Winchester 1895 in .30-40 Krag ...

[Reverend Al]

I have a local reloading buddy who has an even larger selection of moulds than I have, so I'll ask him if he has 311284 and if he does I'm sure that I can get a few samples from him to test.

[RPRNY]

311299 should be fantastic in the 1895. No tubular mag issues. It works well in a Krag and its only @ 10 grs lighter than the 284. If .310" is right, you can get a box of 311284 from Montana Bullet Works and try them out. If they are any better: new mould!

[Reverend Al]

Unfortunately since I live up in Kanuckistan, Montana Bullet Works wouldn't be able to ship any cast boolit samples up to me ... ITAR might accuse them of sending "materials of war" up to a "Canajun terrorist" ...

[RPRNY]

Unfortunately since I live up in Kanuckistan, Montana Bullet Works wouldn't be able to ship any cast boolit samples up to me ... ITAR might accuse them of sending "materials of war" up to a "Canajun terrorist" ...

Of course. All those jihadis from the Great White North slaughtering innocents with cast boolits! Thank God for ITAR's vigilance...

[bob208]

have the 311299 first sed it for .303 brit. then tried it in .30-40. used 2400 with tissue paper. that load shot through a 8 point end to end.

[NorthMoccasin]

Reverend, I have a 1895 rifle with the lyman 21 sight. The 311299 with 30.0 3031 shoots very well for me. 12.0 unique with the 311291 or 311041 also does very well.

[Reverend Al]

OK ... thanks for sharing your pet loads ...

[Reverend Al]

Well, when I went to my local gun club meeting last night my buddy walked up to me and handed me an old Lyman / Ideal single banger mould for the #311284. He has a very large selection of old Lyman / Ideal moulds and when I bought this '95 Winchester in .30 US I'd asked if he happened to have it, and if he did could I borrow it to test a few, and sure enough he did! Now I have to fire up my RCBS pot and cast some boolits!

[rintinglen]

311-291 over 35 grains of ww 748

[Drm50]

I bought several thousand rds of US 30/40. Frankfort Arsenal 1905 production in cloth rip open
bandoleers. I don't know how the ammo was stored but it was clean, but useless. The brass was
eroded from the inside, powder was like a lump of dirty grease. You could put you tomb against
the bullet and snap the case neck off the case. I did salvage the bullets and sold the bandoleers
and still came out in the hole. My 1895 in 30/06 loves those long rd nose bullets. I put those
bullets aside for it, load them in GI match brass and shoot them at 2400fps. 1895s are suppose
to be loaded to not more than 45000 CPU. I've had a couple 30/40s, both had terrible bores. They
we're lousy with Jackets and terrible with cast.

[Reverend Al]

I guess I lucked out since this '95 SRC I bought looks to still have a very good bore. I've scrubbed it a few times now since I got it and I left the bore wet with Hoppes #9 between cleanings. It's looking pretty good now with no visible pitting and good crisp rifling. Appears that it was mostly just accumulated dust and dirt from sitting unused for many years. (The .30-40 Krag cartridge isn't as often seen up here in Canada since most of our sales of '95's were in .303 British instead, so this gun likely didn't get that much use.) It slugged at .310" so I will try some .312" sized cast boolits from both the #311284 and #311299 moulds with a few different powders (I have a fairly good selection on hand to choose from).

For initial range testing I've put together a few rounds with some .308" diameter 220 round nose jacketed with Lyman's suggested accuracy / factory duplication recommendation with IMR4350 (I used some old Herters bullets that I had on my shelf). My usual procedure with an old rifle like this is to shoot about 5 rounds on target to check accuracy and sights, clean thoroughly, and then repeat the cleaning every 5 rounds for about the first 20 to 25 rounds (all with jacketed bullets). Then after another thorough cleaning with a bore brush and solvent I'll see how the bore looks at that point and then try out some test loads with cast boolits to compare accuracy against the jacketed bullets I shot. Just gives me a bit of a base line for comparison ...

[slam45]

i shoot an early win 1895 flat side with a 24" barrel that is a little rough... it shoots cast from short 170 fp to long 215s fine. as this rifle is 122 years old i don't push her very hard... 21 to 24 grains of H4198 or 30 of H4895 work well, as does 16 to 22 grains of 2400... for .30 cast i size 0.310, which works for me in a number of 30 cal rifles. barrel on my'95 slugs 300/308 it is a... favorite...

[Reverend Al]

Thanks for the tips. I have all three of those powders on hand already so I can play around with your suggested loads and see what happens in mine ...