ejbrush
11-16-2009, 09:44 PM
My first post on this board, and I gotta say thanks to everyone here for the unbeatable source of information it is.
Now, last spring I picked up an orphan Springfield M1896 (aka The Krag) for a song at the local gun shop. It had been bobbed off to carbine length, and the stock cut at the band, but that is about it. It also hadn't been cleaned since the end of the Great War. The outside spruced up pretty nice, the wood in really decent shape. The inside of the barrel, well....
You could see light at the end. Barely.
I wore out a dozen bronze brushes and even rigged up a crude electrolysis de-coppering tool, and eventually could see traces of rifling here and there. I counterbored the poor thing about 1 1/2" to get down to where the ghosts began, and took it out to the range with a box of factory .30/40 cartridges.
Well, the target at 50yds looked like I had opened up with 00 buckshot. My "group" was maybe in the 12" range.
Ugh.
Now, I'm not picky about making one ragged hole, but I was hoping for minute-of-whitetail accuracy.
Fast foreward a few months, and I discover this site, and the Gospel of Galena. I decided give it a try. Parted company with some hard-earned money and bought some shiny new dies, a hundred 200gr RN from Oregon Bullets and a pound of H414 powder (no particular reason for the powder choice, beyond it was in stock at Gander Mountain when I was there.) I made up 100 rounds of Krag chow, various loadings between 26gr and 31gr, and headed back to the range.
Well, it took a little time to figure out what was going on, but once I realized that even at the lowest sight setting the boolits were about 8" high I was, well...
The best from Saturday was 30gr of H414, which put 5 pills inside 3" at 50 yards. Two holes were touching. Most of the loads made a genuine 4" group, though the lightest ones were a little erratic.
Now, all I need is a McKeever box for my belt, and to remember to hold my aim at the bottom of their chest. Look out, Bambi, there's a new sherriff in town, and it loads from the side!
I am I convert. I have seen the light, and it is without a jacket. It is The Way.
Now, last spring I picked up an orphan Springfield M1896 (aka The Krag) for a song at the local gun shop. It had been bobbed off to carbine length, and the stock cut at the band, but that is about it. It also hadn't been cleaned since the end of the Great War. The outside spruced up pretty nice, the wood in really decent shape. The inside of the barrel, well....
You could see light at the end. Barely.
I wore out a dozen bronze brushes and even rigged up a crude electrolysis de-coppering tool, and eventually could see traces of rifling here and there. I counterbored the poor thing about 1 1/2" to get down to where the ghosts began, and took it out to the range with a box of factory .30/40 cartridges.
Well, the target at 50yds looked like I had opened up with 00 buckshot. My "group" was maybe in the 12" range.
Ugh.
Now, I'm not picky about making one ragged hole, but I was hoping for minute-of-whitetail accuracy.
Fast foreward a few months, and I discover this site, and the Gospel of Galena. I decided give it a try. Parted company with some hard-earned money and bought some shiny new dies, a hundred 200gr RN from Oregon Bullets and a pound of H414 powder (no particular reason for the powder choice, beyond it was in stock at Gander Mountain when I was there.) I made up 100 rounds of Krag chow, various loadings between 26gr and 31gr, and headed back to the range.
Well, it took a little time to figure out what was going on, but once I realized that even at the lowest sight setting the boolits were about 8" high I was, well...
The best from Saturday was 30gr of H414, which put 5 pills inside 3" at 50 yards. Two holes were touching. Most of the loads made a genuine 4" group, though the lightest ones were a little erratic.
Now, all I need is a McKeever box for my belt, and to remember to hold my aim at the bottom of their chest. Look out, Bambi, there's a new sherriff in town, and it loads from the side!
I am I convert. I have seen the light, and it is without a jacket. It is The Way.