Swiss chargers drying out

[soonerfan66]

Noticed a few of my Swiss chargers are showing signs of maybe drying out maybe or might just be from age and wear and tear over time . Has anyone ever put some bees wax or something on theirs ? I know they are soaked or coated with a wax or oil to start with . If there is something I can do to make sure they stay good as long as possible I want to do it but don't want to do something to damage them either .

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[Aragorn243]

Good question. I only have a couple of them and I am under the impression they are dry. I have no idea where I put them and they were not where they should have been so I can't check.

[soonerfan66]

Don't you love when that happens ????!!!!! I lost my 7 mm Mauser stripper clips last week then of course after I came back putting stuff up I found them in bottom of my range bag !!!!! Good luck hope you find them !!

[Aragorn243]

They will turn up eventually. I just saw there are programs to 3D print the stripper clips. Might be an option. Use those and preserve the originals.

Swiss K31 Charger Clip V2-2 by Lucite - Thingiverse

[Eaglelord17]

I have a couple that were made of polymer on the civilian market a few years ago. Works just fine, the only thing is they are a bit thicker than the originals so you have to line them up perfectly with the action to fit the charger in.

Can't help you with drying out. If they aren't falling apart I personally wouldn't worry about it. These are 60+ year old items at this point, I am amazed at how well they have held up all things considered.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Am I correct in thinking that there was / is an "alternative" model that strongly resembles the classic Mauser charger?

Given the very similar head size, the clip for the Swedish 6.5 x 55 should work, ditto the one for the French 7.5 round.

Back in the late 1970s there was a swag of French .30-06 ammo floating about. Some of it came in aluminium stripper clips. Those of us eccentric enough to be shooting both .30-06 and 6.5 Swede found that the "soft" alloy French chargers would also work with the slightly larger rims on the 6.5 Swede.

There are possibly still a few here, somewhere in the "crypt"; I'll have a bit of a dig.

Maybe some enterprising character could also make a 10rd "competition" magazine for the G / K 11 and K31. If it's good enough for Lee Enfields.....

[Ovidio]

Now I have to find someone with a 3D printer.

[Eaglelord17]

The Swiss did develop a stripper clip for the 7.5x55 Swiss cartridge as part of the 1908 development that lead to the 1911 rifles and carbines. They however never put it into production, likely because the chargers they had work just fine (I would argue better for many situations than a standard 5 or 6rd stripper clip, such as accidentally dropping your ammo in the snow on a mountain) but left it as a option. This is also a way to identify any pre-GP11 designs or if someone has faked say a 89/96, 1900 short rifle, or 1905 carbine as a original won't have the stripper clip cut outs.

They are very hardy chargers though and will last much longer than comparable stripper clips. On the old Swiss rifle forums there was a guy using 2 from about the 1960s until the present (very regularly) and by carefully loading he has used them successfully without destroying them. I haven't seen any stripper clips with that type of longevity.

Also the Swiss did have a 12rd magazine (that's two more than the much vaunted Lee Enfield), they just decided it wasn't any better than a 6rd for practical usage.

[Eaglelord17]

Also for those of you in Canada Corwin Arms has some of the polymer clips for sale for 16$ each

[Parashooter]

1. It's easy to rejuvenate and protect the pasteboard Swiss chargers by brushing on a coat of thinned shellac every few years, inside and out. I"ve had these two since about 1968 and they're still good to go -



2. Making Mauser-style clips for 7.5x55 is a fairly basic home workshop sheet-metal bending/cutting job. Here's an example -