I was looking around at the local sporting goods store today where they sell military surplus rifles. They have a Schmidt-Rubin K31 in excellent condition. It has a straight-pull bolt with a large safety ring at the rear. I've never seen one before, but I like oddball stuff, and this one is in such good shape that I fell in love with it. Nice finish, no damage except for some dings in the stock, smooth action, no rust or corrosion, excellent sights, clean bore, six-round detachable box magazine. It looks like it was never issued. Price is $199. The manufacturing date would be somewhere between 1931 and 1957, when they stopped making them. I really want to buy it, but the problem is ammo. I don't handload, so I can't do anything with it if there's no factory ammo available.
I've been searching around, and so far I've found Norma makes 7.5 Swiss (7.5x55), but it's $35 for a box of 20 (OUCH!). Old Western Scrounger has some Hornady for $26/box, but I can't find it on Hornady's website, so I don't know if what they have is just a leftover batch or if Hornady is still making it or what. OWS also has military surplus for $14/box, but it doesn't say if it's the corrosive type, which is too much of a pain to mess with. So those three is all I can find. Does anyone know anything about this caliber, any other companies that make ammo for it? I really want to buy the rifle because it's unique and in beautiful shape, but I need the ammo or I can't shoot it. Handloading isn't an option at this point in my life (tight budget, small apartment, three kids, etc).
