k31 ammunition? we need to find a place to buy from. PRICE HIKE

T

the_collector

New member
I normally have bought my ammo from midwayusa.com but Jan 1st they upped a lot of their prices. They DOUBLED the cost of 7.5x55 swiss surplus ammo!
It is now
12.99 for 10
515..99 for 480
69.99 for 60

I cant believe it! In December I bought 120 rds for 72$

Is there anywhere else I can buy the surplus ammo from?
 
You may consider reloading, anyway there is a wonderful (mainly)US based Schmidt-Rubin forum where you mind find more info:
theswissriflesdotcommessageboard.yuku.com/forums

HTH
K.
 
You really should consider reloading with a bare bones setup. A simple one stage press with a primer seater, a trimmer, a set of 7.5x55 dies, a one pound can of powder, a box of primers and a scale. Not much involved to do one caliber cartridge.
There's a wealth of load data available from regular k31 shooters.
Sooner of later the GP11 is going to dry up. There hasn't been any manufactured for a very long time now and everything you're seeing here in the US is from Swiss Armoury storage. It will go away before you know it.
Good brass and 175gr projectiles will duplicate the GP11 if you have the right load data info.

I forgot to mention that sanctioned Swiss Shooting Clubs will be (and are now) getting the bulk of available GP11 before any other sales, and when it gets down to the bottom, they're the ones who will get it.

The last rifle to require GP11 is now more or less retired from service.
Latigo
 
Last edited:
I dont have the time/room for any equipment right now but reloading is something i plan for in the future. Its more convenient to buy surplus right now.
But i really appreciate the info, it is something i will be looking into:cool:
 
TC, when you're ready email me at swissproducts@centurytel.net and I'll help you. My father is the one who's archives on k31 and Swiss Rifles reloading data and method is on a dedicated Swiss Forum. I'll steer you right to the place you'll need to be for reloading a k31. Save your pennies. :D

Latigo
 
.

The last GP11 was loaded in 1995. The swiss have mountains of
it. It won't go dry anytime soon....




QUOTE -- Sooner of later the GP11 is going to dry up. There hasn't been any manufactured for a very long time now and everything you're seeing here in the US is from Swiss Armoury storage. It will go away before you know it.


But without a doubt reloading is the best option as this rifle performs
beautifully with any 30 caliber bullet that I've shot in it.


.
 
MidwayUSA is expensive on everything and has high shipping. Their only merit is that they have lots of stuff. I buy my reloading gear from Grafs since they're less than 200 miles from me.

Shop around. Look:
http://wideners.com/itemview.cfm?dir=18|830|855
and
http://www.palmettostatearmory.com/575.php




If you want cheaper 7.5 Swiss you need to start reloading. Get a basic single-stage press, an RCBS 505 scale (or RCBS Chargemaster setup or Redding 1010), buy some good dies, and get your brass online for about $.40 apiece. Then just get .308" bullets and go to town.
 
I am typing from close to the Swiss border, in Northern Italy. Seldom (unfortunately) I shoot there and I have been told that the last batch of GP11 was made in the nineties, however, since there the GP11 are no more used by the Armée, they still have some millions round in storage.

Since the K31 and The Stgw57 are still widely used for sporting purposes, if the supply dries up there are plans at the Swiss federal ammunition factory to restart manufacture. Unfortunately I presume that the new production ammunitions will not be as cheap as the current surplus ones...

K.
 
equip

Collector:
I don't have the time/room for any equipment right now but reloading is something i plan for in the future.
Click to expand...
I used to think like that. Live in a small apartment.
A hand press, a set of dies, a priming tool, primers, powder, powder dippers, bullets - all fit into something the size of a shoe box or a small tool box.
As for time.....you do bits here and there. Size and deprime 20 cases. Takes five minutes. A day later, you prime them. Got a spare ten minutes? Drop the powder charge and seat the bullets for 5, 10, 20.
Even if you can only get a box of 20 done between shoots, you'll have saved yourself some bucks; you can load a box of 20 very shootable and accurate cartridges for about $11.00.
Pete
 
Last edited:
This one interests me. I sent two enquiries about this. I have an answer from the first one. He's in Europe and reuglarly buys and sells all things Swiss.
This is his answer.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Hard to answer that one as there are no official statements about the ammo numbers left and SM Thun is owned by RUAG and no longer a state factory. Gun laws in Switzerland are changing all the time and do belong to the most strict European laws now, when there are fewer guns around there is also less ammo needed.
RUAG already made commercial 7.5 X 55 with boxer primers and they can start that up any time, just the bullets shall be the Sierra ones.'
---------------------------------------------------------------

The second is to our distributor in Switzerland. He works regularly with the Swiss Shooting Society and RUAG in Bern. I should have an inside answer by tomorrow.


Also, Kadima, what is your source for this information about how much GP11 is in storage, and since there is no longer a "Swiss Federal Ammunition Factory", what is your source for saying that RUAG would begin making GP11 again?

Latigo
 
And the answer came a lot sooner than I thought!
This one you can take to the bank.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The last year of GP11 production was 1994 or 95. The MG51 is still in use
on some tanks and other vehicles, this may change in near future if the
planned
Army reduction to 80'000 go's ahead.

The GP11with late 70's and mid 80's head-stamp is actually junk intended to
be
melted down. The Army usually destroys all small arms ammo after 20 years of
storage. So the last batch of GP11 will surpass its regular shelf life in
about 4 years.

We can still order GP11 by the pallet from RUAG, for the official government
price of CHF 0,34 - that's about 37 US cents per round.

The machinery to produce GP11 has been scrap & the Army has no demand
= no more GP11 !!!! RUAG is manufacturing commercial 7,5x55 hunting,
sporting
and law enforcement ammo with components like Sierra bullets, at a price
tag of
USD 50 - 90 for the box of 20.

Investing in one or two full sized shipping containers - filled with GP11
may pay
a good dividend in a few years time.
 
Quote:
The last GP11 was loaded in 1995. The swiss have mountains of
it. It won't go dry anytime soon....

So I have to wonder how big those mountains really are. Foothills maybe? :D
I have a new enquiry as to a rough available inventory estimate. That one may take a while, but I'll post it here when I get an answer.

Latigo
 
DoctorXring/kadima:
My question is whether the Swiss government is allowed (by the UN Small Arms Treaty etc) to export more military or commercial ammo to the US.

The Greeks supposedly have lots of British caliber .303 ammo ("HXP"), but exports are said to be prohibited, at least to the US.
There is a British/Euro arms "control" organization which pays countries such as South Africa and many others (some former Soviet lands) to destroy both surplus ammo and rifles.

Stopping AKs from going to war lords is their main objective, but South African shops have reportedly been ordered to destroy lots of Lee-Enfield bolt-action rifles and Brens.
This was witnessed months ago by the S.A. friend of an Aussie guy on "Gunboards", or "Surplusrifle".
 
Last edited:
I'm not either of those two gentlemen, but my Distributor is Swiss and he works very closely with all things Swiss Military and surplus. Its his business.

The answer is yes. GP11 may be and still is imported into the US, or at least until protests and submissions from the left leaning Cantons in Switzerland win over. The manufacturer of current 7.5 commercial ammo is RUAG, and they sell world wide.

zfk55
 
Ciao Latigo,
I am the same andrea of the swissriflesdotcom forum.
The source about the GP11 current storage and availability comes from a paper by Heinz Frutiger, chief of the "Civilian Markmanship Program" of the Swiss Army, in the website of the Swiss Shooting association here:
http://www.ftst.ch/media/1886301904.pdf

I am sorry it's in Italian, but after all the official languages of Switzerland are Italian, German, French and Romancio, English isn't among them...

However what I said in my earlier post is a more or less effective translation of the linked document (apart from the exact number of ammo available that comes from a firing range cafeteria guesstimation and may have been influenced by a few bottles of Chianti that I brought from Tuscany....)

K. aka Andrea

Andrea
 
Hey! Andrea! Good to see you.
I've been trying to find a way to highlight the copy for translation for the TFL board, but its in a jpg format and it's not working.
Is there a way for you to open it here so I can highlight the copy and translate it? Or send it to me at swissproducts@centurytel.net ?

I forgot to mention that our distributor is our source. He owns AFA in Switzerland, and he's also the one who got our Diopter approved by the SSV for world-wide sanctioned Swiss shoots. It took him 7 years and a bunch of prototypes to get that approval for us from the Swiss.
Is the Chianti all gone now?:D

Latigo
 
Last edited:
Here is a hurried up translation. I beg for pardon for any mistake in English since now, given that my mother tongue is Italian and as an "excusatio non petita" I must add that the Italian paper obtained through the Swiss Shooters Association of Canton Ticino is in itself a translation from the original paper that was written in German.

Latigo, there is always a batch of Chianti lying somewhere in my house... BTW, the Swiss friend who made a guesstimation of the availale stocks isn't Herr Frutiger, but another officer of the Armée...

And now, for your entertainment:


The future of GP11

Text by Heinz Frutiger, chief of shooting, ground forces SAT

How long will the GP11 stocks last? SAT's answer is reassuring. The stocks are sufficient for many years.

In the last years a recurrent question put by shooters is: “what's the future of GP11?” refetting to the forecast availability of the appreciated ammunition 11 in calibre 7,5, used for the muskeets and the Assault Rifle 57.

The statement of SAT referring to this recurrent question is the following.
The last batch of GP11 was made in 1994 in the [Federal] Ammunition Factory in Thun, now RUAG Ammotec. In the ammunition stocking facility at the Army Logistic Establishment are kept batches of production years between 1979 and 1994.

Every year 15 different lots are tested for functioning and precision. Furthermore detailed analysis are performed for those components subjected to aging, namely powder and primers. Only lots with full compliance to the strict quality requirements are deemed sutable and made available for “out of service” shooting.

High quality of the stocks in depot.
If we refer to the records of high quality of the available stocks and the average consumption of ammunition for training (it seems to me that these calculations may not take into account the world market – note by Andrea), it can be assumed that the GP11 will still be available for the next 10 years (from 2010, date of the paper – Andrea) for the “out of service shooting” and sporting purposes.

It is possible for RUAG Ammotec to restart GP11 production after 2020. However we cannot say today wether the ammunition will be provided by the army (to the Swiss shooters – Andrea) or if they will have to privately purchase them.
 
If GP11 and 7.5 Swiss brass are hard to find, our home-grown .284Win brass makes quite good 7.5 Swiss handloads! A lot of us K31 shooters use this method to keep our old rifles shooting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top