Reloading 7.5 Swiss

[dak0ta]

Hi,

I have a couple of questions about reloading for a Swiss K31, I'm brand new at this.

I'm fond of the Lee dies because they are more economical.

My first question is, If I have 7.5 Swiss brass, what kind of die should I get? The FL or Neck die set? What if I want to convert .284 brass? Which die set?

Also, what kind of Lee Reloader Kit should I get? I probably will be reloading ~100 rounds, and time is no factor. Single or turret? And which one in their catalog.

Lastly, do RCBS,Redding,Hornady dies work on Lee Presses and vice versa?

Thanks.

 

[R.W.Dale]

For any straight pull rifle you'll avoid a world of headaches if you ONLY full length resize. neck sizing for anything other than a turnbolt rifle is just asking for problems.

 

[wrench]

I use lee dies for 7.5 swiss, they work fine. I do full length size, as krochus says.
Generally, lee, hornady, rcbs etc dies are interchangable in presses. I use a single stage rcbs press for rifle rounds, and I have dies from just about every maker.
Go over here:
http://theswissriflesdotcommessageboard.yuku.com/
and read around a bit, lots of reloading info for that caliber.

 

[Canuck-IL]

Most all your answers in one site .... there is a good reason to use the Redding dies over Lee et al.
http://www.surplusrifle.com/swissk31/index.asp

the reloading link is on the right.
/Bryan

 

[dak0ta]

I read on surplusrifle.com that the only type of dies that will work for K31 are Redding. Has anybody tried the RCBS and Lee Dies and had success?

 

[cracked butt]

RCBS work fine, though they might work the brass a little more than the Redding dies.

I read on surplusrifle.com that the only type of dies that will work for K31 are Redding.

Redding dies are supposedly cut for a K-31 chamber while Lee and RCBS dies are cut for a 1911 chamber. The K-31 chamber is supposedly a little bit more gererous in the shoulder area. You run into problems if you try to 'partial-resize' brass from a K-31, the case below the shoulder gets squeazed down a bit pushing the shoulder forward. This is a problem with any form of 'partial FL resizing' but the K-31 has a much tighter chamber than most rifles and will show a reloader the folly of his ways a lot quicker.

 

[dak0ta]

So I get Lee dies, I'm doomed? How could I make it all work?

 

[RyanM]

Lee dies will work fine. You'll just get far fewer loads per case and have to trim more often (same goes for RCBS and Hornady dies), because the brass will be worked more every time it's resized and fired. You'll want to watch out for split necks and cracks and things very closely. The Redding K-31 dies only extend brass life.

Oh, if you're wondering about bullets, I hear Hornady 168 gr A-MAX bullets are incredibly accurate in the K-31. They just really like them for some reason.

 

[dak0ta]

So even if I use the 7.5 Swiss brass, and resize them after shooting with the Lee/RCBS/Hornady dies, their life we be depreciated? How many rounds of reloading should I expect of these then? What if I use reformed .284 brass?

 

[cracked butt]

So even if I use the 7.5 Swiss brass, and resize them after shooting with the Lee/RCBS/Hornady dies, their life we be depreciated?

Not by much. K-31 chambers are very tight and the brass doesn't expand much- you'll work brass a lot more that is being fired in a commercial sporting rifle. Because of the tight chambers, you can't get away with things like partial resizing because the brass will not chamber. The loads used are relatively low in pressure and you won't wear out brass very fast. I haven't had any split necks so far and some of my brass has been loaded 6 or more times.

 

[realbuffdriver]

Another word of advice on reloading for the K31: Check your OAL carefully. The swiss manufactured the K31 with a very shallow throat to the chamber. Also the GP11 Swiss ammo uses a very tapered ogive on the bullet. It's great being able to use any .308 projectile, but "normal" projectiles loaded to reloading manual OAL will jam in the leade.

Don't ask me how I know...

Cheers,

RealBuffDriver

 

[dak0ta]

I'm a newb, is the shallow throat the diameter of the entrance to the bore where the bullet is seated when the bolt is pushed forward? And what is the ogive? The shoulder of the case?