reloading 30-40 Krag with .309 cast bullets

[bornintheussr]

Hey guys this is my first post here so please go easy on me, I started reloading 2 years ago ( mostly pistol calibers) and still learning

Recently got Krag rifle, slugged the barrel it's .309
I have a stash of .313 115gr bullets for my 32-20 lever rifle so I decided I will resize them. I did new bullets exactly .309
I'm reloading using Lee die set. Problem: too much led shavings after bullet is seated. I feel that my loads would not be very accurate because of this. So I changed decaping die to 7.62x54 hoping it will open up cases a little better but still I can hardly put bullet in this case and when iit comes out of bullet seating die theres some led shavings.

What I don't do correctly and how can I open case wider in order to accept .309 bullet?

[15meter]

Look at Lyman "M" dies, it's used after sizing to bell the case mouth so the cast boolits will seat easier, without shaving lead.

Just make sure you remove the bell after seating.

And you might consider using .310 diameter boolits, general rule of thumb is, a thousand's over groove diameter will get better accuracy.

Good luck. The Krag is a fun rifle to shoot.

[Mk42gunner]

I hate to tell you this, but your .313" bullets would have probably worked just fine in a Krag.

To seat a lead bullet in a case, you need to slightly expand the mouth of the case so the bullet will enter without shaving lead. Most handgun three die sets already have a neck expander, two die rifle sets don't. You may be able to use the expander die from your .32-20 die set.

Failing that, the best way (in my experience) is to use a Lyman M die. The cheap way is to twist a set of needle nosed pliers it the case mouth. A tapered punch will work too.

Also down in the Military rifle section there are several threads dealing with loading cast in the Krag. A search may turn them up.

Good luck,

Robert

Wow, I am a very slow typist.

[bornintheussr]

thank you guys. Robert why you say .313 bullets will work in .309 bore?

[bornintheussr]

sounds good i will order one, how can i remove bell after seating?

[beltfed]

It may be that your freebore/leade/throat is larger than 0.309 in that Krag.
In which case the rifle will indeed shoot with a larger diameter bullet.
Example, my Original Springfield M1941 USMC Sniper rifle (M1903-A1) shoots extremely well with 0.311 diameter bullets though
the groove diameter is 0.308.
beltfed/arnie

[K43]

sounds good i will order one, how can i remove bell after seating?

Use the crimping feature of your seating die or a Lee Factory Crimp Die (FCD) to just push the flair back parallel to the rest of the neck. If you want to crimp, then crimping will eliminate the flair. Just don't crimp too much or you'll get a little bulge in the neck that is also not conducive to chambering a round.

Edit: I forgot to mention some people use a taper crimp die. That may be easier to get right than a roll crimp and arguably less likely to imprint or swage the boolit.

[bornintheussr]

I have lots of .313 bullets left and if necessary will size them to .311 or .310 in case if results with .309 would not be satisfactory
I disassembled some vintage Rem 30-40 ammo and bullet diameter there was .308 and I shot this ammo with good accuracy through this rifle so probably .309 would be OK I just dont want this metal shavings to effect my accuracy. Lee got universal neck expanding die, will order it tomorrow

[tangolima]

Bullet diameter 0.001” to 0.003” larger than groove diameter. Rule of thumb of loading with cast bullet.

I use Lee universal expander die to bell the brass mouth. Just enough to avoid shaving the bullet. I usually don't crimp, but to remove the belling.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[15meter]

sounds good i will order one, how can i remove bell after seating?

In a pinch, I've used the full length sizer die with the decapping stem removed. In just far enough to remove the bell. It's a feel kind of thing until you reset the die higher.

[Noah Zark]

In a pinch, I've used the full length sizer die with the decapping stem removed. In just far enough to remove the bell. It's a feel kind of thing until you reset the die higher.

Same here.

Noah

[Mk42gunner]

thank you guys. Robert why you say .313 bullets will work in .309 bore?

They may. In some of the threads I mentioned in the Military rifle section a few of the members I respect said they shoot .313" boolits in their Krags. It seems that most Krags have a very large throat/ ball seat so the larger diameter fits safely.

You have to remember that back in the 1890's-early 1900's they hadn't quite figured out how to keep tolerances to the thousandth of an inch, nor really figured out the needs of smokeless powder.

As far as removing the flare after bullet seating, you should be able to adjust your seating die down enough to remove it without crimping. It has been a long time since I used a set of Lee rifle dies though.

Robert

[Cast_outlaw]

Needle nose pliers work good to flare case mouths just be gentle as there are some risks but they work fine for me to start boolits without shaving off lead

[K43]

Needle nose pliers work good to flare case mouths just be gentle as there are some risks but they work fine for me to start boolits without shaving off lead

Works in the USofA also. Though, I deny ever having done this more than once a month.

[405grain]

When loading cast bullets in rifle calibers I have found that it works best if the case mouth is flared just enough for about half the height of the gas check to enter the mouth. Most rifle caliber reloading dies do not flare the case mouths because they were designed for use with jacketed bullets. (the exceptions being straight walled cartridges like 45-70 [and others] which come as three die sets) A good and inexpensive tool for flaring the case mouths is the Lee universal case flaring tool. It's available from several sources, but is on sale at Midway right now. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/10...p6j&pid=140461

Most rifle reloading dies have a crimping feature. I have found that with cast bullets it is better to do bullet seating and crimping as two separate operations. First back the die body out so that it will not crimp the case mouth. Then screw in the bullet seating stem until you are seating the bullets to the proper depth. Once the bullets are seated, back the seating stem out, and screw the die body in so that it will remove the case flair (or crimp the case neck if that's needed) and run the cartridges back through the die to remove the flair from the neck. The reason that I do it this way is that some times, especially with pistol cartridges, if a crimp is applied it starts being applied before the bullet is fully seated, and this can cause the case mouth to shave a ring of lead off the bullets surface.

Though the "rule of thumb" is that cast bullets should be sized at least .001" above the firearms groove diameter, on rifles - especially bolt actions - it can produce better accuracy if the bullet fits the throat. Though the 30-40 Krag can be used with several different cast bullets, if I had to choose only one bullet for that rifle it would be the Lyman #311284. This 210 grain bullet was designed specifically for the 30-40 Krag.

[nicholst55]

Measure the ID of a fired case mouth. That diameter, minus .001" (or so, to allow for case expansion and springback), is the diameter of your barrel's throat. Any cast bullet that size or smaller (within reason) will work in your rifle.

[ttd444]

My Krag is measured .3085", I use . 311".