30-40 cast shooter

[Ed Barrett]

I picked up a Krag rifle last week. It's a full size rifle rather than a carbine. I paid a little more than I wanted to, but my mind is still stuck in the 1960 price range. The thing that put me over the edge is the perfect bore. It's one of the later models with the little tiny peep sight that you can pop up on the rear sight. Too bad my eyes are about 20 years past using it. I picked it up for $250 with 3 boxes of new Winchester loaded ammo. I took it out and shoot up one box to see what it would do with the open sights, 2.75 inch 5 shot groups off the bench a 100 yards with my old eyes. I took it home and cleaned the bore with Ed's red and then JB and the bore just sparkles. I made up some 160 grain cast loads and 2400. I will try them on my next trip to the range.
Any tips for the 30-40 loads. Back around 1955 I loaded my first reloads for a 30-40 but haven't done much since then with 30-40

[Maineboy]

If you bought an unaltered Krag with a perfect bore for $250.00, you got a real bargain! My sporterized Krag is one of my favorite rifles because it shoots pretty well with everything from the Lee soup can to the 311284 and I just love working that smooth action. The best shooting load, so far, is the 314299 and 13.4 grains of 2400. Velocity is only 1252 but the sd is 8.4. This load will often shoot 2 inch groups at 100 yards. I've developed a pretty good hunting load with the RCBS 30-180-FN (which weighs almost 200 grains) and plan on using it this fall.

[BruceB]

Ed;


There are plenty of Krag fans here! Your price was fantastically good, for a rifle with such a fine bore.

My own Krag is an NRA Sporter, one of quite a few full-length rifles cut down to 24" Carbine-style at Benicia Arsenal in the 1920s for sale to NRA members. They added a 1903 Springfield front sight. I found it at Silver State Arms in Reno for $169.00 in 1998, I believe, and couldn't believe my luck. In fact, I STILL can't believe it. It too has a wonderful bore, and shoots many different CB designs very well. Prices for decent Krags at recent gun shows are a lot closer to four figures (or above) than they are to the tariff that you and I paid for our examples.

For mid-weight bullets of 150-180 grains or so, IMR 4198 charges of 21.0-24.0 grains and a loose dacron tuft seem to work nicely. My rifle even shoots .309" cast bullets well, which NVcurmudgeon finds to be rather surprising from his experience. Mostly I shoot bullets sized at .311", however. I've wondered occasionally if that looooong 30" barrel imposes any special problems on the bullet lube?

Whenever I handle a Krag (which is as often as possible!), it's still a matter of wonderment to me that so much care and sheer artistry was lavished on a rifle for military service. The Krag OOZES class and beauty, to my eyes and hands. In all honesty, I'd take this Sporter of mine after anything living in North America save the big bears, given a good 180-200grain Partition load, and never feel handicapped in the least.

Our grand-dads were not suffering in any way, when such rifles as this were available. I hope they realized just how good they had it!

[StarMetal]

Ed

I have one like that. It has that little hole peep sight and believe me it doesn't matter if you're eyes are very young, you can't see through that incredibly small hole. It's not much larger then a straight pin. Makes me wonder why they put such a small hole in it. Even if you can see through it you need the perfect background to distinguish the front blade and target. My Krag is one of my favorite rifles. My price was even better, I got if from my dad for nothing.

Joe

[KCSO]

Mine likes the Lee Soupcan and 4.5 of Red Dot for a rabbit load and I shoot 4895 and a MM 220 for deer hunting. I really have not found any 30 caliber bullet that wouldn't shoot if it was close to the right size. You got a real steal on the Krag as here a so so one will bring $350 and up and a minty bore is $500.

[Herb in Pa]

I've had some good results with the Lee C309-180R and 20 Gr. of Reloader 7.

[Bob S]

My two favorite loads are 311291 with 15 grains 2400 and 311284 with 17 grains 2400. Either will clean the MR-52 target (200 yard prone slow fire) with the Redfield 70KT sight/Merit Iris on the back, "if the nut behind the buttplate does his job". :-) That's the one that mounts to the cut-off hole and with a long sideplate screw .. no alterations the rifle. My long rifle also came with the M1902 rear sight and handguard, which I changed out for the M1901 sight and handguard, because the O'Hare micrometer works on it (or the new Ray-Vin repro). With either of the issue sights, I have to work a lot harder on that target and haven't cleaned one yet. I am considering going back to the M1902 sight because of the more precise windage adjustment. After all, once you get the elevation set, you rarely need to change it, unless conditions change drastically in the middle of your string. What is needed more is the ability to chase spotters in the wind with some degree of precision. ;-) I also have some charger clips that work terrific for rapid fire reloading ... picture a Swiss Schmidt-Rubin charger with a "back door". They were designed and made by my friend Eric ("Parashooter").

The 311284 was designed for the Krag, and it's tough to beat. For my rifle, I size to .311, and the nose of my bullets come out right at .301, which is what My rifle needs.

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[Ed Barrett]

You asked if the rifle was "as issued", well not quite. it has a piece of wood fitted to in to make a pistol grip type stock. It is very well done with the wood matching the stock. The way it was inletted to the stock was a real "wood surgeon" type job. you have to look to see where the two pieces of wood join. Every thing else is standard issue as far as I can tell.

I got to the range yesterday to try out the 20 cast loads I set up. he shot fine at 50 yards. keeping them in 1.5 inches. The big Missouri Valley collectors show is in KC this weekend, I'm going to pick up some more brass. I was just starting to get warmed up on those 20 rounds.

[Char-Gar]

I took a drill and opened up that itty-bitty hole and made the sight much more user friendly. I have since replaced it with a Lyman 48K.

YOu bought that rifle for a song.....A full dress unmodified Krag with a perfect bore is worth several times what you paid.

[JSH]

Ed, are you by chance coming to KC to Missouri Valley summer show by the airport this weekend? I am going to try and be there Saturday. Thought maybe we could shake hands, kind of neat meeting folks off of some of these boards.
Jeff

[Frank46]

Ed, you got one fine honey of a deal on your krag. Years back i bought a 1989 krag which had the bbl cut back to 25" and a sporting front sight installed. But the military rear was left in place. Stock was also cut down as well. The bore was a little rough but subsequent shooting w/j-bullets smoothed it out some. Cost was $180. That was in new york. Here in louisiana the same rifle would now go for $300-400. There was one
unaltered krag that I saw and the dealer wanted $1200 for it. Methinks he been smoking some loco weed. Good bore but stock was all chewed up. Congratulations on your krag. Frank

[Ed Barrett]

I'll be at the show Saturday morning about 9:30 or so. What do you say I meet you at the Harley Davidson Motorcycle in the lobby at 11:00. I'm old, bald, and fat and will be wearing a Hawaiian shirt. The Harley is right by the entrance of the cafateria.

[JSH]

Ed, sounds good, I look forward to it. I will make myself easy to spot. I will have a bright yellow "Sierra Bullet" shirt on with a Sierra hat. Big ole' ugly fellow with a heavy mustache. If for some reason or another I don't get out there or if by chance you see a fellow with a lot of TC stuff, aka Top Gun Firearms. I may be standing around bs'ing with him.
Jeff

[Buckshot]

...............Yeah you stole the rifle. I have an 1898 that the stock only had been cut back to sporter dimensions. My barrel is good, not sparkely bright, but clean and pretty sharp lands. Shoots well. Can't engrave the Ly311284 at an OAL to feed but it will engrave the Ly 311407. Luckily this lsug drops at .312" and I size it to .310".

http://www.fototime.com/D0D7166B1E9D8B1/standard.jpg
Has an old Redfield no drill or tap reciever sight.

http://www.fototime.com/93A0FC305FC889C/standard.jpg
I have new Boyds wood for it, masterfully done but I'll lose the cartouches and stuff, but at least it won't look so spindly any more. Just need a round tuit and I'm set :D.

For quite some time after buying this rifle I had a bad habit. I wasn't used to how smoothly it would feed. I was always pulling the bolt back and then looking down to make sure the bolt had picked up a fresh cartridge. Trigger needs some smoothing though. Has a couple hiccups.

...............Buckshot

[JSH]

Sat on the bench just North of the Harley from 11:00 till 11:45. Never saw ya, never realized how many Hawaiian shirts are out there either. Maybe next time.........
Jeff

[Ed Barrett]

Sorry but the fellow I came with, who is in his 80's, started feeling bad about 10:30 and we had to go to Heartland Emergency room. Sorry I missed you. He had a heart arythmia (spelling guess).

After seeing the prices on Krags at the show I'm sure prouder of mine. The cheapest one was $650 and it looked like it had been used as a crowbar amongst other things.

[JSH]

Damn. Hope your friend is doing OK. I saw several Krags there too. I did see several examples of Krags that looked pretty good to me, priced that way too.
I looked at several dozen 1903 Springfields. I am to the point of scrapping my whole spare 03 project and selling everything piece by piece. Butt plate screws,$8 each! The man saw no humor in it or did not quit grasp it when I said, you probably don't get kissed either. Bare actions, NO bolt, starting at $150. Stocks, some that were fair, starting at $75 then up. Almost bought a $75 on, then found the crack. Ran across another stock that was lighter colored and had been sanded, no markings, $175. It looked almost to good to be true, it was. Looked it over real good and finally found the repair. It was cracked on both sides of the recoil lug and went clear back into the wrist, tried to hide it with cosmoline, imagine that.
Across the board if you built an 03 from parts piece by piece, I would venture to say you would have right at $1000-1500 in it when you were done. I saw several complete rifles with good bores that went from $500-750.

[Ed Barrett]

Van is OK now just a bit of heart flutter. Might have been from the prices. Saw a lot of high prices but didn't see a lot of sales. I was disappointed that the outfit that sold new brass and powder wasn't there. I wanted to get some more 30-40 brass. I want to save the winchester factory stuff, I don't have much factory loaded ammo around.

I remember seeing in popular mechanics magazine 40 years ago about a guy who built a new car from new parts. It took him 2 years and cost him 2 anda half times what the car would have cost from a new car dealer. Might be the same on your springfield project.

[JSH]

Ed, last I heard on the fellow you are talking about from Arms & Ammo, he is not going to do any more shows until furher notice. His truck had motor problems a while back on the way to Wichita. He is doing mail order stuff and walk in. A few of the guys I shoot with have been down there twice this year already.
The other show South of the ball Stadium, Bannister Mall, there is a guy from Nebraska that is there. Not near the stuff Richard has or prices, but still better than the average.
Jeff

[Ed Barrett]

I ordered some 30-40 brass from Midway yesterday. Still supposed to be hot the next few days so I may go down in the basement and do some casting.

JSH, if you hit most of the shows around KC and Topeka, I will try to meet up with at one of them.

[Bret4207]

Could you braggers who buy guns I can only dream of for $19.99 puh-leeeze stop gloating and making me cry. It makes my kids real nervous when I break down in tears.

[JSH]

Ed, I try to make it to as many as time and money will alow. Topeka used to be a nice show, it is iffy at times now. I went to one there a year or two ago and there were guys from all over the country there, this was in late fall or early winter. For the most part I prefer the smaller type shows, though some of these have gotten out of hand. I went to a 1 day show last winter at a VFW off of the beaten path. I was looking for a Mauser in 7x57 and thought I had to have one of the Steyr's to go with the K31. No luck, but that is where I came up with the one and only 6.5 I own. Nicest Swede I had seen in a long time. Came with a bunch of surplus ammo and was priced like I remember in the late 70's to early 80's.
Give a holler if ya get this way. Girlfriend and I may be up to the casino again this fall.
Jeff

[Ed Barrett]

Let me know when your going to the boat, my wife loves the slot machines and the resturants are always good.

[moodyholler]

My NRA sporter Krag has a RIA 12-18 barrel on it with an 03 front sight. rearsight is a Redfield peep that uses sideplate screw and bracket in cutoff hole. I have 2 .30 caliber molds to try. Anyone havew any luck with these?
I have Lyman 311299 and RCBS 180-flat point PB. Thanks in advance. moodyholler