First K31

[bcsatch]

Picked up my first today, 1940 all matching with troop tag and walnut stock, of course I can't read it because its smeared, always my luck. More concerned with ammo, understanding it's a rough time right now, would this be a good time to start learning about reloading? I'm waiting to break ground on my house in the spring and plan on having a "gun area" in my garage. I say this because I haven't seen 7.5x55 in any store for a long time, going back to early 2020 I don't remember seeing it then. I'm just trying to feel out the ammo situation like everyone else.

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[RC20]

PPU in 7.5 was pretty common before the panic.

Reloading is fine in normal times but you can't get components right now. I think Primers are the hardest.

Equally, its not cheap to get setup for it. I probably have $1500 into my setup now. Updated as I went along. What I have suits me but not a has to for anyone else. Coaxe press, RCBS Powder dispense, Trimmer setup for cse length and chamfer and deburr, an annealer to preserve the cases life.

PPU makes 7.5 cases but I don't know what availability is (Lapua does too but have not seen those in a long time). Any 308 caliber projectile works as the size is the same (or so close as to make zero difference)

Not sure when ammo or parts comes back, you have like 3 factors going now. Fear of Biden (misplaced) Covd (lots reloading) and Democrats buying guns now (opinion)

[bcsatch]

PPU in 7.5 was pretty common before the panic.

Reloading is fine in normal times but you can't get components right now. I think Primers are the hardest.

Equally, its not cheap to get setup for it. I probably have $1500 into my setup now. Updated as I went along. What I have suits me but not a has to for anyone else. Coaxe press, RCBS Powder dispense, Trimmer setup for cse length and chamfer and deburr, an annealer to preserve the cases life.

PPU makes 7.5 cases but I don't know what availability is (Lapua does too but have not seen those in a long time). Any 308 caliber projectile works as the size is the same (or so close as to make zero difference)

Not sure when ammo or parts comes back, you have like 3 factors going now. Fear of Biden (misplaced) Covd (lots reloading) and Democrats buying guns now (opinion)

Yea, the three headed hydra actually has me a bit worried unlike some of the other panics in the past. I think permanent changes might result from all this, guess some of my shooters are likely headed to the safe to collect dust😩

[RC20]

I think it will change, give it 6 months. I suspect there is a lot of "Honey, what is all this stuff stacked up in my pantry " going on.

[bcsatch]

I think it will change, give it 6 months. I suspect there is a lot of "Honey, what is all this stuff stacked up in my pantry " going on.

Once my new house is completed I already have a reloading station drawn in, looking to be done this fall. Hopefully by then I can just focus on the necessary components.

[Aragorn243]

You can trade a case of ammo for a rifle now. A bit ridiculous. I saw a posting yesterday where someone found the Swiss battle packs, ONE PACK for $129.99 I thought I read it wrong. The guy only had 5 left. That's over $2 per round.

I don't think I have ever sold ammo but I'm seriously considering it now. I think I paid about $20 a battle pack last time I bought it.

[bcsatch]

You can trade a case of ammo for a rifle now. A bit ridiculous. I saw a posting yesterday where someone found the Swiss battle packs, ONE PACK for $129.99 I thought I read it wrong. The guy only had 5 left. That's over $2 per round.

I don't think I have ever sold ammo but I'm seriously considering it now. I think I paid about $20 a battle pack last time I bought it.

I'm headed back to the shop to make a trade, offloading the K31 as I'm not going to chase invisible ammo for the next 3 years. My hopes for reloading are likely dashed for now as well, don't like having rifles I cannot shoot, just seems pointless to me.

[Aragorn243]

You can't find ammo for anything right now. Swiss ammo is out there people are just hoarding it like everything else.

[bcsatch]

You can't find ammo for anything right now. Swiss ammo is out there people are just hoarding it like everything else.

I have stores of ammo for all my other rifles but greatly underestimated the lack of 7.5x55. I just bought 100 rounds of 303 the other day at 60 cents a round. Would you keep the k31 "hoping" the swiss ammo comes back around or continue with the trade? I just have a bad feeling about what I'm reading on commercial 7.5x55 availability moving forward.

[Aragorn243]

I have 5 Swiss rifles that use that ammo. As they are the most accurate rifles in the world not specifically made for accuracy, hell yes, I'll keep them. Most competitions require them to compete in the scoped class even when they aren't scoped. Course I have about 600 rounds for them. Privi partisan makes it, if people weren't hoarding everything right now it wouldn't be a shortage. I just came from Cabelas today and they had $28,000 worth of ammo come in and sold ALL of it the next day. He also said they don't really have a shortage, they just sell all of it the instant they put in on the shelves. The only thing they had today was 28 gauge shotgun ammo. Same thing that my local Walmart has. I was in a new Gander Mountain today and they actually had a lot of shotgun ammo and I bought a box of BB 12 gauge that was actually pretty reasonable. One gunshop, not a single cartridge for sale, another gun shop, a couple boxes each of maybe a dozen or so odd ball size boxes. No one is shooting the ammo either so when normalcy returns, there will be a massive glut of ammo. People are sitting back, watching and waiting.