Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Cartridges that you wanted because what was written or said about them.

i told you about my 35/30-30, now i can tell you about a rifle that my family has. it is a 1898 Springfield Armory (1903) in 30-40 Krag. my great grandfather bought it. he killed deer with that rifle. then my grandfather (Pappy) had it and he killed deer with it until the early 1950s when he bought a Remington m760 (pistol grip and ribbed forearm) on '06. my dad (RIP), when he was young, had it and he killed deer until the 1970-71 Remington m760 in '06. then his brother (my late uncle) when he was young had it, until he got a Remington m7600 in '06. Pappy kept it and the Krag was given to me (2013) a year before he died. the rifle will be given to one of my sons, i'll let them decide.

i looked the rifle up and i found out that it was made in 1903. then Bannerman or the NRA cut the barrel to 22", put the front sight on, cut off the stock and then sold it to my great grandfather. sometime in the early 1960s, my Pappy had a Bishop or Fajen stock put on it. i didn't find the "original" stock a few weeks after he died. it was in the basement and he put it up in floor joists. i tried to wash it off, but i ended up with black stock, so i refinished it with 4 or 5 coats on Minwax Antique Oil and 3 coats of Poly oil/mineral spirits. i put on a Redfield 102K aperture sight before i found the "original" stock.





i wanted to shoot cast bullets, so i did clean the barrel down to bare steel. 6 or 7 days (throughout the 2 or 3 weeks i had it), 8 - 10 hours using Sweets, Shooter Choice and Gunslick foaming bore cleaner. i scrubbed out black gunk, copper, black gunk, burned powder, black gunk, spirals of copper, black gunk, cupronickel, black gunk and some black gunk. after i and my arm were done, i did a lead slug and it measured .3085" or a .311" cast bullet. i shoot a 165gr Ranch Dog (173gr avg) and H4198 going 1930fps. i have killed about 13 or 14 deer with the Krag, while my oldest son has killed 8 deer, including 173 yard shot, the furthest cast bullet shot (my sons and me). the youngest son has about 2 or 3 deer. i mostly take deer around 30 - 40 yards, but i shot a doe in the overgrown field that was at 154 yards.


mostly i don't go off on what the gun writer says, but i liked John Wooters, Kieth McCafferty, John Barsness, Ed Zern, Gary Sitton, Pat McManus, Brain Pierce.....the old timers who used to tell a story, instead of crap they write today. "how good is the Remchester 297 Super Dooper Magnumitis with a 300gr Noseerday Super ballistic bullet with platuim in it and it goes faster than speed of light," that kinda crap. thats the reason why i have not bought a gun rag for 25 some years.