in a tupperware stock and loaded it with 210 gr TTSX bullets, and to me it seems like the K31 kicked about the same but actually I thought that the K31 should have had less recoil than my old 338-284.

I assume this is probably due to the bore height above stock, Comb angle which is very slightly different, and mostly the barrel length.
Guess it could be the powder they used also.

Also from what I have read the K31 kicks far harsher than any of the US milsurp rifles one fellow had fired (M1 Garand, M1903, M1903A3, Model of 1917).

Its basically almost identical to a 30-284 wildcat.

I do remember when I cut my 338-284 barrel down from 24" to 19" it turned into a jumpy little ba$tard and the recoil seemed more harsh.

Since the K31 is primarily a woods gun I think I will load it with some 200 gr round nose bullets at about 2100-2200 with a slower powder and see how that does.

Any comments welcome.

Sounds like yer just a glutton for punishment......;)

Hey... do you recognise this?http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48...pshhpot2m5.jpg

LOL - Yes, lately, I have to torture myself on a regular basis with oddball guns, but working on these Mausers although frustrating was satisfying in the end and they have some history. A Savage is about 10x ++ easier to work on and modify.

Actually this entire adventure started due to the fact that I wanted a control feed .473 bolt gun and one thing led to another.

The K31 is such an oddball rifle and unique that I still cant decide if I like it or not. That means will I actually use it regularly or not.
It is an extremely fast action, very smooth and has a 6 round mag and a very very nice trigger. I would like it much better if it was a 6.5 or 7mm though. Top eject so scoping it is a bit of a challenge but I ended up mounting a XS scout rail on the barrel.

The safety is way to odd for me to really like and not a quick safety.

Freekin K31 kicks like a mule though with the Grafs 168 gr loads. Will hand load it and back off a bit.
Have some 135 gr Copper raptors so that should tame it a bit.

Not sure, but when you handload, would a slower powder make any noticeable difference? Change a kick to a push?

I was thinking that. The powder in the grafs rounds is a ball powder.