Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30-40 Krag... Any fans? Who hunts with the 30-40?

I received a call from a friend to go and visit her brother and his wife and we would look at a 30-40 Krag given to him by a good friend. The rifle was in 100 PER CENT great shape, smooth as greased butter and looked like it was new. WOW! Before this I had never seen a rifle in this chambering. Any of you a 30-40 fan and have any of you hunted with this old cartridge? I have read that even Elmer Keith approved of the Krag.

roanmtn

Still have my father's Krag 30-40 sporter. Ballistically it's not too far from a 30-06.

I've got a Ruger No. 3 so chambered. It don't mean squat, but the most blood I've ever blown out of a deer was with it and a factory 180gr Core-Lokt. Looked like a crime scene.

Yep.

Taken a few deer. Let me see if I can round up a picture or few.

-Jake

Grandpa bought it when he was in the military. Gave it to me. I make sure it gets out a bit each season.

As for the round..... What's not to love. Just about perfect for whitetail.

Mom and dad gave me an old Krag rifle for Christmas and I've got a few others which are modified. Most I've ever done with it was an elk and some whitetail and one Mule Deer. It's been awhile since I've used them. Basically I loaded them old school with 200 or 220gr bullets. Everything it was used on was in heavy forest closer ranges.

I think a 220 is perfect for it.

I haven't been without a Krag in some form since 1968 at age 15 when I bought a M1896 Cavalry Carbine, for $40. Killed a few deer with Krags over the years, nothing recently though. Most of my Krag usage has been with 220grain cast RN bullets at the old Army standard of 2000fps. Deer killed with it were dead enough to cook and eat.

Coincidentally I'm loading a batch of Krag ammo with 155 grain soft cast plain base RN plinkers for some fun this Sunday. 6.0grains of Red Dot will complete them. More fun than enough!

The current Krag, whose stock I finished up this past summer, haven't hunted with it yet. I promised myself to rust blue the metalwork this winter, haven't gotten around to it yet:




Why no checkering on the forearm? It's there, only on the bottom side.
Lyman 48 rear sight waiting impatiently to be installed too.

Mine is in a 1895 Winchester. Was the 2nd big game rifle I purchased. I have killed deer,elk, and other western big game. I use 150 & 180 gr. loads.

I had a nice sporter for quite some time. Sold it to a young fella who really wanted it bad. I do have sporter Siam Mauser rebarreled/converted to 30 US, aka 30-40 Krag.

I've had several military .30-40 Krags, in various degrees of condition from all-original to "sporterized," but have also owned several other rifles chambered in .30-40. Right now I have this Ruger Red Label, an early generation 20-gauge with an extra set of rifle barrels in .30-40. Got it from a friend some years ago, who bought it at a gun show. There are no markings of who made the rifle barrels, and the guy my friend bought it from had no idea either. But it will put a shot from each barrel into two inches or a little less at 100 yards.



But my favorite .30-40 hunting rifle was probably this Shiloh Sharps reproduction of the 1885 Winchester "High Wall" single-shot. This mule deer doe looks a little disheveled because after the shot, she took off running, and in a few yards hit a big cottonwood tree head-on, obviously dead on her feet.

I have a wonderful shooting Ruger #3 with a really nice custom cheekpiece stock and custom shaped lever. The 150gr. loads run neck-and-neck with .308 Win. factory... but I'd stop short of shooting them through a Krag!

Stock has good dimensions and lovely figure. I've been thinking of finding a new home for it. PM me if interested.

That Ruger O/U looks like a bucket of fun!

It works!

As a matter of fact I tended to neglect it as a shotgun for quite a while--so decided to use it this fall. Worked great with Bismuth loads of #5 shot on both pheasants and mallards!

Might also mention that I prepared for big game hunting with the High Wall by shooting prairie dogs, as I often do with iron-sighted rifles. Took them out to 200 yards, so was pretty sure it would kill a deer....

Thanks John

I've always been interested in the 30-40 Krag. Had never seen one until recently. I suspect the old round(.303 British looking) has just the right velocity and bullet weigh + good shot placement just makes it deadly. A 3" high zero at 100 yds is probably good to 225 to 250 yds. Where I live in the mountains of East Tennessee it is 50 to 100 yards at the very most in the Cherokee Nat'l Forest. On farms in lower flatter land 250 yards is one long shot for us. One would be shooting onto some other person's property. NOT GOOD!

My mechanic in Roan Mountain, TN killed one of the largest 12 point bucks ever killed on the mountain... .308 Win. A little more velocity than the 30-40.

Nice looking rifles you guys have here. They are beautiful.

Roanmtn

The older I become the less impressed I am with ultra fast velocities. Killing the types of big game taken with your 30-40 tells us the slower cartridges are very capable.

Roanmtn

roanmtn,

The .30-40, as I have pointed out in my Gun Gack books, has just about the same powder capacity as the .308 Winchester--but was also a semi-copy of the .303 British. Which is why my favorite handload in both .30-40 and .303 rifles capable of handling "modern" ammo is a 180-grain bullet with around 48 grains of 4350--whether H or IMR. This gets around 2600 fps--depending on barrel length--and works well with cup-and-core bullets. The bullet used on the doe mule deer was the Winchester Power Point 180.

Very, very nice rifle. I wonder if you purchased it this way or did you customize it?

Nice, where does one get in line for said rifle???🤣🤣🤣

YES...... I knew my old eyes were not incorrect. The 30-40 IS a .303
Brit copy. Just looking at the two together is plain enough to see.
I will give your load to my friend's brother... He really NEEDS it.

John I need to get involved in some of your Gun Gack books if any are still available. I'm not a computer whiz. Is there anyway that I can communicate with you and Mrs. Barsness on your Gun Gack
Books? Also I didn't realize one can up the velocities to 2600fps. I've always read to be very careful with the Krag.

Roanmtn