For my K31, I just ordered 480 rounds of 1979 Swiss 7.5x55 GP11 for $242.00

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hang fire

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SG, $252.00 for BC members ($265.00 non-members) for 480 rounds of 1979 7.5x55 Swiss (GP11) is a decent price.

Spotted this on SG and jumped on it, had $10.00 coupon which further dropped price to $242.00.

I really like the GP11, noncorrosive and like match ammo, the Swis knew how to do it right.

.
 
that's not a bad price, but you can get it cheaper from samco without jumping through any hoops. just fyi.
 
By all accounts GP11 is very good stuff. Strangely as a K31 enthusiast I have never fired a single round of it.

The only downside I am aware of (aside from being Berdan primed) is that the bullet's jacket is something hard like cupro-nickel or steel. One of the better shooters in our Swiss shooting club took receipt of a Steyr CISM rifle in 7.5 Swiss that he was going to use for 1000 yard shooting. The gunsmith he had scope the rifle noted throat erosion that he attributed to the use of GP11. :uhoh:
 
I just bought 240 rounds of GP11 for $300. Oh...I did get a nice 1955 beech-stocked K31 in the deal. :)
 
Mikee Loxxer said:
The gunsmith he had scope the rifle noted throat erosion that he attributed to the use of GP11.
Click to expand...

maybe there is some kind of corrosive nature to gp11 that the metallurgy of k31 barrels are impervious to, while other rifles didn't take that into account in their designs? I have never noticed anything like that in my k31 and I only shoot gp11.
 
I have heard that GP11 is at higher pressures than the K31 was designed for. Be careful! (Yes I have shot some GP11 in my K31)


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mookiie said:
I have heard that GP11 is at higher pressures than the K31 was designed for. Be careful! (Yes I have shot some GP11 in my K31)


Posted from Thehighroad.org App for Android
Click to expand...

I don't understand why the K31 would not be designed for GP11 since GP11 was the standard issue cartridge before the K31 was issued. It would seem strange if the Swiss would design a military rifle that couldn't handle their own standard military cartridge.
 
mookiie,

My understanding is that the K31 is considered a stronger action than the previous K11 (locking lugs at the front of the bolt, etc). The GP11 was designed for use in the K11 (hence the commonality in the name).

If the GP11 was designed to be used in the K11 I can't see any problem using it in the stronger K31.

Do you have a reference for your info?
 
The GP11 is designed for the 1911 rifle and carbine, and the K31. It is non-corrosive, and has never used any corrosive primer or powder since its adoption.

If there is throat erosion in that particular used Steyr rifle, who knows what caused it? It could have been the victim of poor handloading, not had the throat cut correctly, or just had a ton of rounds fired through it.

Barrels do wear out, much though we might wish that they would not.
 
The thing is that I don't believe the Steyr rifle had seen much use. Also the original owner doesn't load ammo and is a big believer in GP11. The gunsmith hired by the second owner is who noticed the throat erosion.
 
If GP-11(46K CUP) is over pressure for a K-31, then a K-31 made by Hammerli in 300Mag caliber(55K CUP) must really be over pressured. The Swiss using a cupro/nickle plated, steel jacketed GP-11, typically had a longer barrel service life for their K-31s and K-11s than our US mil 7.62 barrels. Barrel steels are much harder than mild steel jackets or mild Cu/Ni plating. There are other gunsmiths and opinions.
Mikee try some GP-11 if for no other reason to check out your handloads against the Swiss ammo. It will not be easy to best.
 
GP11 certainly is reloadable.
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Well let's be clear that it's Berdan primed preventing you from using traditional reloading methods with readily available Boxer primers.

I've seen a few different ways people have reloaded Berdan primed brass with Boxer primers and it's not without its disadvantages/challenges.
 
hang fire said:
SG, $252.00 for BC members ($265.00 non-members) for 480 rounds of 1979 7.5x55 Swiss (GP11) is a decent price.

Spotted this on SG and jumped on it, had $10.00 coupon which further dropped price to $242.00.

I really like the GP11, noncorrosive and like match ammo, the Swis knew how to do it right.

.
Click to expand...
SG? BC? SGAmmo? They list at $272 shipping.
 
I've seen a few different ways people have reloaded Berdan primed brass with Boxer primers and it's not without its disadvantages/challenges.
Click to expand...

It's also not worth it. I'd bet you'd save big by scrapping the brass, and putting those funds toward some new Starline/whatever Swiss brass.

1) Use hydraulic pressure (case full of water) to pop out primer (mess)
2) Drill out primer pocket to accept Boxer (IIRC, the Berdan primers are bigger than large-rifle-primer diameter, so even normal Boxer primers can't be used)
3) Drill out flash hole (forget if this is actually needed in conjunction with the two existing holes)

Bear in mind each of these three steps will ruin some fraction of brass, the pressures of 7.5 Swiss and neck sizing will limit case life, and the time to do this is not inconsequential. Compared to buying good price, readily available new brass, or even just more GP11, reloading it is a bad sell (so long as the brass supply holds up). Converting Berdan cases becomes economical once it becomes necessary ;)

Once it's finished, I plan to run GP11 exclusively through my STGW57, since the delayed-blowback action ruins the brass anyway; win-win :D

TCB
 
Or you could get a proper Berdan depriming tool as made by RCBS, and search for Berdan primers.

Doesn't sound like a non-pain in the rear, but neither is finding Boxer primers at the moment.
 
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