7,5x55 Swiss for Hunting

scrumbag

Well-Known Member
Hello folks,

On the off chance, has anyone any experience of using the 7.5x55 Swiss as a hunting round? The removal of French military calibre restrictions has got me thinking...

So, I'd appreciate anyone's experience / thoughts on ammunition and suitability. Had a look at the Norma website and they load a 180gr Oryx which seems to be good an paper...

So, thanks in advance for your input.

ATB,

Scrummy
 
Ahhhh tis actually much closer to .308 Winchester and even uses .38 bullets so it actually an excellent round.
 
Ahhhh tis actually much closer to .308 Winchester and even uses .38 bullets so it actually an excellent round.

Agreed. Excellent cartridge. I have eight or nine Swiss straight-pulls; four of which are K-31s which I consider one of the best built rifles in the world; military or no. They have excellent triggers and are decidedly accurate. When the K31's hit market bottom for price ($149 US) I wanted to drill and tap one for a scope and make a hunting rifle out of it but the prices bounced immediately when the supply dried up. I have a 1911 Engineer's Carbine that someone drilled, tapped, and otherwise abused already so I'm not entirely out of that idea yet. I shoot mostly cast bullets from my Swiss. They were my favorite weapon for the off hand (standing) part of the cast bullet competitions. I won a couple of the 200M shoots with a Model 96/11 and an RCBS 168 grain bullet @ around 2000 fps. I once had a Hammerli Heavy Target rifle on a K-31. Beautiful rifle, but the kids needed the things that kids need so it went. (sigh!)

But I sidetracked. Have at it! It will be a fine hunting cartridge.~Muir

PS: Can you get reloadable brass for that round? And what kind of rifle??
 
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Agreed. Excellent cartridge. <snip>

But I sidetracked. Have at it! It will be a fine hunting cartridge.~Muir

PS: Can you get reloadable brass for that round? And what kind of rifle??

Answer = yes you can.

As already pointed out it is very close to .308. If you're thinking about a Schmidt-Rubin straightpull action I'd advise cycling the bolt a few times to gauge the mechanical noise level - and it's not an action which wants to be cycled slowly/gently.
 
Answer = yes you can.

As already pointed out it is very close to .308. If you're thinking about a Schmidt-Rubin straightpull action I'd advise cycling the bolt a few times to gauge the mechanical noise level - and it's not an action which wants to be cycled slowly/gently.

I should have said, " ...brass other than Norma or PPU." which are the only available brass here. I waws thinking Swiss Military. Wasn't sure if they used Berdan priming. For years I have made 7.5x55 from 284 Winchester.~Muir
 
I should have said, " ...brass other than Norma or PPU." which are the only available brass here. I waws thinking Swiss Military. Wasn't sure if they used Berdan priming. For years I have made 7.5x55 from 284 Winchester.~Muir
I've deprimed some berdan Swiss brass and reloaded it - no problem - excellent brass and usually free!
 
So close to a 7 x 64 why bother? Remember the South African saying!

David.

Ah, it wouldn't be for me ;)

And not sure if it would be in a sporterised K31 or in a bolt action (Voere chamber it on request). Depends what you can shoot on Swiss ranges you see...

(All stems from Dave thinking of getting a bolt action and the Frenchies lifting the majority of their military calibre restrictions. But Swiss ranges have some restrictions.. still a concept in progress but will keep you posted).

Muir, any ideas on who makes ready rolled ammo for it?
 
Funny thing is that I do believe that I still have some new un-primed boxer brass for this cartridge somewhere.
 
"Muir, any ideas on who makes ready rolled ammo for it?" When we were last at the range wasn't there a chap shooting it on that straigh pull job so it must be available in Tobleroneland.

David.
 
Hornady contracts to Graf and Sons here in the US for 7.5x55. Norma makes it, of course, and I know P-Partizan makes it because it sells at Cabelas.~Muir
 
PPU make 7.5x55 for sale in the UK, just reload it with the .308 bullet of your fancy, do remember though that the K31 is designed for GP11 with a tight ogive, so you will probably have to set the bullets well into the cartridge, there are plenty of "how-to's" online on making up a gauging round, try the swiss rifles website.I would be surprised to see hunting ammo in this cartridge on sale in the UK due to lack of demand. As to noisy cycling, as long as you have full length resized the cartridge properly there is very little effort involved in cycling the rifle and with care it should be as quiet as any other.
 
PPU make 7.5x55 for sale in the UK, just reload it with the .308 bullet of your fancy, do remember though that the K31 is designed for GP11 with a tight ogive, so you will probably have to set the bullets well into the cartridge, there are plenty of "how-to's" online on making up a gauging round, try the swiss rifles website.I would be surprised to see hunting ammo in this cartridge on sale in the UK due to lack of demand. As to noisy cycling, as long as you have full length resized the cartridge properly there is very little effort involved in cycling the rifle and with care it should be as quiet as any other.

I never need to worry about cycling another round noisily. We don't have mods. A follow up shot follows the un moderated sound waves.

I can attest to the tight throat. With the heavier cast bullets I would swage a 3-degree (included angle, 1.5 degrees on a side) taper on the bullet noses to make them fit. Accuracy exceeded that from most jacketed bullets.~Muir

PS: JUst looked. Here, Graf and Sons sells PPU 174 grain soft point hunting ammunition. It can probably be had there. It's $16.50/20 round box.
 
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Regardless if they make it the problem here in the UK is the darned importers then add the stupidity of the Section 5 expanding ammo *BS* and the chances of there being any soft point 7.5mm Swiss is about ZERO!
 
Nice rig! I'll bet it shoots! That' almost exactly what I was thinking of -minus the bipod and add smaller glass. Do you have any ejection issues with the empty case hitting the scope?~Muir
 
I never need to worry about cycling another round noisily. We don't have mods. A follow up shot follows the un moderated sound waves.

I can attest to the tight throat. With the heavier cast bullets I would swage a 3-degree (included angle, 1.5 degrees on a side) taper on the bullet noses to make them fit. Accuracy exceeded that from most jacketed bullets.~Muir

PS: JUst looked. Here, Graf and Sons sells PPU 174 grain soft point hunting ammunition. It can probably be had there. It's $16.50/20 round box.
NOE have a new mould on sale designed for the K31. That should save you a bit of work.
 
You do need a scope that has nothing on the left hand side. And your right on seating depth, I use bt soft nose 150 grain and they are in quite deep. The action works well though. And I soon got use to the scope being offset.
 
NOE have a new mould on sale designed for the K31. That should save you a bit of work.

Thanks for the heads up on the mold. The 3-degree taper die is something I use when I want extreme accuracy anyhow; it's not a lot of work. Once the bullets are heat treated and lubed, I simply run them nose first into the die (in the lubrisizer) using a flat insert where the nose punch usually goes. It takes very little pressure to swage a long nosed RCBS 30-200-SIL to fit the Swiss and very little time. Once done, however, the bullet locks into the throat like the matching tapers on a lathe tailstock; it has no choice but to enter the rifling straight and true. Most shooters can't be bothered and in truth, when you find that magic bullet that fits your chamber you don't need it for hunting loads. (my old SAECO 206 grain 8mm in my Husky, for example: 2400 fps and MOA) ) For the really high speed stuff, though, it helps eliminate the odd flier.~Muir
 
You do need a scope that has nothing on the left hand side. And your right on seating depth, I use bt soft nose 150 grain and they are in quite deep. The action works well though. And I soon got use to the scope being offset.

That was what I was getting at. The scope is off set. I wondered about that. A guy I used to work with had three of the M1955 (?) K-31 Snipers with the 'roll away' scopes. I handled them a few times but never shot one. (I think back in 1984 he paid $3.5K each??) I always wanted to. Their scopes were off-set to the left.~Muir
 
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