Tell me about hunting bullets for the .30-40 Krag

[Abert Rim]

I have been all in a lather to find an affordable, early Marlin in .35 Remington when a barreled Krag action just about slapped me in the face. I realize that no .308-.310 boolit is going to have the swat factor of a .359-360, yet I am thinking that a design with a maximum meplat and weighing 220-230 grains and sailing out the muzzle of a Krag at north of 2,000 will still accomplish some very serious convincing on any member of the deer family it might encounter.
Said Krag is an 1898, built in 1903, so I am expecting a groove diameter in the neighborhood of .309, as bore specs got tighter on the Krags toward the end of manufacture.

[Abert Rim]

And by the way, I was looking at Krag brass at Graf's and darn if they don't have Captech "overrun" brass cheaper than Privi Partizan and Hornady. FYI.

[fatnhappy]

the 311284 was literally designed for the Krag. Either a 311284 or 311290 from a krag will kill any ungulate in range.
My Krag loads and my 06 loads are exactly the same in terms of performance, a water dropped 311290 sized .311 moving over an impartial chronograph can't distinguish which is which.

I have a passel of .30 moulds, including a couple that have flat meplats in the 180-200 grain range. They may be sexy and ratchet up the slap factor, but you can't prove to me they kill deer any deader. There's no such thing as excessively dead and the heavy weights kill.

YMMV

[Kraschenbirn]

You don't mention what variety of deer you're planning to hunt but for anything up to whitetail, you should be able to obtain 30-30 factory-load performance with a Lyman 311041 or, maybe, one of the Ranch Dog clones available from NOE or Arsenal. Also, a 220-230 grain boolit at 2000+ is going to be pushing the envelope...the original 220 gr. jacketed load only produced 2000 fps out a 30" barrel and a PC'd 202 gr RN (Lyman 311299) over a healthy charge of H414 chronos 1950-1960 from my '98 carbine.

Bill

[Abert Rim]

Thanks guys. I was thinking of something like this mold from Accurate. Krag would be deployed against cow elk in timber this December.
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=31-210H-D.png

[Hardcast416taylor]

I would think seriously about that Accurate mold myself with my 50/50 +2% tin alloy. Pretty sure you can get a very decent velocity from a Krag to suit your needs. Good Luck!Robert

[JCherry]

That 31-210H mold looks good but in my 1896 Krag rifle it would be a bit large with the ogive at .303 diameter. I'm using a bullet from a 311284 NOE mold sized to .311 or .313 with the ogive right at .302 which is a tight fit. I doubt I could chamber a bullet with a .303 ogive in my rifle. I am not hunting with my rifle, just steel targets out to 300 yards so the round nose doesn't matter. My loads are just under 2000 fps. Not sure if that flat nose on the 31-210H would give any trouble through the Krag magazine.

Have fun,

JCherry

[bob208]

I think you are over thinking this. I killed a 220lb. buck with one shot with the .311299 bulet loaded to 1600 fps.that same bullet has killed a lot of bucks when loaded in a no. 1 enfield.

[pworley1]

The 311284 in the Krag has been getting it done for a long long time.