Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 30/40 Krag

Midway has Hornady 30-40 krag brass in stock if you need it.
Ronnie

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Bullet nose shape will likely have an impact on how well any individual Krag will feed its cartridges out of the magazine. Only one way to find out in a given rifle.

For those with access to cast bullets, I always get best accuracy with RN bullets in the 180 grain range, and 18 grains SR-4759 (or really any medium-slow burning pistol powder). 1600fps is a reliable sweet spot- not exactly a deer load, but I have done so with them. Case life is infinite, powder and bullet costs laughably low, and recoil/muzzle blast is such that a day at the range won't leave you with the jitters for the drive home. Save the full snot stuff for Opening Day.

I have a 30-40 krag, quit shooting it about three years ago, has a major head space issue, splits cases near the head, even factory unfired ammo, finally going to get it fixed, maybe before end of summer.

I had a box of 220 grain Hornady RN bullets that I was trying for accuracy. I have concerns regarding "a bullet soft enough to expand beautifully". I've Dyna Bore coated almost every one of my rifles, got a couple lever and slide action yet to do. But the Krag has the coating. The barrel is fairly new and looks good to my aging eyes.

I have several molds in 30 caliber and I'm hoping my new 1898 Krag will be a cast bullet shooter. My goal is ~~ 1,800 fps with 180 to 220 grain bullets.

Question, "Will straight wheel weight bullets fill the "a bullet soft enough to expand beautifully" requirement at those speeds?

Straight wheel weight will probably work fine if you have perfect bullet fit and the right powder. Always seat the bullet where it will very slightly engrave. I'll bet it will expand if distance is not so far that velocity has fallen off too much. This will, of course, take some experimentation. I use the Lyman #314299 (and a hollow-pointed version of the same), but only load to about 1,600 fps. I no longer have a Krag, but have had many. I now use a Ruger #3 and a Winchester 1895 reproduction carbine. I size bullets at .311" but .310" may be better for some rifles.

I never got the accuracy with the popular Lyman #311284 that I've seen with the 200 grain #314299.

The editor of FOULING SHOT magazine (published by the Cast Bullet Ass'n.) remarked years ago in an article that the softest bullet fired at the highest velocity that does not lead the bore will likely be the most accurate for that gun. I haven't verified that, but I'll bet it's true.

I'd try powders like H4895, Reloder7, 5744, one of the 4198s, and SR4759 (discontinued). Good luck-

Thanks for that info.
I finally got back to the 30 Army.

First the sight height was too short. I found a beat up sight that I did some file work on. It isn’t a craft grade sight, but it seemed to be right.
I didn’t have an extensive appropriate jacketed bullets on hand. My sizing die for my cast bullets is .309. I guess I could have tried them or I could have shot unsized. But I thought I’d try j-bullets.
First I had 220 grain rn Hornady that I was pretty sure wasn’t going to be used for anything else. I went to Ken Waters Pet loads and looked at an older Lyman Manual. Ken’s load was the starting load in the manual. So, I thought that would be a place to start. Group size was unacceptable. I have a few boxes of Hornady 180 IL’s. I tried them. Wasn’t happy. I have a few hundred 170 gr Remington CL’s - probably for 30-30.
I looked in some manuals and found a load labeled “likely most accurate” load. The group was narrow but was stringing up and down. The sun was in a poor position for iron sights I reasoned and it did seem that I had a little difficulty with glare off the front sight, even though I had filed it, I thought appropriately. Then I decided to go to 50 yards where there is a nice shade tree. I held best I could, 3 shots only, did I say it was in the high 90’s and humid?
I walked up to the target. 5/8” group, 50 yards, 3 shots.

I’m ok with that.

I needed to correct windage 6 MOA to the right. Took it to the shop and adjusted the sights about .04”.

When it’s cooler. I will work on it some more. BTW: all loads utilized IMR4350 and all loads are not hot or even warm.

Absolutely, as long as they are the old style clip-on wheelweights, and not modern zinc ones or soft lead stick-on weights. Add a pinch of tin to aid mold fill out. Nose shape has a bearing too, obviously. A hollow point expands better than a flat nose, a flat nose better than a round nose, and a round nose better than a spitzer.

It's always a good idea to make a chamber cast with any Krag you pick up. Throat diameters varied all over the map, and since it's throat diameter that drives bullet fit (not groove or bore diameter) it pays to know what yours is and size the bullets accordingly. Realistically expect anything from .309 up to .313", and I have a friend who swears his is .314"

Thanks, I do have some 50/50 solder and I add some at times.

I have a 180 gr mold, RN (I shoot paper) out of an ‘03. I may have lost my 170 gr HP mold, I have not seen it for quite a while. I think I may have lent it to someone. However, that 170 gr bullet mold may have been my brother’s, it’s been around for awhile. My two older brothers shot and killed deer easily with them in the 50’s and early 60’s when deer were not as tough as they are today. NOE has a sale on molds that ends I think today. I may have to order new one, I like their molds, a lot.

This rifle has an after market barrel, which leads me to believe it should have a tighter chamber/bore than the military version. I think it has a long throat though since the J-bullet that by far shot the best was the 170 gr CL RN 30-30 bullet. It had the widest/flattest nose, if that’s the correct way to describe it. The 220gr had a fairly narrow nose, I suspect it was designed to fit in a barrel, riding on the rifling with barrels that have a more ‘standard’ throat, and of course the IL bullet was a spire point.

I have quite a few 180 gr bullets cast and sized to .309. I may load some today just as an experiment. I’m pretty sure I have some that have not been sized too. I think I’ll lube them, add a gc and try them too. They were cast years ago, I suspect they were cast with WW’s and maybe some solder added, I don’t know.


Anybody have a favorite jacketed bullet for their Krag?

Grrrr.
Once again 3 shots are not good enough. 5 shots opened it up to about 8" at 50 yards. Two wild flyers. I guess that I'll need to glass bed. I used to like the challenge, now I'm getting lazy.

Back at it again. Three days of rain, so I had some time in the shop. I believe that my bedding job sucked. I re-bed it. I hit an item about the size of an apple off-hand with it at 75 yards two times out of two. But didn't put it on paper. That with 170 grain CL's meant for 30-30 I suppose. But I aim to take it out to fill a doe tag this fall.

Sorry to make this a zombie thread but today i was looking at an old Krag sporter i have and also an Winchester 1895 in you guessed it, 30-40 or 30 US. Yeah that one.

Truth is i havent messed with a 30-40 since i was in my early 20's a couple decades ago. From what i remember it fed and function in the bolt action best with longer and heavier 200-220gr bullets and round nose where smooth operators.

Couple years ago i picked up the winchester 1895 here off this forum. What im wondering is what's a good place to start in bullet weight?

Also, im thinking the 1895 leveraction may be slightly stronger than those old Springfield bolt rifles, so is this more forgiving in driving 220 bullets @2000 fps or is that asking too much? I wouldnt try to turn either one into a 30-06 but im just wondering relative strength and what is the potential. The 1895 is the levergun rifle thats odd to me and i dont have any real time with them compared to the otheres like the Win 1894, 1886, and the Marlins.

FWIW ive got an old book with accounts about hunting grizzly bears in the Canadian Selkirks and in the western US. I believe the author used a Hi Wall 45-100 or something similiar. On one partucular hunt his companion used the then fairly modern 30-40 Krag and in the book it mentioned how impressive the tissue damage was with the 30-40.

Although I have 2 1898's, and had an 1895, I haven't done a lot of component switching. The limitation of iron sights makes me think once I've accomplished 5 shot groups at 2 moa...that's about as good as I'm capable of. The 1895 was a converted back to .30-40 from 7.62x54R Russian contract rifle and never seemed to measure up to the Krags, accuracy wise. I never felt the need to pursue the 220 grain bullets very much after I discovered the large exposed soft lead tips frequently balked on the feed ramp. So, I went with 180 RN's, usually Sierra which fed slick and smooth. I played with a few powders over the years, but it seemed almost anything worked well. Eventually, I pretty much settled on 45 gr of 4350, mostly because I had a lot of it. Both "98's are cut down rifles with 24" barrels, Buffington sights, and I got right at 2200 fps and 2 inch 5 shot groups at a 100 yds. Just for entertainment purposes, let me share some primer substitution info here: Federal Match 2190 fps, 26 Extreme spread. (this load shoots to the carbine sight grads out to 600 yds)...Winch Large Rifle, 2213fps, 35fps ES...CCI LR Mag, 2160 fps(not a typo)38 fps ES. Note lower velocity with Mag primer??? Older Win Super X brass for all tests.
And the punchline is, for the best actual repeatable group size? 36.5 grains of good old 3031, 180 Sierra RN, 2210 fps, 1.7" groups.
Almost all the reloading books I have mention the 1895 as being stronger than the Krag...but don't give separate load recipes. I tried some perkier loads in my '95...but all I got was stretched brass...no joy on the target. I never really tried lighter, faster bullets in the .30-40...that is not where it's reputation for a reliable killer came from. Paul