What is ".30 USA" caliber?

[rondog]

Wasn't sure where to ask this, so here I am.....

Picked up a large assortment of misc. old ammo a couple years ago, some old feller's collection. Nothing I'm going to actually shoot, just looking to fatten my own cartridge collection.

In this mess, there's 14 rounds of "REM-UMC .30 USA". Rifle rounds, rimmed cases, about halfway between .30-30 and .30-06 length-wise.

Anybody know what these are? Is this caliber known by another name? These look to be original, not reloads, in good shape. Never heard of .30 USA.

[Grendl]

Commonly known as 30-40 Krag

[MtGun44]

Yep, .30 US, .30 Government, .30 USA. = nowdays .30-40 Krag.

[Artful]

.30 United States Army

.30 USG - United States Government

30-40 Krag


Frankford Arsenal production

1900 I think

[M-Tecs]

Yep, .30 US, .30 Government, .30 USA. = nowdays .30-40 Krag.

The 30 Government is the 30-03 however Winchester stamped their Model 70's 30-06 30 Gov't until the late 40's maybe later. Mine is a 1949.

[rondog]

Ah, mystery solved, I knew y'all would come through! I wondered if they might be .30-40 Krag, but had never seen any before.

Thanks! Got a lot of cool old rounds in this mess, and a lot of salvageable handloads to break down, it was a pretty big haul. Traded some 9mm Luger brass for it. There was a buttload of 8mm Mauser that's already been passed on to Swamp.

[rondog]

Oh, these all have lead-nosed jacketed hunting bullets, so most likely reloads after all. Unless Rem-Umc made hunting ammo for this.

[MtGun44]

HMM. Never saw a .30-Govt that was a .30-06. Learn something every day
if you pay attention.

[Cmm_3940]

HMM. Never saw a .30-Govt that was a .30-06. Learn something every day
if you pay attention.

My Winchester 54 is stamped .30GOV'T'06.

[Bent Ramrod]

The cartridges I see marked ".30 Gov't" are generally .30-06. The Krag round was called the .30 Army or 30 U.S., often headstamped .30 USA by the early commercial manufacturers.

Commercial rounds of that vintage would generally be loaded with 180 or 220-gr soft nose hunting bullets. Only rarely would you come across a full-metal patch military-type bullet in such loadings.

[Flyperk]

Is that the same as “30 American”?

[Barry54]

Is that the same as “30 American”?

My 30 American brass is small primer pocket 30-30 brass. Let me know if you want to sell it someday...

[Kai]

As an example on a Winchester 1895.

[ulav8r]

30 Gov. = 30-40 Krag.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I've mostly seen .30/40 Krag called .30 Army as that was the military branch that adopted it. The Navy and Marines adopted the 6mm Lee about the same time.

[stubshaft]

My 30 American brass is small primer pocket 30-30 brass. Let me know if you want to sell it someday...

I've been looking for some more for YEARS!

[stubshaft]

My 30 American brass is small primer pocket 30-30 brass. Let me know if you want to sell it someday...

I've been looking for some more for YEARS!

[Texas by God]

If you dig the guts out of a fired LR primer and flatten out the firing pin dent- you can seat a SR or SP primer inside of the LR hull.
Then load the cartridge as usual.
It worked when I tried it. YMMV!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[waksupi]

If you dig the guts out of a fired LR primer and flatten out the firing pin dent- you can seat a SR or SP primer inside of the LR hull.
Then load the cartridge as usual.
It worked when I tried it. YMMV!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very interesting, and a good trick to have in the hat.

[Rich/WIS]

Rem, Peters, WRA all loaded soft point hunting ammo for the Krag. Following WWI most of the Krags were sold off cheap and were commonly used for hunting. Some, like the carbines, were used as is and many of the rifles were were cut down to make them more user friendly. Even in the 50's and 60's knew older fellas who still shot their deer with one. If you can't use the brass or ammo throw it up in the S&S section, pretty sure it won't last long as Krag ammo and brass is once again thin on the ground. With its moderate case capacity and long neck it is a great cast bullet cartridge and loaded to full power still an excellent hunting round.