Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 30/40 Krag

Say 10 to 15 grains of Unique, 110 grain RN or SP....

or 15 to 20 grains of SR 4759....

or 20 to 25 grains of 4198, or RL 7....

i have a few of these rifles, couple of the long originals, a real carbine, and what i think is a bannerman cutdown carbine. Those bannerman's are kind of collectible too.
I found it in a pawn shop in northern nevada, was primarily interested in it at the time for 175bucks, because it had a period sling on it, the muzzle cover, and in the buttstock was the cleaning kit.
I figured i got the rifle for free.
I had to have one as my dad had one when i was a kid, he loaned it to a family member who pawned it. He considered it one of the better deer rifles ever made.
I have never pushed them leaving the 220's at 2000fps or most often less.
Lyman i think makes about a 210grain mould that someday i might be able to steal one.
mostly it's cast loads on a 170grain roundnose that i have used in a lot of the .30weapons.
A buddy of mine who is big into these rifles has told me they were never .308, always were bigger diameter. Which means slug the barrel
if you want to zone it in.
i think seafire mentioned it, but unique pushing a slug to around 1500fps works pretty good on a light load.

35 grains of Unique ought to get that 110 grain to perform like a 6.5 Creed...

i have to laugh a little bit, i should send pictures of those deer to a former friend of mine. Former because i couldn't stand his know all attitude any longer.
few years ago we were riding around for deer, and i had a remington 760 carbine in 30.06 with me, loaded with those jacketed 220gr round nose bullets, and loaded to 2000fps. He said i was much undergunned, and it would not be good over 100yards. Now i had shot that same load on a bench and was getting around 1 inch groups. They have a lot of smack down and are accurate.
some fools just can't stop being fools.
He also told me i couldn't fire a cast bullet faster than 1000fps without leading, that was the one where I said, have a nice life.

I have never met shrapnel, but from his posts in the past i think we have very similar tastes in firearms.
Kaywoody is another one.
I think i would have to have shrapnel adopt me if i looked in his safe.

somebody would know better than I, but i seem to remember a world record grizz or brown bear at one time was taken by a 30.40.

The 30-40 is an almost gun. The 25-35 is the real deal, Hell on Grizzlies...

Krag porn for Travis!!!

I was thinking that was record elk.

How long a barrel is the carbine?

Snag some 150 grain cast bullets and drive them with 6 grains Red Dot/Bulleye/Clays. I've shot a bazillion of them in Krags- excellent backyard beer can plinking ammo. A sackful of said cartridges + a warm summer evening = more fun than watching two drunk monkeys. (And cost just pennies per shot, if you make your own bullets.)

Thanks guys.

Std military carbine barrel was 22".

Seriously makes me wanna drag my Krag out. I whacked my best ever deer last weekend on muzzleloader, so, unfortunately, I'll probably be pretty undisciplined the rest of the season. Though I can kill does in Unit A with a rifle whenever I wanna............hmmmm..........

I did pick up a Lee 200 grain mold a few weeks back and casted a few for it. Mine calipered at .309, which I thought was a bit narrow for a Krag, due to that, and it's gravel road bore, I paper patched (a labor of love that can be rewarding, but not recommended for anyone who places a very high value on their time:)) them. I sized down to .308, two wraps of tracing paper, then ran them through a .311 sizer. Now I need to find something to use as a neck belling die so I don't tear my patches off while seating. For those wondering, they do cast at right on 200 grains with wheel weight alloy.

The '98's are windage adjustable, unfortunately, mine is missing the springs and push pin that make the elevation adjustable. As parts are stupid expensive (the guy I called was around $100.00 a long time ago), I think I'm gonna dig around for a peep. BTW, mine is in a sporter stock that is REALLY comfortable for me. The buttplate says "Bishop". I know they used to make stocks, but I don't know if they made this stock, or just the buttplate. Any info would be appreciated.

As an fyi. See these folks for your Krag parts needs. Sometimes they have em, sometimes they don't. But they do generally have an impressive collection of Krag parts!

http://www.ssfirearms.com

Thanks for the heads up Kaywoodie!!!!
I've not ordered anything from them yet, but I have killed about 2 hours looking at their site!

I DID figure out from their site, that while my receiver is marked 1898, it has a 1901 model sight. Weird but true.......

You're Welcome Potsy! You may find this interesting too! Lots of knowledgable folks here!

http://kragcollectorsassociation.org

Thanks KayDub.

I have been shooting some more of those 220gr. Nosler's over 25gr's of H4895. That load is wicked accurate and hits POA at 60yds. Trying to smoke a dog with it but nothing has fallen into place just yet.




Travis

For hunters with Krags or 1895 Winchesters, try Hawk Bullets 165-180 to 200-225 gr bullets. They are now in NJ and
have a website. I have used their bullets in my 1895 and they really work well. They respond like bonded core bullets, but are reasonably priced.

In 2007, I used a 270 gr version in a Winchester Model 71-chambered in 348 Ackley Improved: not many miles from homestead land, killed
a nice moose with one shot. Wien Lake, AK. Worked for bears on the gut pile a few days later.
Of course, the 1886 and Model 71s were REAL lever action rifles that did not have the the repair and return-to-the factory record of the 1895s.
That being said, I killed my best bull elk in Colorado with a 405-1895 original rifle. That was when the front range was populated by decent folks
and possession of marijuana was a crime. No comment on elected officials.

It's as easy as falling off a bar stool to duplicate the original gov't load of 220 grain bullet/2000fps using 210-220 grain cast bullets, with a bullet soft enough to expand beautifully and not lead the bore.

Note: don't try to exceed that 220gr./ 2000fps level in a Krag. The Army tried it by increasing to 2200 fps and started getting a bunch of cracked locking lugs, whereupon they dropped back to 2000fps. It was plenty good against Spaniards and Moros, and earned a reputation for being big medicine in the game fields too.