Reloading 7.5 Swiss Ordinance Revolver

J

jason.h

New member
Hi All,

I bought an 1882 Swiss Ordinance revolver and am planning to loan some .32 s&W Brass to shoot it. I have shot it a few times with a handload .311 78 gr lrn and it performed ok. I know that it should actually be shot with a heavier wadcutter bullet but was wondering what diameter would be best.

I see both .312 and .314 wadcutter bullets around 100gr available does anyone have experience loading ammo for this revolver?

Wikipedia says the original bullet diameter was .315 but that seems a little large in my opinion.

Thanks!
 
According to the CIP, the 7.5 Ord. Suisse has an actual groove diameter (G1 in this drawing) of 8mm (0.31496") or 0.315" for all practical purposes. So, if you want good accuracy, you actually want a lead bullet at least 0.316 and preferably 0.317" or larger if the chamber throats are larger. Chamber throats govern revolver lead bullet choice, as bullets don't generally mind being sized down in the forcing cone cut into the back end of the barrel, but do mind gas blowby tearing lead off of them as they move through the throat. This is why revolver accuracy work usually starts with getting all the chambers uniform in size. I would slug those throats first for a read on it, and figure the best accuracy will be with bullets sized half a thousandth under to full throat diameter. The only exception is for throats narrower than groove diameter, in which case you will never have great accuracy until they are reamed to at least a thousandth over groove diameter to accept bullets that size.

The bottom line is you may need a custom mold for bullets for the best shooting. But slug the bore, too, to learn what the groove diameter is and to check for constrictions, especially where the barrel screws into the frame (the most common location for one).
 
Thanks guys, I slugged the barrel at around .3145.
I wasn't really looking to spending alot on custom bullets so I just bought some.314 wadcutters 7 cents a bullet. Should work well enough for me.
 
The undersized bullets may cause leading issues. Have you slugged the chambers? They will tell you more.

Cast bullets can be bumped up. Otherwise, your best bet maybe soft swaged hollow base commercial wadcutters, as pressure can bump them up to seal better.
 
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