cast bullets in K31?

Don't see why not. You already understand moderate loads, only issue I could think of is length and bullet depth. I know the GP11 round has something odd about the bullet ogive that might affect handloads and the bullet lands, but I'm sure it's no big thang. Might ask over on the Cast Boolits forum, I'm sure there's SOMEBODY shooting lead boolits out of K31's and doing it well.

I'd think finding reloadable brass would be harder than finding the right bullet.

Cast work fine and .309 would be the appropriate nominal diameter.

The K-31s have a very short throat so you'll be loading any conventional round quite short to avoid jamming the bullets into the leade. The GP-11 std FMJ rounds use an unusually long, slender bullet and a some load manuals that reference 7.5*55 suggest OALs of as much as 3.0

2.80 to maybe 2.92 or so is more realistic, depending upon the bullet profile.

/Bryan

Cast work fine and .309 would be the appropriate nominal diameter.

The K-31s have a very short throat so you'll be loading any conventional round quite short to avoid jamming the bullets into the leade. The GP-11 std FMJ rounds use an unusually long, slender bullet and a some load manuals that reference 7.5*55 suggest OALs of as much as 3.0

2.80 to maybe 2.92 or so is more realistic, depending upon the bullet profile.

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Thanks! I knew there was something odd about loading for the K31's, just couldn't put my finger on it. I'm still unhappy that the wonderful, beautiful GP11 brass is Berdan primed and not reloadable. At least not by most of us.

Yeah - while first experimenting with "The Load" and cast loads, I left a few bullets stuck in the throat and had the fun of getting the dumped powder cleaned up.

One or 2 of the Berger VLDs have a profile similar to the GP-11 and can handle the longer OAL ... all others, beware.
/B

rondog said:

I'm still unhappy that the wonderful, beautiful GP11 brass is Berdan primed and not reloadable. At least not by most of us.

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Don't know why there is so much reluctance to reload the GP-11 brass. It really isn't difficult at all to remove the spent primers from GP-11 brass. All you need is a .308 steel rod, a base to hold the brass that has a smaller hole drilled for the primer to escape when forced out by water. With this set up it only takes about 20 seconds to remove the spent primers. I have approximately 1000 cases prepped and ready to load. I use Varget and 150 gr. Nosler BT's for hunting and 168 gr. Privi Partizan and Hornady V-Max plinking and shooting holes in paper. I've lost contact with Bill over the years but it shouldn't hard to come up with a suitable holder and steel rod to remove these primers. I put the cases in warm water with dishwashing liquid and fill them to top of the mouth. Set the case in the holder, put the metal rod in the case mouth and give it a good whack with a small hammer. The spent primer goes flying out the side of the holder. I then tumble the brass in a Thumler's tumbler, dry, resize, trim the neck, prime and store until read to load. The GP-11 ammo's primers are crimped by 3 stakes. Before priming take a pocket knife or one of the chamfering tools and knock these stakes off prior to priming. If I can provide any other assistance in reloading this brass let me know.

I set the brass on top of an appropriately size socket, and use a smooth bolt as a piston.

My k31 does great with cast bullets. I use the 200 grain .309s from LEE. You do have to load them short, but that is fine because you are not lacking any space in that case... btw they cast about 205 grains using wheelweights.

So where do you get primers?

rondog said:

So where do you get primers?

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I ordered my last 5,000 from Powder Valley. Not sure if they still have them but I also found them on Dag's Ammo at the following link:

http://www.dagammo.com/shop/?main_page=index&cPath=7

He offers Berdan primers for the 7.62 x 39 also, so the ones you want for the Swiss would be "KV762N Large Rifle Berdan Primers".

Hope this helps.