Converting 8x57 JRS to .30-40 Krag

[sfwh]

I realise that this is not necessarily the way most people would go but I have a bag of 100 pieces of 8x57 JRS brass that was sold to me as 8x57 JS so is useless to me. I do however have a .30-40 Krag rifle. Has anyone ever tried turning 8x57 JRS into .30-40 Krag. The bases don't look too far off but I don't actually have the rifle here to test so was wondering if anyone had ever tried it?

Where I am .30-40 Krag brass is not readily available.

[toot]

it does sound possible. just run one through the 30/40, dies and see what it comes out as. mike it.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Case head of 30-40 Krag is .457 +/-, rim is .545 +/-; case head 8x57 jrs - .469, rim - .524. You get the the case head sized down and THEN turned to smaller diameter, the rim may or may NOT work in your rifle. Grampa used to make 35 Rem from .308, this would be similar but turning the head could be tricky due to interference of the rim. 8x57 jrs might useful for .307, .356, or .308 Marlin other European rimmed stuff. 30-40 would be a lot of careful work, not a simple size and trim. 405 Win or 35 Win would work, 303 British works but is short.

[uscra112]

Don't ruin that rare 8X57 Rimmed brass! Sell it to someone who needs it, and use the money to buy new .30-40 brass which is readily available online. Grafs comes instantly to mind.

[sfwh]

I'm in the UK and no one here sells .30-40, except at extortionate prices, places like Grafs won't sell to the UK. I've advertised the 8x57r for sale here but no one seems to want it.

[uscra112]

OK, special case. Go ahead, then.

[SOFMatchstaff]

Hows the supply of .303 there in the UK? I have made 30 US with one pass through the die and it works fine, just a bit short neck wise. The finished round cycles thru the 95 Win and shoots well enough considering the bore diameter and condition of my rifle. I ended up using .310 bullets and it got better yet...

[15meter]

Hows the supply of .303 there in the UK? I have made 30 US with one pass through the die and it works fine, just a bit short neck wise. The finished round cycles thru the 95 Win and shoots well enough considering the bore diameter and condition of my rifle. I ended up using .310 bullets and it got better yet...

This is one of the traditional parent cases for 303, might be able to find a few 303's laying around there I would think.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?89392-30-40-Krag-from-303-Brit

[sfwh]

Yeah .303 brass is one of the most abundant types of brass you find at the range in the UK. From what I've heard it's probably on par with what .30-06 is like over there. This means that I have a pretty good supply of .30-40 brass I was just asking about the 8x57r as I have it and have no other use for it.

[SOFMatchstaff]

Reloading in the UK is real shy on information here in the US. Do boxer primed cases show up or is it mostly berdan? Hows the supply of basic components for your std. calibers? Do you attempt to reload berdan cases?

[sfwh]

So ITAR means that anything American is often prohibitively expensive over here, especially primers and powder. We do however get a lot of European stuff. We get lots of Sellier & Bellot and PPU. Magtech isn't European but it's not American so that is reasonably common too. In terms of components, I use a mix of Fiocchi or S&B primers mostly, S&B or PPU brass, Vihtavuori or Lovex powder (European name for Accurate powder) and PPU bullet heads.

The most common brass to find on the range here is .303, .308 and .223. All the .303 will usually be boxer unless people are using surplus but there's not much of that about. The .223 will often be military issue (certainly looks the same as what I got given in University cadets) and thats about 80% boxer unless it's old. The NRA of the UK buys in its own .308 made by GGG in Lithuania. They get a huge batch of it made every year for all the Target Rifle competitions (think NRA high power but not as good) all of that is berdan primed and I've never tried to reloading any of it. It's got a bit of reputation for being rubbish and they had a whole scandal over here when the 2019 batch of GGG ammo broke a bunch of extractors.

[SOFMatchstaff]

Boxer 303 is abundant, sounds like the 30/40 issue is solved, I wish I had a easy cheap supply to feed the Lewis guns appetite.