Loading specs for 1889 Schmidt Rubins?

[adriel]

I've got a couple of 1889 Schmidt-Rubin's on the way, and was wondering what I should load them with.

This website: Swiss Rifle Forum
seemed to indicate that a reduced load something along the lines that one would put in a 30/40 Krag would do the trick.

I was looking at using 40.0gr. of IMR 4064 over a 180 grain .308 bullet which should give 39000 CUP. Will reduce charges by 15% to start with.

Your mini article on the 1889 suggested that the chambers were oversized near the end to accommodate the paper patched bullets. Do the .308 bullets give crap accuracy because of this large size? What have you found works for your rifles?

Information

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[Andy]

I have the full suite of Swiss Schmdit Rubins and have shot them all, including the M1889.

IMO, if the Swiss Rifles forum recommends a load as safe, it is.

30/40 Krag loads are good ones to use. The one listed is the max, but personally I would not go more than 10% below that, which coincides with the recommmended starting load. You need to be careful of the "if max is safe, then the more you go below safe, the safer you get" mindset. With medium speed powders like IMR4064, you can quickly get to a point where pressure drops below the working level for that powder and it gets unpredictable - such as leaving bullets in the bore. I'm not saying max-15% will do that, but why go below the recommended starting load if your gun can handle max quite nicely?

As for bullet size - go with the 308 as recommended. The chamber in the neck area is "generous" which is not conducive to great accuracy, but what kind of accuracy do you expect?

Cast bullets are another beast altogether.

[adriel]

I thought I'd provide an update to my experience reloading for the 1889 Schmidt Rubin. This is just a note about my experience, and your mileage may vary. If following these instructions blows up your swiss rifle, don't come crying to me. All non hands-on knowledge was gleaned from forums like this one.

Brass
The first thing I did was order some 7.5X55 Prvi Partisan brass from TradeExCanada. They were just as cheap as .284 brass. Because I'm a 'po boy, I used Lee trimmers and a 7.62X54R pilot. Trimming beyond what's necessary can be detrimental, but I could not find any pilots that would get me to a closer trimmed length that I'd want. Also note that some people do not even need to trim their brass at all because of the 1889's cavernous throat. After trimming (which took DAYS), my brass were around 2.100" in length.

Lead
To throw out the other end, I picked up some 180 grn Hornady Interlocks as well as some 220grn Sierras, both .30 cal.

Powder
I had on hand some IMR 4064. Some people on forums thought this to be too slow to expand the case necks and keep the smoky goodness out of the shooters face. The other popular powder seems to be 3031.

Putting it all together
I used whatever large rifle primers I had at the time; Winchester, I think.
Loads were chosen from "it worked for me" posts on swiss rifle forums and given some buildup.
For the 180 grn bullets, I chose 38 grn loads of IMR4064
For the 220 grn bullets, I chose 36 grn loads of IMR4064
I sat the 220 grn bullets to 2.930" OAL
I sat the 180 grn bullets to 2.900" OAL

The rifles
I have 2 sporterized 1889 Schmidt Rubins. One with a regular length barrel, and one with a shorty barrel.

Firing
I fired my first rounds of mixed bullet weights and powder charges at 25 yards to establish POI, potential accuracy, and to see if I would get any "blow-by". I fired all rounds while wearing safety eyewear and examined each fired case thoroughly.

Result
The 220 grn loads provided the best potential accuracy with the least change in POI. Approx 1" high at 25 yards. I have since fired 50 of these, without any blow-by, and with acceptable accuracy. I've mostly monkeyed around though, so I don't have any 100 yard group size numbers for you. I hope to get out to the range with my Swiss misses in a month or two, depending if it gets cold.

Afterthoughts
-A collet sizer would probably be the bees knees and would reduce undue case sizing.
-Trimming 100 cases that much with the Lee trimmer is probably something I would never do again.
-The light kick, small report, and quick action make these things really fun to shoot.
-There's probably still room to improve accuracy by playing with OAL and powder charges.