Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Does 30-40 Kragg safely fire in a .303 Brit?

I just read a comment on Tom Rivers Simple living that the 30-40 Kragg can be safely fired in the 303 Brit. Wow! Does anyone have experience with this? Mule Deer, in the very recent past, told us the 30-40 is copied after the .303 British. HMMMMM! Perhaps Mule Deer knows.

I've owned, and own both, and see no earthly reason to do it. If anything .30-40 brass/ammo is harder to find than .303 British. Then there's the discrepancy in bore size - accuracy wouldn't be anything to write home about. Have you compared cartridge dimensions? If so you would see that while they're close the Krag is a bit larger in diameter at the shoulder and a bit longer in OAL making the prospect of the Krag cartridge fitting into the Brit chamber really iffy. (But Brit chambers can be found with outrageously large chambers so there's that.)

In the past when Krag brass was totally unobtainable guys would run .303 brass into Krag sizing dies and then fireform to make cases that would work. Not ideally, but they would work.

I would have to be pretty desperate to try what you suggest.

Only one way to find out.....do it and report back here with the results.

Seems like a bad idea and potentially dangerous advice.

According to Bearrr264"s grandfather, rifles chambered in 32 WIN SPL were popular in rural/frontier Canada because people could shoot 30-30 in them in a pinch.

I've heard that for years so I tried it. Accuracy was terrible even at 25 yards. At 25 yards I might hit something. Past that no way

I believe the key word there is "simple".

What could possibly be the goal of such tomfoolery? Both rounds have gone from being pretty much everywhere in my younger days to near unobtanium. Barring a Zombie Apocalypse with some poor schlub finding himself unaccountably with a jungle carbine and a pile of .30/40 Cor-Lokts, even my fantasy-machine brain can’t come up with a reason to even contemplate such nonsense. Very doubtful that under SHTF conditions anyone is gonna score .30/40 ammo while scrounging, unless they hit up gnoahhh’s place😜

BTW, and pardon the drift, but ammunition for most things is commonly available, and priced commensurately with the Biden economy, sometimes much better. A contentious general election is in the works. Think about the goings-on preceding the last one, and the effect on supplies and the market. I’d never suggest that anyone fill up their garage with a bunch of stuff they’ll never use; that’s foolish and irresponsible, but so is letting yet another shortage catch you without needful things with which to defend yourself and your family, and also to pursue your hobbies. Times are tough for some, but almost anyone can find a few bucks in their discretionary fund to lay in a bit now and then.

I got a 30/40 Krag Springfield that has bullets, but needs a better stock.

I can’t believe how much I like shooting this deal.

Any advice out there?

This does not reflect well on yet another You Tuber expert. Beware the "tube", there is no vetting system as to content, competency or sanity.

What is wrong with the stock? If it is original then leave it as is. If it has been "sporterized" then get ahold of the CMP and see if they have a stock. Murray Gunstocks also make them.

After the war, a lot of 8 mm ( .315) mausers were brought back to the states. It was common practice, I guess, to run a 30-06 reamer in them I had one and it would kill deer at 50 yards or so. Also had 7.65 Argentine mauser that I shot 30 cal bullets when the .312 bullets were not available.

Heck of a lot better than a 12 gauge round ball back then and a lot less recoil.I killed deer with all three many years ago

Haha! Yep, I tend to go overboard when it comes to brass, powder, and primers. (Bullets not so much because even though I do actually shoot jacketed stuff, when I have to, I guess, I also have a couple drawers-full of bullet moulds and know how to to use them.) If the "shortages" persist, or get worse, it'll be business as usual for me - at least for the next ten years at the rate I'm going. Hell I might not be around ten years from now anyway.

I've had Krags in my life for well over 50 years now, have always kept good supplies of brass for them and do so now. Some of the stuff is old pre-war brass and even it too is still in service here, albeit for squibb loads and mouse fart loads. (And "squibb doesn't mean "stuck in the barrel" either, except in erroneous application of the term that has taken root in our vernacular . Look it up.)

Who is CMP?

The stock isn’t made for it. I think it binds the deal up when I run the bolt.

I think it’s a carbine……..or made to be bubba carbine.

It groups well, but I think it’s zeroed for 300 yards +

I need a taller front sight.

I agree with you. The two cases are difficult to find as are the rifles. I just saw, last night, Privi Partisan brass for sale on the internet. It is expensive as is everything today. The fellow who commented on Simple Living has both the US Kragg and .303 Britt. I've shot rifles since age ten and in 2023 saw my first Kragg in my life time. It appeared to have never been fired. The stock and bluing were perfect with no damage to the rifle. The action was so smooth it was unbelievable. It was a gift to a man from a friend who inherited it from his father.

Pretty common for late 19th/early 20th century milsurps; a lot of them had sights zeroed way out there.

Tom Rivers did not make the comment. It was made by one of the people who watched his video. Mr. Rivers seems to be a level headed, common sense guy. He also really likes the
.303 Brit for hunting. IIRC, the guy who commented is from Canada and owns the two mentioned cartridges.

https://thecmp.org/

Richard's Microfit offers a semi inlet for the Krag.

I have read somewhere that after WW1 Remington/Peters made an 8x57 factory load with a thick softer jacket that was 0.323", but could be safely fired in 0.318" bore because the bullet would swage down without excess pressure. I've never seen that ammo that I recall, but it seems like a good idea at a time when both bore diameters could be encountered.

Civilian Marksmarksmanship program

I have a box pretty old Remington 8x57 ammo, and have fired it a little, and pulled bullets from other rounds. They are pretty blunt 170-grain soft-noses, diameter .321".

I suspect they may be the same bullets Remington used in their .32 Special ammo, because the muzzle velocity is similar, so the pressures are probably pretty low, so .321" wouldn't be a problem in .318" 8mms.