Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Krag redux

I have always had soft spot for the 30/40 Krag cartridge, I'm sure it is the long neck on the cartridge for the heavier 220 gaib bullets. Nice rifle...great job on the redo.

Nice job on a neat project, thanks for sharing.

The .30 US Army cartridge with 220 grain round nose bullet is probably my all time favorite rifle cartridge.

Reverend Kaywoodie, it's one of what I call my Holy .30 Caliber Trinity - .30 Gov't, .30 Army, and .30 WCF (.30-06, .30-40, .30-30). The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Brother gnoahhh, I couldn’t agree more!!!!

I have always been curios as very little has been written on the 30/40 Krag cartridge in the latter 1890's at the .30 U. S. Army being a more powerful alternative to the predominately carried 30-30 lever action at the time.

I think the 30/40 krag has the coolest looking rim!

Wonder why it wasn’t wildcatted more?

Beautiful job on yours Gary

Well done.

I gotta get your help on mine sometime.

A .25 Krag might be fun! 🙂

Totally off topic, but if they weren’t so expensive and well, rare, I think a 6mm Lee Navy would be just down right fun!!! I mean of an affordable and shooting quality one could be had. You know? They other Winchester 1895.

Ok. Back on subject.

Thanks, John. Let's make it happen!

In that brief time when the .30-40 was king of the .30 caliber hill, astute gunners did rate it as more desirable than the smaller .30's. It's just that A) Krags weren't available to the general public, and wouldn't be until well after the adoption of the '03 Springfield, and B) the few commercial guns that shot it were heavy and somewhat clumsy compared to the '94 Winchester and M1899 Savage and their "lesser" chamberings (sorry Bre'r Kaywoodie, I respect your fascination with the M95 Winchester!). The only alternative was the Winchester M1885 High Wall in .30-40 and it wasn't a lightweight gun either with its #2 or #3 weight 28-30" barrel, and by then single shots for hunting use were becoming obsolete overnight anyway.

Be still my beating heart when you mention a .25 Krag! Ballistic twin to the .257 Roberts, especially in a hell-for-stout High Wall.

A 6mm Lee-Navy straight-pull is on my short list. I know where there's a minty original Navy-issue one, with bayonet, whose owner thinks I should own it - if we can reach an accord.

Very nicely done Gary! I'm sure you will be launching wheel weights, perhaps Lyman 311284's, out of that one but, what about those of you who don't cast? What bullets do you use?

Thanks, Joe. Yeah, good old Lyman/Ideal 311284 is my go-to favorite in a Krag, but there are others too. A long nosed old NEI Walt Melander-era 220 grainer is right up there also. I've hunted with soft (10-12bhn) 311284's and they kill ok, but I've always wanted a hollow point version for that work. Thinking hard about sending one my three molds of that persuasion out to be hollowpointed.

When I shoot jacketed in .30-40 I'm predisposed to either Sierra or Hornady 180 grain RN's. Can't tell much difference in accuracy. One thing I have encountered in Krags over the years is they tend to favor RN's over spitzers, at least in my experience. Having the correct magazine cutoffs installed is pretty important in regard to feeding - there are subtle differences in them as the Krag went through its design changes.

gnoahh, I had my old bubba'ed Krag out this morning shooting Lee 170FNs over 18 gr of 2400. It's a downright fun load and accurate as well. It shoots about the same with 180 gr RCBS FPs. I shot Hornady 220 RNs in it until I ran out of them. Now it's a dedicated cast bullet rifle. I have one of the Redfield peeps that replaces the magazine cutoff, so I can somewhat hit with it. Barrel sights totally defeat my eyes nowadays.

Your Krag is a beauty! It will be a hit at any gathering you take it to. Care to share any cast loads with us?

Nice job on the Krag! I did something similar with a [bleep] stocked "sporter" I got cheap. It had a monte carlo so high I couldn't get my fat face down far enough to see the sights! I need to get a barrel band to add another screw up front and get rid of the cheesy white line under the forend tip.

Krags are an enduring icon. They may truly be antiques, but definitely retain a large degree of utility in the modern world. "Once a weapon, always a weapon."

With 220 grain cast bullets (and 180's for that matter), I've enjoyed the sweet spot engendered by 16-18 grains 4759 (yeah I have a lot of that discontinued powder on the shelf), and similar charge weights of 2400,4227, and RL-7. Jacketed 180's I only mess with IMR4831 for the little I shoot jacketed stuff in a Krag. 46 grains does it for me with excellent accuracy and safe pressure. If I were to pursue the jacketed stuff in the future I would definitely include 4350 in the mix - lots of load data out there.

The old rule of thumb "back in the day" was 2000fps with a 220, and 2400fps with a 180, using medium burn rate powders. When the .30-40 was becoming long in the tooth at the turn of the century after only around 10 years of service (if you think technology is advancing at a fast pace today it was very similar back then too), Army Ordnance upped the 220 grain service velocity to 2200 fps in an effort to keep the Krag competitive with everybody else. Reports started coming in from the field about locking lugs cracking under the added strain, so they nixed that idea and went back to 2000 fps and life was good again. Modern handloaders would be wise, IMO, to heed that lesson learned the hard way by the ancients. Don't worry, the Krag at that level of performance will still kill anything that needs killing just as well now as it has proven over 130 years of use.

"Don't worry, the Krag at that level of performance will still kill anything that needs killing just as well now as it has proven over 130 years of use."


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Amen!!!

Wasn't it Elmer Keith who once opined that, "The old Krag hits hard" ?

Yeah, him and every other salty old woods runner back in the day!

I have a Krag rifle and a carbine. They shoot fairly well - three shot groups. I have a couple molds close in the 170 to 180 grain range.
Now I gotta get them out again and see what I can do with them. They are not collector grade. Bubba did him self proud on one.

Sorry! Please forgive!!! But I just gotta post it again. The old .30 Army ctg. does do the job!

I dunno, Kaywoodie, that critter doesn't look dead enough. Coulda, shoulda, woulda used a magnum of some sort with at least a 50mm exotic scope and $5 apiece cartridges to make it deader. Or not....