30-40 Krag

[rjathon]

A friend stopped by today with time to kill so we made bore and throat slugs of a Krag. The bore is 0.299 and the grooves 0.308. The throat starts greater than 0.32 and tapers down to 0.314 slowly enough that it can chamber a 180 gr Saeco bullet sized to 0.314. At the end of the slug it is still 0.309. A 170 gr 30 cal. Ranch Dog bullet sized to 0.311 can't be seated out too far to chamber. That is one big fat long throat!

What bullet would you recommend here?

Thanks,

Russ

[tacklebury]

In my .30-40 Krag, I like the 220 gr. Hornady Round Nose or the 180 gr. Hornady BTSP. Only two I load for .30-40 and .30-06. ;)

[leadman]

Or 314299.

[smkummer]

I am shooting Lymans 311664 190 grain bullet out of my 1898 Krag rifle. Water dropped wheel weights are run through a .311 sizer to seat the gas check with the only resistance coming from the gas check. 21.7 grains 2400 (almost max.) and I am guessing 1800 FPS. Less than a 1 in. 3 shot group at 50 yards with original open sights and about 1 3/4" 3 shot group at 100 yards. Very easy on the shoulder. This is shooting better than the 311291-170 grain. I love this bullet, load and shooting the old Krag. Good luck

[madsenshooter]

I recently bought a mold from Accurate Molds, their 31-230E. It really fills the throat of most of my Krags, and cast in a high tin (10%) alloy weighs 220gr checked and lubed. The base of the bullet is right at the neck/shoulder junction, the .301 nose is in the rifling, and the OAL of 3.09" will function through the magazine. Tom has a few other molds there that ought to fill a Krag throat. Super workmanship, no need to worry you'll get an undersized mold. Mine was delivered in 3 days! The mold this design was based on has had considerable success in cast bullet bench rest matches. I haven't had time to shoot it much, was getting 2" 100yd groups with the one load I have tried.

http://accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=2

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_12364f2dfafd649fe.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3777)

[shooting on a shoestring]

I skipped the 30s and went to the 303 moulds. The Lee 185 gr for 303 Brit works good for mine. The last three groups the gun shot a couple of weekends ago were 100 yds, rested, peep sights 2&1/4, 1&5/8, 1&3/4. Using 4759 and about 1750 fps. I cast in 98%Pb, 2%Sn, light coat of LLA/JPW before Felix lube in the Lyman 45 with a .314 die.

Im working with Saeco 315 paper patched but haven't made the transition from pattern to group yet.

[Harry O]

Or 314299.

Seconded.

[Char-Gar]

Yes, the throats in original Krag barrels are like that. The limit to how far out you can seat a bullet is determined by what will feed through the magazine. If you don' care about feeding from the magazine, you can go a bunch longer.

When I am preparing loads for one my Krags, I jus load up a dummy round with the bullet of choice and keep seating the bullet down a smidge at time until it will feed through the magazine and that is it.

[4570guy]

Shoestring, your results with the Lee 185 match my experiences. I also us 4759 (19 gr).