7.5 Swiss loading info?

[Don Gwinn]

Been playing with my K31 a bit lately, and I'd like to get into the 7.5 Swiss business. I think I found dies, but I'm a bit at a loss for slugs and loading info.

I remember from a few months back that 7.5 is the same as some common American caliber, but I can't think which one. Pretty sure I can find that one again.

Does anybody out there load 7.5 Swiss? Can you advise me on what a safe starting load would be, and which powders have given you the best results?

I'm not really interested in the upper ranges or maximums, as I'm really only loading my own to save money and find the most accurate load. Unless I have to push the speed hard to get the best accuracy, I don't care about speed.

This will be my first experience loading rifle cartridges; I learned on .45 acp, which is pretty forgiving. You might say I'm a bit nervous.

 

[Johnny Guest]

Hello, Don - - -

Good to see you here, too.

This may well be a case of the blind leading the blind. An old college pal talked me into getting on board the K-31 bandwagon with him, and I must admit, it's kinda fun. So, John and I went partners on a set of dies and some brass. I have NOT yet handloaded a single round, though.

1. The Hornady Handbood of Cartridge Reloading. Fourth Edition, Vol. 1, has a section on the 7.5 Swiss--pp. 304--308. It looks as if there's no problem working up some loads that would equal and possibly exceed the .308 Win (7.62x51 mm.)

2. The bullets used, regardless of the 7.5 designation, are the very common .308" bullets (7.62 mm) used in .30'06, .308, .30-30, .300 mags (all) and several others. I'll probably start out with the 165 gr bullets, most likely Sierra.

3. Lots of interesting information and discussion to be found at theSwiss Rifle Forum, at
http://pub125.ezboard.com/fcollectorguns35625frm1
It also has links to a couple of other good sources.

4. Do you have a stock of boxer-primed brass. I gather that, for some time, about the only type readily available was Norma brass--Very expensive as loaded ammo, and difficult to locate as Norma empty brass. Hornady/Frontier is now marketing both empty brass and loaded ammo. still not cheap, but less expensive than Norma.

5. I have only scratched the surface of this interesting rifle and cartridge. Maybe several of us will learn together.

Best,
Johnny

 

[Steve Smith]

Couldn't start with something easy like .45 acp or .308, huh?

 

[Don Gwinn]

I DID start with .45!
Now I want to shoot my Swiss Watch, but ammo is expensive.

I do have a small stock of Portuguese INDEP ammunition, which is Boxer primed. The trade off is that INDEP is Boxer but inaccurate compared to GP11. Swiss GP11 is supposed to be fantastic stuff, but is Berdan primed. Once I shoot up the INDEP, I'll have boxer brass ready to go.

Thanks for the heads up on the Hornady book. Apparently Sierra also has data on the 7.5x55, but the only manual I had handy was a Speer. Have to pick up the other two, which is no big deal 'cause I'll surely need them for something else sooner or later.

Lee dies are cheap and easily available, so that's no problem.

And I found what looks like a fantastic resource:
http://www.stevespages.com

He has all kinds of info, and if you go to calibers, then .308, you can find 7.5 Swiss loads with different powders for several bullet weights.

 

[Gewehr98]

Hi, Don, Steve!

Glad to see familiar faces!

Don, PM me and I'll send you what I've worked up for my M1911 Schmidt-Rubin. You should have no problem loading for your K-31, once you find a good source of boxer-primed brass. As it turns out, Federal is supposed to be making a big lot of the stuff fairly soon.

Your K-31 will shine with handloads. I've settled on 168gr Sierra MatchKings with my rifle, IMR4895 powder, and Norma brass. 175gr MatchKings aren't a slouch in the accuracy department, either.

 

[Gewehr98]

Before I forget...

Pierre over at the swissrifles.com forum has a lot of good info regarding all variants of the Swiss Schmidt-Rubin.

 

[Inspector Callahan]

Great thread.

 

[Watchman]

Gewehr98...

Snce Ive got bitten by the Misurp bug, I too have been looking for some decent loads.

That is one accuate rifle with the swiss match but there has got to be a cheaper way !

Would you mind PMing me with your load data also ?

I was told that one could use .284 brass, but I cant even locate any of that...

Thanks !

 

[Gewehr98]

Ask, and ye shall receive!

Gives folks a good look at the Microsoft Access load database I use, too:

 

[Gewehr98]

Crap-ola!

It would appear my Geocities/Yahoo webserver is having trouble transmitting images larger than 100K right now.

Regardless, the load I worked for my 1911 Schmidt-Rubin was 42.0 grains of IMR4895, Winchester Large Rifle primers, Norma 7.5x55 brass, 168gr MatchKings seated out to 3.05" OAL. Not a real barn-burner in the velocity world, but it shoots quite comfortably in the old girl, and is easy on the expensive brass.

 

[Watchman]

Thankyou my friend. Good to see you on this board.

 

[Johnny Guest]

Hey, Gewehr98 - - -

Thanks for the load - - -I'll be trying that one out.

Is the MS database a pre-fab or did you set it up yourself? I'd like to have that or something similar to store my load data. My notebooks and marginal noted in load manuals are looking pretty ratty!

Best,
Johnny

 

[Gewehr98]

Johhny, if you'd like it, let me know.

And anybody else who wants to use their investment in Bill Gate's fortune for load data logging. I can send it email to whoever requests.

I didn't build it. I did modify it a goodly amount, but a friend of mine when I was stationed back in California came up with it. It's been a part of my reloading room's setup ever since. (Yup, I even set up a dedicated computer in there for the purpose of reading TFL, running Load From A Disk, Sierra's Infinity software, gun inventory spreadsheet, and this Access reloading database. Wife says I need more daylight...)

 

[Gary H]

Thanks.. would love a copy

Haven't managed a useful freebee since I was three years old. Still have the train set and my fiftieth is next month...ahhhg

I haven't shot my K31, because I have yet to shoot my two .308's. Time willing, I will be reloading for the K31.

Heard that Starline would be making brass. Has anyone seen the Starline 7.5 Swiss?

Email: [email protected]

THANKS>>>> Gary

 

[Gewehr98]

Gary...

Check your email. 700+ K, hope Earthlink will let it go through.

If there's enough interest, perhaps I can set up the file on a file server somewhere?

 

[Gewehr98]

Oops!

Forgot to add, Johnny, you have email, too.

 

[Gary H]

Gewehr98

In this age of security, my Email program, Outlook, won't allow .mbd files to be received as an attachment. I suspect that others will be in the same boat. If you can resend as a .txt, then I can change it when saving.

I really appreciate the program. It will relieve me of a much less agreeable solution. Also, should many folks want the program, I'll be happy to help with the distribution. Almost like a phone tree.

 

[Gewehr98]

Gary, how about another alternative?

I can make it into a ZIP file, which would save on transmission space, and Outlook shouldn't have a conniption, right? Let me know.

 

[Gary H]

My Outlook should not have any problem with a zip file downloaded from someone smart enough to spell koniptionnn.

 

[Gewehr98]

Aw, heck, I'm not that well-educated.

I learned how to spell conniption from a cartoon in a copy of Smithsonian Magazine:



Check your email again, the file should be there!

 

[Johnny Guest]

G-98 - - -

Much obliged. Gonna have someone else help me with extraction and loading.

You wrote: " learned how to spell conniption from a cartoon in a copy of Smithsonian Magazine . . . ."

What? You never followed the cartoon adventures of "Rick O'Shay" and friends, set around Conniption, Montana? Cartoonist Stan Lynde did it for many years. Beautifully drawn guns. Lynde is/was a firearms enthusiast and threw in a LOT of pro RKBA stuff.

thanks again - - -

Gary H - - - I didn't think Star Line made rifle brass except for a couple of black powder numbers. I'd like to learn I'm wrong about that.

Johnny

 

[444]

Does anyone know the numbers on the standard Swiss service load ?

I also own two K31s that I seldom shoot and haven't gotten around to loading for yet. Which is a shame since they are really nice rifles. This thread is going to motivate me to take one out in a day or two. I have a small stockpile of ammo. Norma, and Swiss milsurp. I would love to get a few hundred brass and a set of dies. I never bothered with the dies because there was no brass (actually very little brass).

 

[Don Gwinn]

I've never tried the .284 brass trick (obviously, since I haven't done any loading for this caliber) but I have heard that the rim is not quite as large or robust as the 7.5x55. It's safe, but extraction can be a problem with the .284 cases. I got the impression that this was a stopgap when it was very hard to find the imported Swiss and Portuguese ammo.

If either Starline or Federal makes brass, I will certainly buy some. I don't have much of the INDEP, and although it's cheaper than GP11 it's still awfully dear for my tastes. But then, I'm used to handloaded .45.

 

[Clark]

The 284 brass is works well for me.

The 7.5 Swiss dies are not so good for the K-31, as they resize the shoulder when I try to neck size.

 

[Gewehr98]

Ah, Cerro-Safe...

When the truth really needs to be known!

Used it once to figure out what a surplus Arisaka had been rechambered to. Good stuff!