Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles .30-40 Krag Springfield

I am interested in possibly buying an old .30-40 to shoot and possibly using it on an elk. I have my .300 and .338 that do all the fun long range stuff. I hunt late season NM every year for elk and it might be fun to take the old gun out for a meat hunt one year. I am seeing prices all over the board starting at around $650 and up. Again, I am planning to use the rifle, so not needing something that is going to sit in the safe and look pretty. Is anyone able to tell me what would be a good option for what I am wanting?

Once in a while you can find a sporterized Krag fairly reasonable in price compared to an original milsurp, if you aren't looking for a collectible. They certainly are all rising in price though, even the hacked up ones.

The further west you look, the better. Fairly frequent to find Krag sporters at gun shows and pawn shops, with beautiful bores for around 450 asking prices. Beware the '96's, some had oversize bores, say .310 ish, not a problem usually but why not get a '98 with a nice .308 groove for the same price. The two hump 2 stage trigger can be tuned to perfection. Sights are something to consider...a lot were sportered with an aperture rear which is great, but they need to be removed or highly elevated to remove the bolt. The Buffington sight is terrific as issued for younger eyes...but older eyes require the rear notch to be opened up with needle files to give a clear sight picture in low light. As to scopes, everybody I ever knew who had one (they are offset left from the boreline) ended up taking it off where it resided in a drawer forever. Two, going on three generations of my family have made meat with Krags in timber country of the west, reliable and robust. I was the first generation to reload for the .30-40, and settled on the various 180 cup and core, roundnoses at a comfortable 2,200 or so. ALL the books, ALL the gun scribes recommend the 4350 powder family, and it works fine. For pure accuracy and good velocity, I settled on the 4064 family. One time with my sporter, on a cold dead still morning, I fired, from prone with sling, Buffington sight, 2 sighters and the following 8 shots into 15 inches at 800 yards. And believe you me, I ain't no David Tubb. No one balks at shooting North American game with a .300 Savage...but IMO the Krag has a significant edge.

I passed on a Williams peep sighted Krag sporter for $400 a couple years ago, and I still kick myself a bit for it. I didn't have a headspace gauge, though, and I'm always kind of hesitant on the older milsurps without checking. The original stock had just been chopped, but whoever did it did a pretty good job, and contoured the forearm nicely.

Sporterized Krags are one of the few good deals I've found at gun shows over the last few years. Around NE WI they'll run $400-600 depending on the seller more than anything else. Another option would be a Winchester 1895 or (if you don't mind newish) Browning repop. Both will run a bit more than a Krag sporter, as would a Ruger #1 or #3. Of these options I've had the most experience with a receiver sight equipped 1913 made 1895. It's run with 220s over H4350 for 1900-2000 fps.

Appreciate the advice. Keep it coming!

Just picked up a nicely sporterized and restocked 1898 with an old Lyman peep installed and ramp front sight. Mine apparently likes the Speer 150 spitzer and H4895 for about 2400, shoots 1 hole at 50 yards, about 1.5-2.00” at 100. Wouldn’t hesitate to use it on deer. I gave $500 for it, and it draws a lot of attention at the range. I tried the Lyman 311041 and the 311299 in it, with iffy results. I picked up a 314299 and sized to .312, and I’m back to 1 hole at 50. I just wish I could find more 5744.

Old70