What works with an M98 .30-40 Krag?

[wganz]

There is a forlorn 1898 'sporterized' Krag at the LGS that has a 22" barrel and some sort of 'sporter' stock that was probably the hotz stuffs in the 1970's with its beaver tail forearm, contrasting wood end, with black spacer. It had been drilled & tapped on the left side for a scope mount but those screw holes were filed in and the tops of the screws taken flush to the receiver, and now is graced by a bodacious sized Lyman adjustable rear peep sight that is not unlike what we had on our .22LR's in my college smallbore team; so, I can work well with it regardless. It's been there since September and it doesn't look like it is going anywhere too quickly. Am looking a doing a 'Rifle Rescue' mission on it.
:bigsmyl2:

Curious as to what performs best in these old Krags. If I get it, I'd like to use a ~200 grain plain base bullet at about 1500 fps. Am I asking too much or do typically they like another loading(& I understand that different rifles may like different loads).

BTW. This is my first post on this site and have to say that this is the mother lode of data on how to shoot cast bullets. :grin:

[BruceB]

Welcome.

That Krag seems like just the sort of project most of us would enjoy. How does the bore look?

Your goal of 200/1500 is very practical. One of our most-successful CURRENT .30-caliber bullet designs, the 311284 of over 200 grains, was actually designed a century ago....for the .30-40 Krag!

In my own 1898 Krag, that bullet easily reaches 2000 fps with good accuracy. This very nearly duplicates the ballistics of the original Krag service load, and is a very effective recipe indeed. My best results to date use 4198 powder, and I also find this powder extremely useful in other calibers such as .308, .303 British and .30-06 (with cast bullets).

Sure sounds like this should be a "Rifle Rescue", just as you say. If it turns out that you don't want it, there's a BUNCH of us here that will. Let us know, and again, welcome aboard.

[Kraschenbirn]

My favorite load for my '98 Krag sporter is the Lee 309-200-1R (196 gr. from my "hard" alloy) over 38.5 gr of IMR4350 with a dacron fill. Load develops around 1970 fps and produces 3" or better 100M groups (iron sights). This, however, is a gas-checked boolit (as is the 311284 mentioned by BruceB) but, then, I'm not familiar with any "off-the-shelf" PB .30 cal. moulds in that weight range, either. However, my old Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook shows a starting load for the discontinued 311290 (213 gr w/GC) of 16.0 gr 2400 developing 1400+ fps from a 22" barrel. At that velocity, with a sufficiently hard alloy, you could probably get off without the GC.

Bill

BTW...+1 on what Bruce said!! If you don't want that Krag, I guarentee there'd be no shortage of takers for it to be found 'round here.

[madsenshooter]

OP is looking to push a plain base to 1500fps fellows.

[Larry Gibson]

If the bore is good (shiney with sharp lands) then it definately would be worth "rescuing". I would slug the bore first as 30-40s can be on the large size (.309 - .311). Lyman's 311274, 311224, 311278 and 311280 were popular for the Krag 30-40 at 1400 fps or so. They run in the high 190s to 200 gr. If you can find one of those then you might check with Rapine Moulds as they specialize in many of the older moulds. Also the GC shank portion of a 311284 could easily be reamed out to make it a PB bullet of 210 - 220 gr for your use.

Larry Gibson

[Char-Gar]

wganz... I have a great fondness for the Krag rifle, having four of them. I have also been handloading for a half century.

Getting sterling accuracy with the Krag and a 200 grain cast bullet should be easy IF everything is done right. I need to say, that I have never had good results with plain base 30 caliber bullets at anything near 1,500 fps and I have tried several times. Put a gas check on the base and it is duck soup.

I know the cost of a gas check adds to the cost of your bullet, but it is worth the extra cost.

[cpt Dan Blodgett]

Not a bad idea to slug bore.
With a new barrel I am getting good results with GC 210 grainers in either .309 or .310.
Loads Max Varget from lyman works good
1.5 Gr below Lyman Max it 5744 (hotter started spreading)
AA4350 shot best with 1.5 gr less than max for a 220 grain bullet. again hotter spread out.

All loads can stay in black on std military bull at 200.

The real trick is to slug the bore and get a bullet .001 or 2 over.

[JeffinNZ]

15gr of 2400. In the .303 British every grain of 2400 will give you 100fps with a 200gr boolit. The Brit and the Krag are twins.

[wganz]

I do appreciate all the great advice and that is why I'm liking this site so much. :smile:
The goal is to duplicate the .32-40 power wise and go heavy since I'm not going fast. I've always been fascinated with the .32-40 and never had one so I'm going to reload to get the ballistic clone.

I went by there again today and got the gunsmith to take it out of the rack for me. He & I talked about what I wanted to do and when he went over it in detail he found some 'issues' with the Lyman sight. Basically, got to take the sight apart to take the bolt out for cleaning. :groner: His comment was 'SHEEEESH!' He picked out a pristine all matching #'s Mosin Nagant 1891/30 and told me that would be a better/simpler rifle to get to shoot than to have to deal with all the 'Bubbaizing' that Krag had suffered. There was some sort of comment that he would bend the barrel around my neck if I 'bubbaized' that MN. So, I took the MN 1891/30 with the understanding of NO "BUBBAIZING".

Again, thanks for all the advice! Now it is off to research the 7.62x54R with cast bullets.

[Kraschenbirn]

Did that Lyman sight look anything like this one? If so, may I ask where this particular rifle currently resides? PM me if you don't want to post your location but those old Lyman 48s are "collectible" in their own right and, regardless of your gunsmith said, removing the slide from the sight base (assuming the base was correctly installed) to facilitate bolt removal is really no big deal.

Bill

[Olevern]

A sporterized Krag in one of my local gun shops, has been there for at least since LAST deer season, so over a year. Nice Fagen stock, exc. bore and has a scope mount base on it. Askin price is $375.00 and every time I go in I tell myself I ought to buy it. At one point, I asked how firm he was on the price and he immediately came down to $300.00.

I still might buy it, but right now I have two handguns on layaway, a S&W model 29 and a T/C contender stainless steel in 223 with a 'hunter' barrel (muzzle break).

If it's still there when I pick up one of the layaways, I will go back and negotiate a deal.

Also working on a deal with a friend for a Springfield Trapdoor.....so many guns, so little time (and money)

This buyers market is making me broke.

[smkummer]

I just started Krag shooting with a 98 model rifle. It shoots about a 3 1/2 group at 100 with 17.5 grains 2400 and the Lyman 311291 (170 grain GC) at about 1650 FPS. Drop that to 16 grains and its the starting load that probably duplicates the 32-40 round. It is very very mild recoil out of the rifle. It appears Lymans new 190 grain silhoette bullet is showing great promise. My bullets I had on hand were sized to .309 and it shot as well as the 311291 bullet sized to .311. So my next trip will be to shoot the new bullet sized to .311. I was using 21.6 grains of 2400 which is about max. from my interpulations. Still less than a full 30-30 powered load and comfortable to shoot. good luck

[mroliver77]

Sounds like a real "knowledgeable" gunsmith! I would have grabbed the Krag, bodacious Lyman peep sight and all!
J

[madsenshooter]

Depends on whether the Lyman was mounted on the left side (48K) or the right side. I bought a 48K off ebay once, didn't even have a Krag. It was just the finest example of the machinist's art I've ever seen. Had to sell it later, but it sure was pretty.

[GWarden]

I have a Krag that has a Lyman sight on it, easy to remove and replace the slide to original position when removing the bolt for cleaning. Definitely want to slug the throat. I didn't at first and was casting bullets and sizing to .310, was getting a little leading but good accuracy. Slug the throat and needed .311, greatly improved accuracy and took care of leading. The 311284 bullet was made for the 30 40 as mentioned. My best loads have been with 18.0 gr IMR4227 powder- 1496fps., WLR primers. Rifle will consistently shoot 1 1/4" and under if the nut behind the rifle does his part. Powder position is important. Tried 4759, but the IMR4227 slightly better in my rifle.