What dies do I buy for K31 reloading?

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fenelon

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My head is swimming, having read all the conflicting info on the internet regarding reloading for 7.5X55 Swiss. I'm reading that many of the 7.5 dies are sized for the S.Rubin 1911 model, and do not work well for the k31 action. Some folks swear the expensive Redding dies are the only way to go, then the next person is saying that the cheap Lee dies work fine. I'll only be reloading for my one K31. I see that Hornady makes a specific K31 die set, at half the cost of the Redding. I'm brand new to reloading. Am planning to buy the Hornady Lock and Load single stage press kit, and a set of the Hornady K31 dies. Can anyone give me advice on the best way to proceed. Will also try 308 and 6.5 Swede after I get started. Preferences for starter kits? RCBS vs. Lee vs. Hornady?
Thanks folks.

Dave
 
Reloading for the 7.5mm Swiss is a labour of love, to say the least. Be patient when figuring out your exact COL for your rifle with the particular bullet you've selected because the K11/K31 platforms are finicky as heck and, often, you won't know you've miscalculated until you're at the range and hear a click when it should've gone bang!!! That said, I had RCBS dies for my K11 (sold it) which worked great, but I had a separate set of Redding dies for the K31. I would, as many of the experts on the Swiss Rifle Forum, recommend that you go with the Redding dies for the K31. This is a platform where the dimensions of your reloads HAVE to be bang on to ensure your rifle will function smoothly; going with the Redding will lessen the headache in my experience.
 
I have put 200-300 mostly cast loads through my K31 using Lee dies without any problems. Even formed some 284 cases when I first got it. Short throats are the major problem to be dealt with.
 
I'm relatively new to reloading too. I bought Lee dies and they work fine. Some of my loads have been an improvement over the Gp11 ammo, and I'm still in the experimentation phase with load development for this rifle.
 
In general, I would say that the Redding dies are worth more than the others. I have Lee, RCBS, Lyman and Redding dies in my collection of reloading tools. After having used them all, I will now only buy Redding dies for bottleneck rifle cartridges. I have the Redding dies for my K31 and they work very well. As Old Ranger notes, K31's have very short throats compared to the other Schmidt-Rubin rifles in 7.5x55 and you will find that your OAL is very short compared to what will work in a K11 or the older rifles.


Mark
 
Didn't know that Hornady made K31 dies, saw the price of the Redding dies so I thought I would go with 7.5 Lee Pacesetter dies. Pacesetter dies have always worked well for me. Like the OP I also read about how people were using the Lee dies with few problems and that's how things have turned out for me as well. So far I have only had one misfire out of 200 or so resized cases. Since the K31 is just for the range a .5% failure rate is acceptable to me. I just recocked the action and it went boom just fine on the second try. I am always sure to trim the case length.
No question about the fact that the Redding or Hornady dedicated K31 dies would be the best choice
 
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The Redding dies (which I use) for the K31 resize the brass for the K31's more generous chamber. The brass expands alot from it's original GP11 dimensions when used in these rifles. The case life goes up as you're not resizing it all the way back down to K11 rifle/GP11 cartridge dimensions.

Hope I explained that right...
 
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