Another *shooting the US Krag rifle* thread...

[TenTea]

Greetings,
Been adventuring into casting for rifles the last couple years and was given a nice M1898 Krag rifle which came from my father-in-law (he knew I admired it).

After I got through firing, sorting and culling some 100 year old ammo I was also given, I had some brass to work with.

*As an aside, Graf's has brass right now.
https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/73152

So, I wanted an all purpose 30 caliber gas checked bullet and settled on RCBS-30-165-SIL and I've been sizing them at .310" and seating them over 12 grains of Unique with good results out to 200 yards (paper & steel).
They weigh 179 grains when fully dressed for flight.
As cast, these measure @ BHN 10 ~ Nose .301" ~ Base/Body .3095"

Not being one to leave well enough alone, I am awaiting the arrival of a used 2C Lyman mold I decided to try, which I'm told was designed for the Krag by Mr. Barlow, years ago = 311284

My Krag is late production (circa 1903) and has a very good condition barrel, but I decided it was time to slug it (never done it) and have hard numbers to ponder.

I used two of my RCBS bullets (did it twice) as the slug (tight fit), pounded away, and the results are ~ Lands .300" ~ Grooves .3085"

Q's:
It seems the bullets, as cast, are pert near exactly .001" over bore size, which is OK, right?

Would .002" over bore size be better?

This barrel should do well with a variety of typical .30 cal bullets, even on the smaller end of the size spectrum?

My sizing (non-sizing, really) choice seems good to go at .310" yes?

Any predictions on the how it might turn out with the Lyman 311284?

I am looking forward to trying these things, along with some IMR 4198 that found it's way to my bench this winter.

Thanks to Mr. Char-Gar (and the resta youse) for all his past Krag posts and I hope to hear from him again. :-D

[Scharfschuetze]

You made a very good choice for a cast bullet rifle and the fact that your 1898 Krag has a properly dimensioned bore which is in good shape is a real plus.

Your choice of the Lyman 311284 is a great choice for the Krag. It is rumored that it was designed for the 30/40 to begin with. At any rate, you'll be able to match original Krag performance with it.

Do check your front locking lug for any possibilities of a crack. While not common, they are encountered and I believe the cracks stem from a short lived issue of "high velocity" ammo by the US Army.

My Krag's bore is slightly larger than yours, but still in very good condition. As a result, I use the Lyman 314299 projectile for mine. It weights in at 208 grains all dressed up and I size it to .313 for my Krag. For your .3085 bore, .310 ought to work just fine.

I generally use SR 4759 for my military 30 and 31 calibre rifles and your 4198 has a similar burn rate to it. I have also found 5744 to be useful in the Krag. It has given very good accuracy, but it heats the barrel up awfully fast.

[wrench]

I've gotten very good results in my Krag with 311284 and 311299, both sized .310"
I usually load ~11g of Unique, but I almost always shoot at 100y, so no experience how that load does further out.
The lovely smooth bolt of the Krag is a delight to shoot, and turns heads at the range, "What is that thing" 8-)
185049

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Love discussing Krags! TenTea, It sounds to me like you're doing everything absolutely right. The only unknown is your question/speculation as to whether .002 over bore size would be better, and the only way to find out is to try it. But you're enjoying such great results at .310 I don't know if there's a point to going up another thousandth. You're fortunate to have such a nice specimen, among the last made, but even those are now 114 years old, with the oldest dating to 1894, some 123 years ago. Because of their rigorous military service life, and an even harder one from civilian usage, bores can be found in all conditions of wear and replacement, and Krag barrel accuracy is a highly individualistic thing. You are fortunate indeed.

Scharf-- is the third photo, red background, two Krag bolts with cracked lugs? I see a Gunbroker signature on the photo. I'm curious to know about this, because in many years of working with these rifles and owing a number of them I have only actually seen one cracked bolt lug. It was sent to me as an e-bay purchase, and I saw the crack almost as soon as I unpacked it. I returned it, but later was a little sorry that I did so as it turned out to belong to an old fellow who was in the hospital and the transaction had been handled both ways by his wife. I've certainly heard and read about them many times, but have only actually seen the one I mentioned. What can you tell me?

[TenTea]

Thanks for the great replies and pics so far.
Yes, I am fortunate to have this rifle and that it was a special gift from a great man (in my opinion)...my FIL.
He's a buckskinner from wayback and still likes to shoot and tinker.
He is a founding member of the Jackson County ~ Anti Horse and Mule Thief Association, located in Carbondale, IL.

I am buoyed by the information you share and by your spirits!

[tdoyka]

hey, mine was born in 1903 too!!! but it was bubbasized:sad:. i have the same thing that you have, .300" is the lands and .3085" is the groove. i only hunt deer with mine, so i really don't know how it shoots competitively, but i use a 165gr ranch dog(173gr) that is a coww and its is a .311" boolit. it shows no sign of leading. i have done trail boss(13.0gr) and unique(11.0gr) under a 165gr rd too. i use 25.5gr of h4198 that goes around 1800fps for deer. it goes around 3/4 - 1 1/2" at 100 yards(5 shots) while using a redfield 102k peep sight, it used to go 1 1/2 - 2 1/2" on a '02 rear sight. and yes the '02 rear sight also has a peep sight, but i can't find the target because i can't find the front sight!!!:mrgreen: the '02 peep sight is way,way,way to small when you go for deer.[smilie=1::-D its my story, so i'll stick to it!!!

this is how it was
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h273/tdoyka/e31545d5-b28f-4dea-ab12-47004ef5ebd5_zpsb7b1ac72.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/tdoyka/media/e31545d5-b28f-4dea-ab12-47004ef5ebd5_zpsb7b1ac72.jpg.html)


this is what it is now
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h273/tdoyka/IMG_20161122_143508_zpssin5w6au.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/tdoyka/media/IMG_20161122_143508_zpssin5w6au.jpg.html)

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h273/tdoyka/IMG_20161122_143219_zpstkc1azis.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/tdoyka/media/IMG_20161122_143219_zpstkc1azis.jpg.html)

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h273/tdoyka/IMG_20161122_143327_zpsrwileije.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/tdoyka/media/IMG_20161122_143327_zpsrwileije.jpg.html)

the krag will go 3/4" at 100 yards, but you have to have a great day, no wind, the stars must line up along with certain galaxies.... but it will do a 1 1/4" group almost daily. boy, i do luv the krag!

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I did the same thing with this one--added a no-gunsmithing peep purchased on e-bay to the left side. It has an 1896 model rear sight which I did not remove because it offers no interference to the peep's sight picture. Fun to shoot.

185089
Click to enlarge.

[gnoahhh]

Sounds as if you have your ducks in a row. As when fitting any cast bullet to a rifle, I would've ignored groove diameter and sized to match throat diameter minus .0005". With a bullet that has such a long bore-riding section such as the 311284, it's also pretty important to match it to bore diameter. As with groove diameters, Krag bore diameters can be all over the map too, and if the bore ride is grossly smaller than than the rifle's bore it loses all of the advantages of that design bullet.

In the end, though, if I were getting nice accuracy with what I was doing I wouldn't mess with it.

[Scharfschuetze]

Scharf-- is the third photo, red background, two Krag bolts with cracked lugs? I see a Gunbroker signature on the photo. I'm curious to know about this, because in many years of working with these rifles and owing a number of them I have only actually seen one cracked bolt lug. It was sent to me as an e-bay purchase, and I saw the crack almost as soon as I unpacked it. I returned it, but later was a little sorry that I did so as it turned out to belong to an old fellow who was in the hospital and the transaction had been handled both ways by his wife. I've certainly heard and read about them many times, but have only actually seen the one I mentioned. What can you tell me?

I copied the photo off of the site here as I thought that it was important enough to share again later when a new Krag shooter posted. Just a word or photo to the wise. I have actually never seen a cracked bolt, but as you have proven, they are out there.

From my reading on the topic, the cracks started appearing when the Army adopted a "high velocity" load. It was taken from stocks fairly fast from what I understand. I think that most of the cracked bolts were replaced by either unit armorers or at depot maintenance as they appeared. I also understand that the CMP's predecessor, the DCM, replaced Krag bolts on demand at one point in the distant past.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Thanks for the information on the cracked bolt lugs. The condition is well enough known that every in depth article on the rifle mentions them, but they do seem to be a rarity. The only one I saw was quite visible, as are those in your photo, and if the condition developed in one's rifle it would be unlikely to go unnoticed. I agree with you that, although not seen every day, it is a possibility worth bringing to a new Krag shooter's attention. Fortunately, even today, there seems to be an on going trickle of unissued bolts, and many that have been parted out from donor rifles available as replacements.

[TenTea]

I also use the Redfield 102K No Drill receiver sight and a taller brass bead front, which is good for older eyes.
The nice thing is no permanent modification to the rifle needed and as a bonus, a guy can easily take the riser off the sight body and remove the rifle bolt for cleaning and such.
Aperture sights are my favorite for iron sight shooting.

Received the 311284 Lyman mold in yesterday's mail and it looks good.
Will have to fire up the pot on a warmer, future day, (I cast in an unheated space) test it out and get some measurements.

I'm feeling the shame of having no pictures of this rifle for youse guys. :brokenima

[wrench]

I'm feeling the shame of having no pictures of this rifle for youse guys.

We do put a lot of pressure on each other, don't we?
We have to cast perfect boolits, we have to shoot tight groups, and we have to be Ansel Adams with our cameras:)

[TenTea]

We do put a lot of pressure on each other, don't we?
We have to cast perfect boolits, we have to shoot tight groups, and we have to be Ansel Adams with our cameras:)

HAHA!

It's a self-imposed shame. I am my worst critic...usually...on most stuff. :mrgreen:

[tdoyka]

i have seen the receiver cracked above the receiver locking lug along with a cracked bolt. i've seen it from a gun show that has to be 20 or so years ago.


it was a vertical crack that went about here.(where the barrel goes on/ i don't have a picture so i use mine)
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h273/tdoyka/4674a58e-e90b-4e64-9dbc-328edd18155b_zpsvravwldb.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/tdoyka/media/4674a58e-e90b-4e64-9dbc-328edd18155b_zpsvravwldb.jpg.html)

the bolt was cracked, much the same way.(picture above shows the crack, scharfschuetze) the guy selling it wanted too much for it, so declined. i figured it was a parts rifle, but it was nowhere around what i wanted to pay for it. (the guy wanted $400 because its was a krag and this was 20 or so years ago)

i've seen several of the krags but i haven't seen a bolt crack.

[Scharfschuetze]

An interesting side note is that the Danish and the Swedish Krags used the bolt's guide rib as a secondary locking lug. This allowed them to chamber their Krags for higher intensity cartridges. In the US Springfield manufactured Krag, the guide rib does not contact the rear bridge but it and the bolt handle's stem act as safety lugs should the primary lug completely fail.

[TenTea]

I read about someone (Hatcher?) that experimented with the Krag and removal of the lug completely.
He found the bolt was strong enough, even without the forward locking lug.


Extract from Hatcher's Notebook, pages 202-203:
"I once received a letter in which the writer inquired about the strength of the [M1903] bolt. He stated that he had read that in a magazine that the Springfield bolt was much weaker than that of the Krag-Jorgensen, and that the Springfield bolt was dangerous because of a tendency to blow out of the rifle, which the Krag would not do. Of course, anybody who has any conception of rifle construction knows that either the Springfield bolt or the Enfield [M1917] bolt with double lugs is far stronger than the Krag bolt with only one lug.
Even so, the Krag has entirely satisfactory strength for the range of pressures for which it was designed, that is, about 40,000 pounds maximum. In connection with its loading of Krag cartridges, the Ordnance Department determined that the pressures should never be allowed to go over 42,000 pounds per square inch.
These guns have been used by many persons with little regard for this limitation, and consequently we occasionally see a Krag with one locking lug cracked, or even broken entirely off; other Krag bolts have broken in two just back of the locking lug. However, these bolts did not blow out of the gun; there is a rib on the right side of the bolt that bears against the shoulder on the receiver, and this acts as a safety lug, and in addition, the bolt handle turns down into a slot at the rear, which acts as a further safety feature.
The Krag rifles have been in use since October 1894, when the first issue of the so-called Model of 1892 was made. During the intervening period of over 50 years this fine rifle has made a great reputation for itself."

[wrench]

About 10 years ago, I didn't own a Krag, and wanted one in the worst way. Was walking around a local gunshow, and a dealer had one that looked pretty good at a reasonable price.
I passed, wanting to walk around and think about it, and ran into one of the old fellas from my gun club. We chatted a bit, I told him about the Krag, and he said, "Let's go give her a look".
He saw, right away, that the bolt was cracked just like the pic above. He pointed it out to the seller, who quietly put it behind the table.
I bought my friend a cup of coffee for saving me, and decided to take one more tour around the show...you guessed it, that Krag was right back on the rack, for sale.
I gave the dealer the stink eye, dollars to donuts he wasn't going to point that cracked bolt out to anyone.

[TenTea]

@ wrench

Have you found a rifle to call your own in the intervening decade?

[Char-Gar]

TenTea....Congratulations on having possession of a very fine rifle. I have had considerable experience with Krag rifles stretching back a half century. When it comes to handloading cast bullets for the Krag, I would offer just one piece of advice, to wit;

The military Krag barrel has a quite long and large barrel throat. Cast bullets of .312 to .313 will deliver better accuracy than anything smaller. This is not to say that smaller cast bullets won't shoot decently, but best accuracy will be found at the foregoing sizing diameters.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I just want to include this information in this thread, as I have done in most similar threads: It has been my experience, having worked on many of them and owing more than a few, that eventually most will need headspace adjustment. It is my belief that this is due to the design of only having one front locking lug and the metallurgy of the day. When in the hands of the military most of the rifles were fired for thousands of rounds until the bores became unserviceable, re-barreled and fired some more. Eventually they were released to the civilian market where they were fired for thousands more rounds, re-barreled, and fired some more. Whereas the military fired a standard load in them, the civilians tended to be handloaders and to use hotter loadings. Eventually the single locking lug compresses and the headspace opens up, its presence signified by a bright expansion ring in the brass just forward of the rim.
185233185234
Click to enlarge.
Here are two .30-40 Krag cartridges. The one on the right has the expansion ring, also known as an incipient case head separation ring. The brass has stretched at this location due to poor headspace. Repeated reloadings and firings using a full length case resizing die will eventually cause the case to fail at this location, usually 3-5 firings. It is often preceded by a visible crack in the brass at the top of the ring, at which time it is time to discard the case. However, if one resizes using a die that sizes the neck only and fires only in the same rifle, case life will be prolonged as the case is now a customized fit for that chamber.

If you have a rifle that is within headspace specifications and are just a recreational weekend shooter you may never arrive at this condition in your lifetime. That would be especially true if shooting reduced cast boolit loads. But if you shoot a couple of hundred rounds per month in military rifle matches at the club, or hot handloads you will very likely encounter the problem. So it is wise to procure a new condition bolt and set it aside for future reference.

Replacement bolts are still easy to come by. As these rifles age and parts need to be replaced more and more of them are being parted out to satisfy the replacement parts market. A search on e-bay will usually turn up a dozen or so, and once in a while brand new original unissued bolts. The prices, used or new, range from reasonable to ridiculous. Some fellows, and I admit that I was one of them, scour the internet for parts and reassemble them back into rifles. At the same time, there are others engaged in buying them, disassembling them, and selling the parts. That's one reason, I guess, that I ended up with more than my share, because I hate the thought of something I restored being parted out again.

185237

Sometimes a used bolt will solve the headspace issue, perhaps because it is not quite as used as the one already in your rifle. If you have an accumulation of used bolts you can often solve the problem by swapping them around. I have only encountered one rifle that could not be put back into specs using a brand new original unissued bolt. As you can see, below, I've "been there and done that."
185235185236
Click to enlarge.

What to take away from this post? (1) Buy a new bolt and set it aside for a rainy day. An unissued bolt is best. (2) Use only ammunition loaded to the Military's original pressure specs or reduced loads. All of the rifles are now well over 100 years old, but will likely give many more years of satisfaction at the target range and in the deer woods. :)

[tdoyka]

i was told by old fella(its been 30 or so years ago) that the '98 springfield armory (30-40 krag) that it brazes the barrel when putting it in the receiver. i know that it does braze the front sight on, but i always thought that the barrel was threaded onto the receiver, not brazed on.

i don't plan to take the barrel off of the receiver, but who was right?

[Char-Gar]

i was told by old fella(its been 30 or so years ago) that the '98 springfield armory (30-40 krag) that it brazes the barrel when putting it in the receiver. i know that it does braze the front sight on, but i always thought that the barrel was threaded onto the receiver, not brazed on.

i don't plan to take the barrel off of the receiver, but who was right?

The barrel is screwed into the receiver. Square threads about 10 per inch.

[tdoyka]

thats good to know.

[Scharfschuetze]

Nice looking Krags Gebirgsjaeger and good info in your last post. I'm fortunate that my circa 1903 1898 rifle is spot on for HS although like many Krags, its bore is about .310" in diameter.

That larger than standard bore on mine would certainly have reduced pressure and back thrust on the locking lug a bit with ball ammo. Of course with cast that is normally not an issue.

Even though my HS is good, I usually neck size my cases with a collet/bushing type die that allows me to adjust the internal diameter of the neck by the use of interchangeable collets of different diameters. That saves a lot of compression and expansion cycles to the case. That technique may also be of use to those owners with excessive HS in their Krags as it allows the case to HS on its shoulder and not the rim.

To add to your observation on Krag HS, I read once of some Krags having the locking lug lapped in to the point where the guide rib was acting as a second primary locking lug much like the Scandinavian Krags. That certainly would increase HS a good deal if the barrel was not set back and rechambered. While clever, I think that doing so might endanger the integrity of the action by wearing through the case hardening of the locking lug abutment.

Even in my youth I looked at that guide rib on Krags and wondered why they didn't use it to support the primary lug. Later on in life when considering the purchase of a Scandinavian Krag, I had one of those "What the Hell" moments when I saw that the Scandinavians had done just that on purpose when making theirs.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

All excellent observations, Scharf. I have encountered shooters who did what you have outlined, by using the guide rib as another lug, and it did involve setting the barrel back. That was not uncommon with "old timer" range shooters. What they did about possible wear of the contact area of the rib is unknown to me. Perhaps they spot hardened it like was done to No. 1 Lee Enfield receivers at that same location where the guide rib contacts the receiver. That alteration to the Krag isn't seen much any more as that era of shooters has pretty much died out.

[wrench]

@ wrench

Have you found a rifle to call your own in the intervening decade?

Oh, I've been pretty lucky in the Krag department in the last decade:-D

I have two US 1898 rifles, one of them has a perfect bore, and is my shooter. It's a 1903 rifle, absolutely gorgeous condition.
185288185287

A couple of years ago, I was able to finally add a Danish Krag. The exterior is pretty nice, but the bore is 5 miles of bad road. Still shoots pretty well.
185289185290

Then, finally just this last summer, I complete the trifecta with the Norwegian Krag. It's a beaut!
185291185292

Can you tell, I loves me some Krags!

[Der Gebirgsjager]

They are beautiful, aren't they? And your collection, wrench, is very nice. I really like your Norwegian rifle. There once was a company named Flaigs that sold commercially sporterized military rifles, and their conversions were good quality. I've got one of their Norwegian Krags in 6.5x55mm, but I would have to say that finding one like you've got in such nice original condition is a rarity indeed.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

There's usually a reason for everything, but I wonder what the Danish thinking was about having the loading gate swing forward rather than downward? Since the cartridges were dumped in loose, the gate going downward would seem like a funnel to assist the cartridges entry to the magazine area and also help prevent dropping them. And since the basic design originated in Scandinavia and was adopted by the Danes and Norwegians, I've often wondered why the Swedes and Finns did not. Probably just a matter of historical timing, since the Swedes certainly did all right with their choice of the '96 Mauser.

[TenTea]

Oh, I've been pretty lucky in the Krag department in the last decade:-D

I have two US 1898 rifles, one of them has a perfect bore, and is my shooter. It's a 1903 rifle, absolutely gorgeous condition.


A couple of years ago, I was able to finally add a Danish Krag. The exterior is pretty nice, but the bore is 5 miles of bad road. Still shoots pretty well.


Then, finally just this last summer, I complete the trifecta with the Norwegian Krag. It's a beaut!


Can you tell, I loves me some Krags!

Fantastic, some real beauties illustrated in this thread!
Not sure why it appeals to me, but the knurled knob atop the loading gate on the Danish Krag is pretty cool.

I got my brass from Graf & Sons and had a chance to cast, size and lube a few 311284's so decided to load up some testers.
The brass was properly sized right out of the bag and the bullets weighed 223 grains, dressed for flight.
Based on the books and internet info, I've got several rounds loaded at 20, 21 & 22 grains of IMR 4198 ready to go...first use of this powder.
Now, about the weather!
Ice crystals, freezing rain, snow and rain...all today.

[TenTea]

TenTea....Congratulations on having possession of a very fine rifle. I have had considerable experience with Krag rifles stretching back a half century. When it comes to handloading cast bullets for the Krag, I would offer just one piece of advice, to wit;

The military Krag barrel has a quite long and large barrel throat. Cast bullets of .312 to .313 will deliver better accuracy than anything smaller. This is not to say that smaller cast bullets won't shoot decently, but best accuracy will be found at the foregoing sizing diameters.

Thanks to you, for replying to this thread and your point is duly noted.
My actions and thinking, in regard to all things Krag, have been aided by your past posts on our forum.
You can bet, I will pursue a larger *as cast* bullet in the future, particularly if my upcoming testing is deemed sub-par.
I've been looking at a few already, for future reference.

The new 311284's I cast with ~Lyman No. 2 alloy measure .3095"/.310" body and .299"/.300" nose.

[tdoyka]

Oh, I've been pretty lucky in the Krag department in the last decade:-D

I have two US 1898 rifles, one of them has a perfect bore, and is my shooter. It's a 1903 rifle, absolutely gorgeous condition.
185288185287

A couple of years ago, I was able to finally add a Danish Krag. The exterior is pretty nice, but the bore is 5 miles of bad road. Still shoots pretty well.
185289185290

Then, finally just this last summer, I complete the trifecta with the Norwegian Krag. It's a beaut!
185291185292

Can you tell, I loves me some Krags!


very nice krags!!!

[4570guy]

I believe the reason Springfield decided to have the guide rib not bear on the receiver was so they could easily manufacture interchangeable bolts. The guide rib on the US Krag is one of two safety lugs (the other being the bolt handle). Non US Krag rifles were made with the guide rib bearing.

[Ken in Iowa]

There's usually a reason for everything, but I wonder what the Danish thinking was about having the loading gate swing forward rather than downward? Since the cartridges were dumped in loose, the gate going downward would seem like a funnel to assist the cartridges entry to the magazine area and also help prevent dropping them. And since the basic design originated in Scandinavia and was adopted by the Danes and Norwegians, I've often wondered why the Swedes and Finns did not. Probably just a matter of historical timing, since the Swedes certainly did all right with their choice of the '96 Mauser.

The Danish '89er Krag fit the tactics of the age. Armies were supposed to stand up and fight. :-)

The Finns were in the Russian sphere at the time. The Mosin was the best choice for them when they became independent in the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution.

Sweden was truly ahead of the game.

[TenTea]

Fingers crossed...the weather gods might bless us to enable a range trip this weekend.

It it comes to pass, we may perform a brief, first test of the Lyman 311284 loads.

Probably wait until later this spring for a *sit down at the bench* and shoot some relaxed, comparative groups @ 100.

[4570guy]

Regarding the Danish Krag - I believe what we see in the US and Norwegian Krags are just evolutions of the design. The Danish didn't choose the flip forward gate over the lower hinged gate - the lower hinged gate had not been developed when the rifle was adopted in 1889. The Norwegian Krag is very similar to the US but the guide rib does bear on the receiver.

[madsenshooter]

They are beautiful, aren't they? And your collection, wrench, is very nice. I really like your Norwegian rifle. There once was a company named Flaigs that sold commercially sporterized military rifles, and their conversions were good quality. I've got one of their Norwegian Krags in 6.5x55mm, but I would have to say that finding one like you've got in such nice original condition is a rarity indeed.

Thanks for mentioning Flaigs! It jogged my memory about where this tiger maple semi-inletted stock that I have came from. The magazine opening is small enough that a Norwegian Krag could be fitted to it.

[Shiloh]

I run a 314299 sized at .312. Just kisses the parting line on the boolit.

Shiloh

[nevada duke]

I run a 314299 sized at .312. Just kisses the parting line on the boolit.

Shiloh
Ten Tea, thank you for the heads up on the 30-40 brass at Graf's. I ordered 100 cases for the ongoing cast boolit experiments in my old bubba'd 1898. The bore is pretty rough but not black. I'm using the .311284, nose is .300. Unfortunately the bore is more like .301-.302. I may have to go with the big .311299 which casts larger. Looking forward to your results.

Best regards, Nevada duke.

[TenTea]

Ten Tea, thank you for the heads up on the 30-40 brass at Graf's.Looking forward to your results.

Best regards, Nevada duke.

You are most welcome. 8-)
It seemed a long dry spell for new-made Krag brass.

I'm looking forward to my results too, but spring is gonna hafta sprung!

I've got a long list of cast bullet projects and *aspearmints* lined up once the weather breaks.

Dreaming of a balmy day at the range in the sunshine...