A Worsening Infection of Swiss Flu! My new Gew. 1889

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After much testing and consultation I have determined the best treatment for Swiss Flu is to purchase more Swiss rifles! My latest dose is this M1889 that I couldn't walk away from. I've seen precious few of these in original condition on here so I thought I'd share. I've done a bit of research on this old girl and found it was made in 1893 and inspected my Maj. Vogelsang and is all matching. Some of the markings have me confused, the circle 6 seems to be the same as a K31 marking for being re-arsenaled at Thurgau's Cantonal arsenal though I can find no information about this marking on 1889s specifically. The tang mark is also unknown. Advice appreciated!

My next adventure will be recreating the GP90/23 loading which I expect to shoot well as the bore on this thing is as good as my K-31!

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These 1889s are a blast to shoot. My personal load is 32grns of 3031 under a 220grn Sierra round nose bullet, but I recommend doing your own research and shooting what you feel comfortable with. The circle 6 marking is likely the same as the K31s, I don't see why they would have changed it and other markings were kept fairly standardized (such as privatization marks etc.).
 
The bore on these is 295" with an odd number of grooves correct?

Original load was 212 grain paper patched bullet at 1920 fps correct?
 
The notes I have on GP 90 and its variants are as follows.
GP-90 211grn round nose paper patched bullet .3208 dia (remember this is paper patched not FMJ) 1970ft/sec
GP-90/03 Just GP 90 updated to use a less corrosive primer
GP-90/23 190grn round nose jacketed bullet .3075 dia about 2050 ft/sec
 
lots of info for load data on swiss rifle forum, i have an 1889 , very good condition / just cleaned it up was all.

was told load data for the 30-40 krag was a good place to start, and eaglelords load data seems to be the go to info . ( from what ive seem on various groups / videos.
 
Nice rifle! I have one in full wood as well as one that was converted to a single shot .22lr.

7.5x55 Brass can still be used I believe. Hope to get my reloading setup up and running this year so I can shoot my 1889 as well as my Gew.88.
 
7.5x55 brass can be used without even having to trim the brass down.
Only problem is that if you use a set of K31 specific dies, the brass will not chamber in all the pre-K31 rifle series.

Shortcut to load info is to use 80% of max K31 load of whatever medium speed rifle powder you use already with jacketed bullets.
I use 178gr Amax bullets in mine.

GP90/Krag load datta:1890
http://theswissriflesdotcommessageb...tables-3040-Krag-load-tables-assist-reloading

GP11/7.5x55 load datta:
http://theswissriflesdotcommessageboard.yuku.com/topic/9041/75x55-Load-Tables
 
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Not easily. GP11 is the hardest ammunition I ever tried to pull bullets from. Tar-like sealant inside case mouse.
Had to use collet bullet puller in the press. Inertia hammer takes forever and needs seriously hard hitting on concrete to budge.
 
I personally wouldn't be pulling the bullets and downloading the powder from the case. Besides being difficult to do, there isn't a large margin for error with the 1889 action. If there was they wouldn't have adopted the 89/96 action in the first place. You have to be careful loading for many of the early smokeless powder designs, there knowledge of the pressures involved and heat-treating were rudimentary at best.
 
My plan for an initial load is to pull the bullets on a box of PPU 7.5 Swiss and empty the powder reloading it using Sierra 180gr. round noses and IMR 4895 powder. The cases chamber without trimming so I don't think I'll need to. It should be a good approximation of GP90/23. I'm using Lee pacesetter dies I ordered from Henry at Budget Shooter Supply. His automated emails have to be the funniest I've got from any company!

Range report to come this Friday, stay tuned folks!
 
BTW: Swiss made GP11 uses 50gr of milspec version of what sells here as RL-17 powder.
40grs in an M1889 would be safe max load of that powder.

No idea what powder Prvi uses in their loads, but same guideline of 80% of Prvi's 7.5x55 load would apply.
Measure powder weight first, and do the math.

I chronoed Prvi 7.5x55 against Gp11 and found it slower by about 100fps in K31, K11 and 96/11
 
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Had a range day today and took this old girl out for a spin. I loaded up some facsimile GP90/23 using untrimmed PPU brass, 34gr IMR4895 and 180gr .308 Sierra Prohunter round nose projectiles.
My first shot taken was aimed at a 14" gong planted at 200m which rung with authority. This success prompted a paper test shot at 100m rested on sandbags. I think this shows promise and the rifle sure is fun to shoot! 6 o'clock holds seem to be mandatory with the sights. Funny thing after shooting, the bore doesn't seem to be fouled at all and shines like after a cleaning! No complaints from me :d

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I've loaded 35gr of H4895 for my 1889 with good results in two 1889s.
remember that lowest sight setting on rear sight is 300m.
 
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