Krags and 4895

[Jack Stanley]

Does anyone use any of the varieties of 4895 powders and the 311284 in the thirty-forty Krag ? Looking for a safe starting charge and the books I have either don't list the powders or a heavy cast .

It's not something I have to put together but I'd like to see if I could make a load almost the equal of the old military loading . Not at the risk of the rifle or my face though , after all the rifle is much older than I and neither one will heal quickly .

Jack

[Bob S]

I load 28 grains of any variety of 4895 with the 311284 in 30-40. That's a pretty mild load, though.

The closest I can find to published data is loads for DuPont 3031 in old Ideal and Lyman manuals; that was before 4895 was commercially available, we got it surplus from the DCM and were told to use 3031 data.

The Ideal 1950 manual shows 32 grains of duPont 3031 with the 311284 for an "estimated" velocity of 2000 fps. The 1957 Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook shows 30 grains of 3031 with 311284 for a velocity of 1985 fps.

If you want to duplicate the 2000 fps velocity of the original Military Ball loading, my guess would be 30-32 grains of IMR 4895. I wouldn't exceed 32 grains.

The Ball loading for a brief time was slightly faster than 2000 fps, but it caused problems with cracked bolt lugs, so the loading went back to 2000 fps. All of the sights, except possibly some M1898 sights that escaped being back-dated to the "new"/old loading, are regulated for 2000 fps. You should probably not expect a 2000 fps load with 311284 to shoot exactly "to the sights" past 200 yards or so: your bullet may be lighter or heavier than 220 grains, and the ballistic coefficient of the cast bullet is significantly lower than the relatively smooth jacketed ball projectile.

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[oldhickory]

Like Bob, I couldn't find a load combination using 4895 and the 311284 boolit. Lyman's 49th. edition reloading manual does show that boolit with 35gr. (max) of Varget for a MV of 2046fps. close to the Krag service load.

[Jack Stanley]

I still have some 311284's that weigh about two thirty-five . Since I am just using up odds and ends of bullets , I thought I'd see what "service" load felt like from an infantry rifle .

One of these days I gotta settle down and just find a nice practical load for the 311291 . Maybe I can get to that this winter .

Jack

[JeffinNZ]

H4895 is made by ADI in AU and sold as AR2206H here. The heaviest JACKETED load they list for .30-40 over this powder is 180gr.

180 AR2206H 24" start 35.0 2170fps - max 38.0 2265fps

If you back off a couple of grains for cast you will be fine.

[Shiloh]

I still have some 311284's that weigh about two thirty-five .

Jack

Your mold runs heavy.

Shiloh