What do you feed your Krag ?

[Jack Stanley]

Do ya have any real favorite loads that are head and shoulders above the others ? I got the bore cleaned real well and a few low velocity loads with a lot of lube to get a little lube into the not so smooth bore and I'll see what happens with it .
I've got a couple moulds in the hundred eighty grain area , looking to find a mild load that shoots well .............. thanks

Jack

[RayinNH]

Jack, my 2 Krags love Lyman 311291 sized @.311 with 19.1 grs.( Lee 1.9cc scoop) SR4759. Ten shot groups hover around 1.5" at 50 yards. A more potent load is 48.7 grs. of WC872 behind Lyman 311284 again sized to .311. Groups are around 1.5" or so at 50 yds...Ray

[Char-Gar]

Good Krag loads are easy to come by. I have had good luck with Lyman 311291 , 311467, 311407, and 311284. I size my bullets .312. 16 to 18 grains of 2400, 4759 or 4227 will please you. For full snort loads powders like 4895, H335, 3031 and the like work well. I have also had good luck with a full case load (52 grains) of the ultra slow WC872.

[fourarmed]

A load that shoots very well in the rough bore of my Krag is 1?/2400/314299 sized .311". (I think it is 17 gr., but I no longer swear to such things.) I once shot 50 of these into a single group at 70 yds without cleaning. None went outside about 2.5", and most went into 1.5".

[Jack Stanley]

It looks like y'all are sizing at least .311" ........ I guess I better remember to check the throat of this thing .

Jack

[KCSO]

As long as the bullet was big enough 3105 to 311 my Krag has shot anything I fed it from soupcans to 220 flat nose. Powders from Green Dot to 4895. I have 3 pages of notes on the 30-40 and hardly a bad load in the lot. I am currently trying Trail boss.

[NVcurmudgeon]

My Krag has a tight .309" groove. I find 16.0 X 2400/ Lyman 314299 sized .310+ is an excellent load.

[StarMetal]

Bill,

My Krag is .309 too....so that's tight huh? cool

Joe

[Char-Gar]

John...Slug that Krag bore... It was only in the last year or two of production they got their tolerances down to some kind of reasonable limit. I have a first year production (1895) with a groove diameter of .3115 and a 1900 production with a groove diamter of .3095.

Townsend Whelen in his writings (Day of the Krag) tells of some early Krags that went as loose as .314 in the gooves.

It a reasonable certainty your Krag has a well worn throat and will absorb some pretty huge bullets. You limiting factor will probably the the chamber neck dimensions.

I can chamber .314 bullets in both my Krags but that leaves only about .001 clearance for neck expansion. I am more comfortable with .002 and that makes for .313 bullets unless you neck turn the brass to thin it a mite.

I have found that both my Krags shoot better with larger bullets. I consider .312 to be about Krag standard with .313 being maybe a little better and larger if you want to neck turn your brass.

Both my Krags show a very noticable increase in accuracy when the sizing diamter gets above .311.

[krag35]

I like to size to .312 and keep the velocity around 2K. Hands down the best bullet in all the Krags I have shot is Lymans 311284.
krag35

[Char-Gar]

Krag35....Yesterday, I took on of my Krags to the range for a test with the new Fatter 30 bullet. I used 311284 as a comparison/control. Both were sized .312 and loaded over 16/2400 (Alliant). The groups were statisticaly the same between the two bullets..which means I got first class accruacy with both bullets.

I have learned that 16/2400 is a good charge to test bullets. If the bullet won't shoot decent with that charge, it won't shoot with anything. It may not be the best charge for any particular bullet, but it will give you an idea real quick if that bullet has any potential.

[straightshooter1]

I have had many Krags over the years, currently I have an 1898 which someone bumper chromed and which wears one of the "no gunsmithing" Pacific aperture sights and an 1895 Browning with a Lyman aperture sight. The 1898 had no front sight and I put one of the Marine Corps replica Springfield front sights on it. Nice and wide, easy to hold from the bench (sadly the only way the local range will let us shoot).

Both love 21 grains of IMR 4198 with a .310 sized 202 grain gas checked boolit. I find a bit more accuracy with CCI Match Primers than with WLR, so I use them even though they cost more and the OAL is 3.050. The accuracy with both rifles is great with that load.

Bob

[Jack Stanley]

I'm sure the 311284 and others like it run great . Has anyone had good results with something like the 311332 or 334 ? Or don't as a rule the Krags like that type ?

Jack

[Kragman71]

Jack,my Krag is an 1892 model and prefes .309 bullets with cas cchecks at 1900-2100 fps.For some reason,it prefers .311 with plain base at 1200-1400 FPS.
Best results with Lyman 311041 with 22.0-23.0 grs IMR 4198 powder and Dacron filler.Good results on up to 25 grains.
Slower loads use 13.0-15.0 grs 4198 with Dacron.
Frank

[Jack Stanley]

Thank you frank . I have a can of 4198 laying around that I don't have much other use than cast bullets [smilie=1:
I have some 311334 's drying the tumble lube waiting for something . Also have a bunch of LBT bullets meant for the 30-30 that should work well too .

This morning I finished up the AL-8 I was using with some 311466 bullets that had tumble lube and checks . Ten grains of the stuff did a fine job at making tight groups

Jack

[Char-Gar]

Humm... I took Krag #1 ( .3095 groove) back to the range and the Fatter 30 sized .314 produced groups twice the size as the same bullet sized .312. Both fired over the same charge of 16/2400.

I will try .313 when I get my new die from Buckshot (Check went out 6 days ago). It that doesn't work, then it is back to .312.

My Krag #1 has a groove of .312 and does better larger than .312. I am looking for a load that does well in both rifles. That is why I am pinning my hopes on .313 in Krag #1.

311334 has provided acceptable, but not outstanding accuracy in my Krags. The long nose at .299 rattles around in the bore a little too much.

[Jack Stanley]

I wondered about that happening . If they don't work in the Krag , I'm sure I can find something that it'll work in .

Jack

[Jack Stanley]

Got a batch of Lyman 3112334 lubed , checked and waiting to be loaded . I used a LEE die to set the checks , then used a Lyman .311 die to add a little more lube . runnig it throught the Lyman die brought the finished diameter down to .3108 or so . I'll load a couple and make sure they fit the troat before I load a bunch of them .
Nose wouldn't fit in the muzzed without forcing it , as long as I don't drive it real fast maybe it'll do OK .

Jack