Harry O
02-17-2006, 04:12 PM
I loaded up some cartridges for my sporterized Krag and shot them yesterday. The groove diameter was slugged at 0.309" so I used 0.310" cast bullets for some time. It shot pretty good. The bullet that worked best was a Lee 303B with the bore-riding front at 0.300" and the rear at 0.314" as-cast. The chamber is rather large (like many military rifles) and I found that I could load an unsized 0.314" bullet and it would still chamber. It is snug, but not a problem. So, I loaded up 20 unsized ones to shoot.
The weather here was snowing with the temperature below zero. I had to fire them at an indoor range (25 yards maximum), so I have not really tried it for accuracy. Almost anything looks good at that range (including this test). However, I did verify that there was no leading or shaving with the bullets used. In fact, if anything, the barrel was cleaner than when I shoot the 0.310" ones. As soon as the weather gets better, I will take it to the outdoor range and check it at 100 yards.
If that checks out, I intend to start using that the largest bullet that can chamber on pretty much everything. The old 0.001" over groove size doesn't seem to do as well. With the two other tests I ran (one is a pistol and one in a revolver), that seems like the way to go.
The weather here was snowing with the temperature below zero. I had to fire them at an indoor range (25 yards maximum), so I have not really tried it for accuracy. Almost anything looks good at that range (including this test). However, I did verify that there was no leading or shaving with the bullets used. In fact, if anything, the barrel was cleaner than when I shoot the 0.310" ones. As soon as the weather gets better, I will take it to the outdoor range and check it at 100 yards.
If that checks out, I intend to start using that the largest bullet that can chamber on pretty much everything. The old 0.001" over groove size doesn't seem to do as well. With the two other tests I ran (one is a pistol and one in a revolver), that seems like the way to go.