30-40 Krag Brass is best?

[DCP]

What 30-40 Krag Brass is best?

Winchester or Remington

Looks like it out of stock in a lot of places

THANKS

[SquirrelHollow]

I've never been able to get my hands on more than one piece of Winchester .30-40 brass.
However, my experience with R-P .30-40 was in line with their other bottleneck rifle cases.

It's just brass. ;)

[stubshaft]

Winchester can be a little brittle, Remingtons last forever.

[madsenshooter]

I got lucky recently and found 250 once fired REM-UMC 30 USA cases on auction arms. That's the good stuff! Made back before they started squeezing every thousandth they could to cut the material cost. It has a higher copper content and is thicker than today's brass.

[6.5 mike]

Any one you can find.

[Ragnarok]

Graf and Sons has loaded PCI .30-40..it's in Winchester brass..or at least the 40 rounds I bought were.

That is what I did to get Krag brass since everybody seems to be sold out.

[scb]

I won't buy Remington brass. I bought enough WW so I'll never have to.

[303Guy]

Is Remington the same as R-P (Remington-Peters)? I use R-P in my hornet for its capacity. Nothing wrong with until I decided I should stock up - the next batch had a high percentage primer pocket defects (not deep enough).

[MtGun44]

R-P = Remington.

Bill

[madsenshooter]

I found thicker is not always better! Some of the old brass I mentioned above was fired in an oversized chamber and sizing is a bear, even with Imperial sizing die wax. Time to get the big press out.

[tacklebury]

I believe, not positive, but Remington may be the only company still producing Krag brass as of last year. 8( I ended up settling for 100 R-P, in lieu of WW. 8(

[303Guy]

Just a dumb question - why is 30-40 brass (and rifles) so scarce? Surely it's one of the coolest calibres around? The rifles are pretty cool too. It's perfect for a single shot rifle in both falling block and break action. Why isn't it more popular?

[RayinNH]

Probably too old fashioned for todays shooters. Outside of cast boolit shooters or those older gun people who know better, most people are into the latest and greatest cartridges that in most cases don't do anything better that the older stuff did...Ray

[madsenshooter]

Just a dumb question - why is 30-40 brass (and rifles) so scarce? Surely it's one of the coolest calibres around? The rifles are pretty cool too. It's perfect for a single shot rifle in both falling block and break action. Why isn't it more popular?

Sometimes, when the hunting season approaches, generally fall/winter here in the US, the factories do what they term "seasonal runs" of somewhat obscure and little demanded cases. With the constraints of the war, they haven't done as many of these seasonal runs, and what was ran has been quickly snatched up, either by those wishing to stock up, or the unscrupulous hoping to profit from the aforementioned. Wow, that's all one sentence!

Rifles in original condition are somewhat scarce because they were once surplused at less than $5 ea. That was during the depression, and nobody thought of these as having collector value someday. Many were cut down into the poor man's hunting rifle, and generally, because they were so cheap, treated like crud.

[square butte]

Winchester is still producing them off and on. I bought 500 Winchester 30-40 krag last year from Natchez and Graf

[square butte]

I checked Graf this morning and they had one bag of 50 Winchester in stock.

[tacklebury]

Cool. Winchester didn't have it listed in the last scheduled to be made set-up, and quit taking back-orders. Maybe they have changed their minds. Gonna have to pick up some of that. Just loaded up 50 in a ladder to play with when the weather warms up some. ;)

[buck1]

I think 303 brit brass will work when resized. (not 100% sure)

[Pavogrande]

Over the years I have not found any significant differences in 30/40 brass --The few failures I have had were from all makes of brass. Perhaps it is a "brass lot" more than a maker.

In today's world I would take just about any 30/40 that is available.
Last year I scored on about 500 win cases at a very good price, hopefully this lot will see me out. May even entertain my adult grandsons a while.

I have several krags and had a M95 Win, my practice is to keep brass for each weapon separate and neck size the cases only untill they no longer easily chamber.
Your needs may be different.

[Dan Cash]

I think 303 brit brass will work when resized. (not 100% sure)

Way short.

[leadman]

With light loads either brand is holding up well for me. I even have some old R-P or Peters brass marked 30 Govt that I use.

I bought the Lee 303 British collet die to use but haven't loaded with it yet.

[madsenshooter]

Way short.


.303 is short OAL but it can be used. If the neck/shoulder has been annealed, like PRVI brass, all you have to do is load it. The camming action of the bolt will size the shoulder down upon chambering. I used some last time the 30/40 couldn't be found. I have 100 of them around here.

[KCSO]

Gee I just got a batch of FREE 30-40 brass, a buddy asked if I needed any and broought me 200 rounds... Of FA 02!!!

I have used and have both W/W and Remington and since I shoot cast I rarely wear out either. Since this has gone to limited production I take any I can get.

[RayinNH]

.303 Brit brass works fine. I think it was Bryce Towsley's book on cartridge conversions that lists .303 brass as the one to use. The necks are about a tenth of an inch short but otherwise works great...Ray

[Shiloh]

I suppose it is whichever lot it is from. Prefer WW but have an adequate supply of both.
I anneal it once in a while and have been using the same 120 or so pieces for a while now.

SHiloh

[Ed in North Texas]

Anyone looking for .30-40 brass, Graf's doesn't have any right now, but Midway has Remington available 20 to 500 piece lots.

If Prvi makes loaded ammo, I wonder why the brass isn't on the market. Maybe R-P and W-W are priced low enough to make it unprofitable to import Prvi brass?

Ed

[Multigunner]

A too short neck of some off brand 7mm ammo was blamed for blown out 1893 Mausers used by the Boers.
The questionable ammo was called the 7X53, or commonly the "Kort Nek".

Apparently the 4mm of exposed and unsupported bullet caused the bullet to bump up in the chamber neck, shedding the rear section of the jacket.
When the next round was slammed home the ring of jacket material jammed tight on the bullet causing excessive pressure when fired.

I might consider using a short neck case for cast boolit loads, but would not want to use them for jacketed bullets.

PS
The Boers got around the problem by using a very thick grease on the bullet. The grease formed an incompressible seal that prevented the bullet from bumping up enough to separate the jacket.
Unfortunately the British thought the ugly green grease was a poison, so they often executed Boers caught with this ammo.

[Westerner]

I think 303 brit brass will work when resized. (not 100% sure)

Lee has a size/trim die to turn 303 Brit brass into krag "bottles" for my 95 Win. if I can't find any but 303 isn't easy to come by either.

[Shiloh]

Anyone looking for .30-40 brass, Graf's doesn't have any right now, but Midway has Remington available 20 to 500 piece lots.

If Prvi makes loaded ammo, I wonder why the brass isn't on the market. Maybe R-P and W-W are priced low enough to make it unprofitable to import Prvi brass?

Ed

.30-40 has become a limited production brass. Buy it if you need it. As once it's gone, you are then waiting for a new production run.

Shiloh

[KCSO]

Both Winchester and Remington have 30-40 on seasonal production now, one run a year. As to older brass check the dates real well because old brass with mecuric primers will seperate on firing if it wasn't cleaned.

[Shiloh]

As usual, it is out of stock yet again.
So which is the best 30-40 Krag brass?? Whatever you can find.

Shiloh

[ttd444]

i got a bunch of old R-P and W-W Super Speed brass. i have a small pile of 30 US and 30 Army brass too. i have 60 or 80pcs of Remington from the early '80s. i have bought Grafs 30-40 brass (250 or 500 pcs?) and they are still in plastic bag.