Back in the day that jumping deer was all Lyman needed to ID their products. You've got a fine sight and a great rifle. Good on you!
Back in the day that jumping deer was all Lyman needed to ID their products. You've got a fine sight and a great rifle. Good on you!
Leadman, Your barrel could be a 30-03 as Bannerman used those also. The sight is most certainly a Lyman. It's still a keeper, but I would stick with casties as the metalurgy in those guns isn't great. Mine shoots great with Lyman 311284 wich is available over the net.
Stillhunter, I do intend to shoot cast in it. Have some 311299 loaded for a trial. I've got 4 or 5 molds that should work well with the large bore on this gun. I shoot 2 Arg. 1891s and 2 Lee Enfields also.
I am working on my 3rd. Krag sporter now. I took a good 1901 action and had it barreled back to 30-40 with a new Remington 2 groove 03A3 barrel. The chambering reamer was ground to minimum specs instead of more generous mil-spec. I am expecting the rifle to be a cast bullet shooting wonder. We will see!
I like a mild load with 2400 and 311284, 311467 or 311405 Mod in my Krags. A load of 50/WC872 over a 200 grains cast GC bullet will duplicate the original military load with easy pressures.
Went to the range yesterday. Had gotten new glasses about a month ago and these presented a problem. I had put an old Simmons scope on the 1903a3 until the 2 I ordered come in. Thought it was bad cuz the target was fuzzy. Grabbed the Krag and had a hard time finding the front sight. Grabbed my Ruger 77 MK2 with Leupold on it, same thing. Went to the truck and got my old glasses, problem solved.
The Krag shot about 3" at 100yds for 4 shots after changing glasses. Had shot the 1903a3 at 50 with new glasses, about 1 to 1 1/2".
I'm encouraged and have brass tumbling now to reload for another session.
Any filler with that 50 gr load of 872? I've got some 860, and an Eagan mold that casts a 200 grain boolit, but I have to seat it long to get into the rifling as it's a tapered boolit. To get the powder up to the base takes 55 grains, and I think that's a bit much for the Krag. Maybe I'll get me some Grex or other shot buffer.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |