Thank you, gentlemen.
For anyone unfamiliar with the K31, in the pictures the cocking piece is in the full-cocked position. To put the rifle on safe, the cocking piece is pulled back slightly further and turned 90 degrees. It is a rather awkward safety arrangement.
If I had thought of it I should have uncocked it so it didn't stick out so far, just to make it look a little more attractive in the pictures.
My friend also carved out a slip-in single-shot follower out of a scrap piece of nylon plastic that works well when shooting from the bench. This provides straight-line feeding into the chamber without the bullet touching anything on the way in.
The fired cases eject straight up and back behind the shooter, with the force controlled by the speed of the shooters hand cycling the bolt. With some practice, a K31 shooter can direct his fired brass into a properly positioned 5-gallon bucket for scrap brass. The excellent Swiss mil-surp cases are Berdan primed, so are not easily reloadable, unfortunately.
I heard about an old Swiss rifleman that would entertain onlookers by catching his fired brass in the crown of his felt fedora as he continued to shoot, acting as if he didn't notice.
