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

roanmtn,

Yep, all the Gun Gack books are still available! You can ask about or order them by phoning Eileen at 406-521-0273. If I'm around (am frequently hiking with Lena the Labrador) can also provide more details.

John

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 30-40 is based on the 303 British.

Post and wiki ici.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt.../true/re-a-modern-303-rifle#Post17542405

I occasionally hunt mine. kaywoodie uses his to a much larger degree than I.
Paging kaywoodie!!!

Several years ago a gun head that I know picked up a Remington rolling block single shot in 30-40 Krag. Only one I have ever seen.

Personally I wouldn't stuff 48 grains 4350 behind a 180 jacketed bullet for use in a Krag*, at least not without starting a lot lower and carefully working up, and even then it would give me pause. Hodgdon shows 46 grains as max, with a compressed load, at pretty much the acknowledged safety limit for the Krag. Probably wouldn't shear any bolt lugs by firing a few, but (anecdotally) remember that Ordnance testing 120 years ago found lugs cracking with the "new improved" 2200fps 220 grain load so they dropped back to the original 2K fps load to be safe.

*or was that load worked up for the O/U and the C.Sharps High Wall? I may have misunderstood but don't want to see Mr. Roanmtn hurt himself.

Gary,

46 grains is what I used in my Krag rifles and carbines. Only use 48 in stronger rifles...but also doubt that 48 would harm any Krag-Jorgensen in decent shape. Hodgdon lists 46 grains of at 38,700 CUP with the 180 Speer Grand Slam. The basic rule of single-based powders is that pressure increase at twice the rate of the charge, so 48 grains would be around 42,000 CUP--slightly higher than the pressure of the .30-30.

Yeah, like I intimated, I thought that was the case. But, the OP said he was gonna pass that load on to his brother and the thread starter indicated he was talking about a Krag rifle.

GREAT! GREAT! I will be in touch middle of next week. Hope to speak with you. You and I aren't getting any younger. Perhaps you need to caution your dog to go easy on you on these hikes. HA! I am now 71 and know I'm not 21 anymore. Thanks!

Roanmtn

I have a #4 Lee Enfield which I re-barreled to 30-40, about 45 years ago. That rifle has killed deer, elk, moose, black bears, cougar and coyotes; it has also killed a bunch of ground squirrels. I load 150's to 2700, 180's to 2500, and 220's to 2250. It is a "lucky" gun and I have shot more game with it than with anything else, just because I see more game when I'm carrying it. Go figure. GD

One of the better $500 gun show purchases I made was a Miroku Browning 1895 chambered for same. It's been used to take a few deer over the years. There may have been something other than a 220 RN at some point. It hasn't happened while I've owned it.

Its a capable round, seems like it held the record for elk for many years, which doesn't mean all that much other than it will do the job.
I bought this a few years back and intend to take it for a walk in the moose woods.
Supposedly has a Pope barrel. but unmarked so I am doubtful, it does shoot good.

I killed my first elk, a 5x5 bull, back in 1966 with a sproterized 30-40 Krag that I had borrowed from my Uncle.

That was only me second big game hunt and I was hunting with one of my college roommates north of Craig, CO, where he was from.

I spotted the bull and some cows in a valley a long way below us. The elk were moving toward a patch of timber and I told my roommate that I was going down to get a shot when they got out of the timber. I hadn't gone five steps when my roommate took a shot at them. I sat down to shoot and the front bead of my rifle completely covered up the bull. I tried a head shot. The elk disappeared into the timber.

Twelve more shots and a mile or so later, I finally had my bull on the ground. He had two bullet holes in his antlers, two bullet creases across his back, and I forgot how many in him.

I've never taken a shot at any animal that was that far away since.

I have a Springfield in 30-40 Krag. I don't use it much any longer but it has accounted for mule deer and elk. Neat old round. May need to dust it off and use it again this fall.

I killed a couple of mule deer does with this one and carried it several times moose hunting. No moose cooperated on the Krag days.

For the younger gentlemen on the Campfire, I would suggest finding a copy of "Shots at Whitetails" by the late Larry Koller. It's an excellent read. He liked the .250 Savage and the .30-40 Krag.

Thats a real beauty!

WOW! look at that rifle. I love the rear sights. What yardage can you click up to? Thanks for showing everyone your rifle.

roanmtn

I’ll have get it out and check.

Beautiful rifle. Is that a Stevens 44 1/2? I have one that I had CPA rifles make a .30-40 Krag barrel for. It's a shooter. I've used exclusively cast boolits in it.

Several years ago I saw a Stevens single shot in 32-40, but it was no near as nice as the rifle pictured above

Answer to 10gaugemag Where does the line start to buy a rifle like that?

A long story of how I came to own it. I was in high school, 1954, & found it in a small gun store. Our family had a 30-03 and 2 boys.

I knew that if I was to have one I had better buy it. It is not all orig. but that is fine. I have almost sold it when needing $$$ raising a family.

I am to the stage where I am giving my kids, grandkids,and great grandkids my guns. So it will be leaving here some day before long.

This is the single shot rifle I have always wanted.

Yep, Stevens alrght, appears to have been redone as the bluing is in good shape. Another tell is the wood on the beavertail forearm doesn't match.

I bought it via a online auction, caliber was unknown at the time. Was pretty happy it was a 30-40. Gail at CPA helped me out with a firing pin and a couple of screws, they sure build some beautiful rifles.

Unless I'm mistaken, I think the original 44 1/2 frames were all case hardened. Mine still has over 50% of the case hardening left and the bluing on the original .22 LR barrel is still deep and lustrous. My great-grandfather purchased it new along with the J. Stevens 6x scope with external adjustments.

That sounds like a pretty special gun.

I had one years ago,

Regrettably, I’ve never run into a nice one when I had the money. I guess it will remain a void in my experience.

OTOH, for my use, Eastern whitetails in mixed hardwoods and brush, I lump all the major .30s into the same well, lump. My .308s get loaded like Krags or .300 Savages, and the ‘06 like a .308. If I had a .30/40, especially in a Krag, I’d probably load it like a .30/30. The parties on either end likely wouldn’t notice much difference.

The 30-40 Krag always fascinated me but so far I've never owned one. Part of my interest in it has been from all my 303 British loading and shooting over the last 25 years and the similarities of these two cartridges. Perusing this thread reminded me of an old Elmer Keith quote where he stated that, "The old Krag hits hard". Can't recall where I read it or who was the author quoting Elmer but this interesting thread brought it back to me.

It is pretty nifty! Stevens never chambered the 44 1/2 for large bodied cartridges like the .30-40 (and big BPCR cartridges) because it was deemed not up to snuff. Strong design but limited by smallish barrel tenon diameter, best limited to cartridges of .30-30/.32-40/.38-55 head diameters. It's why Paul Shuttleworth designed the CPA copy of the 44 1/2 action to be wider with a larger barrel shank, and made it out of modern high strength steel alloys and not the low carbon case hardened steel that Stevens employed. You can make a CPA work with anything you can shove into it, not so much with a Stevens.

I’m a fan of the Krag, both rifle and cartridge. Have hunted with mine a bit but never much luck. Still hold out hope. 😁

Used to own one. I killed game with it. Always with handloads and always with 220 grain RN bullets. It was a very cool rifle and very accurate.

No complaints at all.

A Krag story of ignorance compounded by youth.
My father, who could have afforded any reasonable cartridge/rifle combination returned to the .30-40 after every digression into 'faster, better, newer'. When he was killed, I inherited his guns of course. Of the rifles, at that time, he had only an 1895 Win in .30 Army, and a 1898 Springfield Carbine. Also was a big box of mixed ammo. The ubiquitous factory Peters 180's of course and some good looking (Remington Bronze Points) ammo marked reloads. Without much thought, I burned up the ammo over the next few years in both rifles, hunting, rock busting, but I was mildly annoyed that the Buffington, at it's lowest setting still shot high with the reloads. Finally, after burning up more than a hundred rounds, I pulled down one of the reloads, yikes..a compressed load of 4350, 180 gr Rem Bronze Point....obviously intended for the 1895. I called my uncle, told him what I had done. He reassured me, told me that my Krag had been sent to a machinist retired from Benicia Arsenal, who gave it 'the full treatment' (?). He said that part of the rebuild was a bolt re- heat treatment, 100% bearing surface fit so that the front and rear lugs bore evenly, and headspace adjustment. In 1938 when this took place, my uncle claimed my dad got 'taken' for 40 dollars, twice what the rifle cost originally. Lucky me, the Krag took it all in stride, now it gets a pure diet of published safe loads.

More pics?

Rifle specifics?

Looks sharp in this 1 picture.

Yes, it does. More pictures!

I have shown it before and some people might be a little sick of it.
But I am proud of it. It was given to me in non working order and pretty bad cosmetically. The plastic fore end tip, gripcap, and buttplate had shrunk a lot. The stock had a few issues and the metal had some surface rust.

The bore, surprisingly enough was in good shape. So I spent time on it and replaced the plastic with ebony, fixed the issues with the stock and stripped it and refinished it. Filled some holes and had it reblued. Found a Redfield 102K receiver sight and went to the range. It’s very accurate with just about anything. Hitting the gong at 200yds at the range is not to hard at all.

It has a little bit of headspace problem that our own John Barsnees helped me with.
Now, like I said above, I need to shoot something with it. 😁

I am ignorant to how these barrels came from the factory.

Was the outside of the barrel altered, ( steps turned down) anything like that?

Barrel is as it came to me. Front sight was changed and rear sight holes filled.
gnoahhh or Kaywoodie would probably know more about the barrel shape than I do. Barrel is 24.5” long.
As close as I can figure it was sporterized just before or after WWII. It had been neglected for a lot of years but came out nicely I think.
Of all my small collection of rifles I think I have the most fun fooling around with this one.

They were a straight taper from the get-go, no bulge at the chamber. .982" at the shoulder, .620 at muzzle (carbine).

I have a Browning 1895 I bought new years ago. It has taken several whitetails and my one and so far only black bear. It really likes IMR4350 and either 180 RN or 220 RN bullets

Love the 1898s. Love the round. Such a joy to shoot and load.

Have several Krags - sporters and military configurations and just picked up a Remington-Lee 1899 sporter recently have hunted them all but haven’t had any luck with them so far. Really like the round and typically use cast 190-210 grain for hunting and target shooting.

PennDog

Krag love-fest that’s cool, I’ve got my old school center fire rimmed cartridge covered with the 32 Win Special, I’m good.

41

That is about as nice a Krag as there is!

Another design feature of the Krag barrel is that the 30" infantry rifle barrel and the 22" cavalry carbine barrel is the same contour. They simply shortened the rifle barrel.

As for employing the safety lug as a second locking lug, it was done a fair bit by shade tree mechanics. It looks good on paper but not many carried through on all the protocols involved, chiefly not re-carburizing (case hardening) the bolt afterwards. The act of removing .020" or so of surface area on the back of the main locking lug in order to bring the safety lug to bear will invariably erase the case hardened surface exposing the soft steel inner core. Rapid lug setback can be expected, hence the desire to re-carburize it. And, if the operation is effected by lapping the lug into its lug seat to achieve the same result, you run the risk of "burning" through the case hardened surface of the lug seat's bearing surface too. Again not good. The solution obviously was to re-carburize everything involved, and not many gunsmiths were/are set up to do that. Then when all that is attended to there's the matter of having created gross headspace for which the only real cure is to set the barrel back a thread and re-chamber. At the end of the day it's well advised to just shoot them as is.

An anecdote I've related here before concerning the Krag safety lug, as told by Michael Petrov: He set out to destruction test a Krag, remotely fired with a string, by loading increasingly larger charges of Bullseye until she blew. He got all the way up to an insane amount of that powder, well over 20 grains as I recall with a standard .30 bullet, when the receiver, barrel tenon, and front of the bolt shattered like a grenade. But the main body of the bolt stayed in the gun and didn't fly into space, held by the way by the safety lug - which was the only lug he used in the test because he had ground the main lug completely off the bolt......

All that said, I'll continue treating my Krag with the gentle respect it deserves at the tender age of 125 years.

An odd duck of a Krag:

A conversion done on the .22 Maximum Lovell wildcat* probably in the late 1930's, by Hervey Lovell himself (signed in the barrel channel). Magazine removed making it a single shot, heavy straight barrel, Pacific double set triggers (push the front trigger forward to set the rear trigger, assbackwards from what we think of as "normal" double set triggers). Quite accurate. (Ignore the el-cheapo front rest I used the day I took the pic. I had forgotten my Sinclair and had to borrow one. I always seem to forget something when I go to the range!)



*One of the series of .22 wildcats Hervey (yes, with an e) Lovell created, based on the old .25-20Single Shot cartridge. The Maximum Lovell 's case body is blown out straight and the shoulder angle increased to 40degrees and moved forward leaving a rather short neck - the "maximum" capacity case for a .22 based on the .25-20SS. Pretty modernistic for its time. It'll propel a 45 grain bullet as fast as a factory .222 50 grain.

L-R: .25-20 Single Shot, R2 Lovell, .22 Maximum Lovell

I sent mine off to Gail and Paul to determine if they would recommend using the frame with a .30-40 Krag barrel because they told me that different eras of frames have different steel compositions. Apparently mine is on the stronger end of the spectrum because they said they would no qualms about fitting a .30-40 Krag barrel on it and so they did. It’s a hoot to shoot. Low recoil with cast loads and the barrel is stinking heavy that I can’t imagine full house loads will have much for recoil either. That gun has the best single stage trigger I’ve ever pulled on it. Like breaking a fragment of glass at a shade under two pounds.

Very cool, Selmer. A buddy, who is occasionally on the 'Fire, sent Gail a 44 1/2 action to have barreled to .30-40 but she wouldn't do it. Don't know exactly why. CPA's good people, Gail did me more than a couple good turns over the last few years.

Strange about "different era frames", as the 44 1/2 was only made during a very narrow window of time, 1902-1913 (although there's some argument over the year at either end of that spread), and according to Tom Rowe, were all made of low carbon case hardened steel.

All I know is that I discussed it with Gail on the phone and she said they would examine the frame and made mention of not all being the same steel. She also wanted to examine for any signs of flaws in the frame. The .30-40 case BARELY schooches past the extractor.

With the .22LR barrel and original scope
https://photos.google.com/search/rifle/photo/AF1QipNyb-jl1IBTOneURz3a1Ts6dtzscjNYVjDdoTzS

Don't have a good closeup with the .30-40 Krag barrel on, but here it is.
https://photos.google.com/search/rifle/photo/AF1QipM91JMoqKTkmlvRH3Nw1SMSMkiyPUAoKzFdLcQv

Better light with the .22 LR barrel on
https://photos.google.com/search/rifle/photo/AF1QipOop-So30NrUZvCIz3nmK0iaB9yNXW4NGcS36Pj

Thanks, Selmer.

Quick question: does your then 3-year old daughter shoot her own deer now?

Ha! No. She is now 17 and shoots her own rabbits and pheasants. That quote came from looking at the taxidermy critters in Cabelas in Owatonna, MN.
She called them "ugly buggers" at that age. She has had deer in her crosshairs and she just can't bring herself to pull the trigger on one. Which is fine. She can make that decision for herself. The first time it happened as I was whispering to her to squeeze off on a big doe at 75 yards she told me three times in a row "I can't do it dad. I just can't shoot one. They're so pretty." "You do understand that if you don't shoot her, I'm going to shoot her, right?" "Yep. That's fine." And I did. HUGE Iowa whitetail doe. She helped me gut it out and butcher it. No problems. Just doesn't have the desire to shoot one. I ask her every year. Got a tag last year, didn't have a chance to see if she would shoot one. Heck, I barely filled my tag last year. She's a great shot with a .22 LR rifle and "her" K38 that she claimed. She loves shooting centerfire rifles at the range at reactive targets. But no deer. Her older sister, on the other hand, is a deer slayer. Started with a 20 gauge slug gun until she was old enough to legally use my Encore as a .357 Max pistol. I've lost that pistol to her now because she claimed it. Hence the reason I have a .350 Rem Mag XP-100 now. She shot a beautiful buck with it with two younger siblings and me in the blind back on December 20th.

[img]https://share.icloud.com/photos/05aGanq6VD-utUJdL8nelkXrA[/img]

[img]https://share.icloud.com/photos/07b5c4xyaUGhWtPRSlxHh3ZvQ[/img]

[img]https://share.icloud.com/photos/0eeHVoy1Yg6H8Bv5mcBnosSbA[/img]

[img]https://share.icloud.com/photos/008sGofx_hSTu1ayWsjdqbmng[/img]

I’ve always been interested in the 30-40AI, in P.O. Ackley book it shows some impressive velocity, I’ve toyed with the idea of a 30-40AI in an Encore handgun, it being a rimmed case, which I like in a Encore.

Killed my first couple of deer with a sporterized Springfield factory 180s. Killed a moose with a 16 1/2 inch JD Jones Contender carbine with factory 180 Remingtons. Killed a lil Alabama 6pt with a Ruger#3 220 Silvertips

Love my "sporterized" 30/40 Krag!

I like it. That just says pure, unapologetic, huntin rig to me. The kind of rifle with which to prowl the timber, swamps and thickets.

I think that I know who made your 30-40 Krag Red Label barrels. PM sent.

I have an untouched 1895 carbine, half of a matched pair, the other being chambered in 303 British.

Have had a couple of sporterized Krags, including a mannlicher stocked carbine that was smithed by Wilbur Hauck.

My Father had a Winchester 54 that had been rechambered from 30-30 to 30-40. It was a rifle that I had hoped to inherit, but he gave it away to someone while I was in the Army.

Good old Steve the anti gun facist celebrating Trudeau and his anti gun laws

I remember seeing an article years ago about double rifles being built on 20 gauge Red Labels and for a number of years I am almost certain I recall that it was Butch Searcy doing it. I have since read a couple of times online that he built rifles on Red Labels and also on Browning BSS shotguns. Other than saying that it must be true because I saw it on the internet, I can't confirm it one way or the other.

I do recall from the article, that it mentioned that the original Red Label barrels were cut off the monoblock which was then refitted with rifle barrels. I thought at the time that it was a short-sighted way to do it, that it would have made more sense just to machine a new monoblock and preserve the 20 gauge barrels as well. Was that what was done with the one you've got John, or does it seem an original Red Label monoblock was sacrificed?

I have a Canadian friend who has built eight SXS double rifles ranging in caliber from 450 No. 2 Nitro Express down to 22 Hornet. I refer to the Hornet as his stopping rifle for ground squirrels. They were almost all built on CZ shotgun frames using the method cra1948 describes above. You have to really strain your eyes to find the joint between the end of the monoblocks and the beginning of the barrels. They are all works of art that include fitted cases he also made.

He has used them in Africa, Alaska, across the states, and, of course, Canada. My favorite is in 303 British, made with two barrels off the old Ross bolt actions. The thing is quite the shooter and is what he used when hunting deer here with me in AL.

I took my custom #3 Sidelever to Namibia. 180 gr Nosler Partision 3031. Have also killed several Whitetail, Mule deer and pronghorn with this .30-40.

That is a beautiful piece of function art SDH - thank you for sharing!

PennDog

That side lever is a really nice looking build. Thank you for sharing.

Stephen, that No.3 is the finest I've ever seen!

I like the cartridge but not the military rifle. I keep thinking I'll lose a finger when that magazine door snaps shut.

Worse recoil I ever felt was a Win 95 saddle ring carbine in 30-40. That buttstock sure didn't agree with me. 444 and 45-70 Marlins were mild in comparison.

Bruce

Best cartridge ever!

I have 3 or 4 Krag-Jorgensons somewhere around here too.

Ain’t nothing wrong with the.303 Brit ctg either

Thanks for the appreciation! I've hunted exclusively with my .30-40 Sidelever for the past 20+ years. Here are a few pics of a .30-40Krag Custom M-1898 Krag rifle I built for a client but don't know if it has made it our hunting just yet. That certainly is his intention.
I prefer the .30-40 cartridge to all others but am quite sure it is not for everyone~~

I also am a big fan of the Model 95 Winchester and rue the day I sold my Special Order 24" barrel, .30 US, red Winchester padded M-95.

I saw a Winchester 1885 trapper in 30-40 Krag with a 16" barrel recently. No thank you........

Beautiful rifle......👍

Never found a Krag that had a good enough barrel to make me buy it. Looked at alot of them but still haven't bit. Some really nice Krags on this thread. Springfield 03's and 03A3 sporters get more action from me can allways load to 30-40 level if I want to. Again some really nice rifles chambered for the 30-40 on this thread..mb

^^^X2!^^^

Kaywoodie, those are some mighty fine rifles and that buck with the dark antlers really look good to me.

The .30-40 cartridge just seems to be a great cartridge for a custom rifle - although Mr. Hughes can make anything look like a piece of art!!

PennDog

I restored one [non invasive scope mount] and sporterized one to 25 Krag Ackley.

The reality of 43 kpsi max average pressure for that action caused me to not hunt with it.

I did shoot a buck with a mosin in 25 krag ackley, but that was at 65kpsi.

Thanks ol’ buddy!

Hunted with that 303s twin this year. No deer to show for it, it was nice to get it out into the woods, though.

I have a 30-40, a Lone Star rolling block. It's now my only "high power" rifle cartridge, although I load it down to the original sporting rifle specs of a 220 gn RN at 2000 fps from my 30" barrel. I've never hunted with it. I'm moving towards pistol length rifle cartridges, and when my jars of 4895 empty, I'll likely sell the rifle. Time will tell.

First deer 'rifle' was an old 1898 krag that was horribly cut down, had a bent 1903 sight stuck on it, front barrel band was a zip tie, and a lyman peepsite for the rear which necessitated the removal of the mag cutoff.
But it had a great bore and shot very well despite the 'reed blowing in the wind' appearance of the front site (apparently it was sighted in that way).

I hated 30-06 as a recoil sensitive sub 100 pounder, but with a heavy coat, that 8.5-9lb rifle was a breeze to shoot, as long as I didn't have to hold it up long. Sounded like a cannon going off too (not sure how short the barrel was...) but everyone would look over when sighting it in for the season.

Thanks for the likes guys~~
I tried to create the finest Krag rifle around~~
Shoots great, too.

I've had a couple of Krags - one was an original sporterized model, that was in the family for many years. I took a doe with it, then eventually gave it to my eldest uncle, who had killed his first deer with it. He then gave it to one of his grandsons. He is an avid shooter, so I am sure it's in a good home. With one of the aftermarket peep sights for it, I managed 3 in 1½" at 100 yards, using 180gr Nosler Ballistic Tips.

I also had a Ruger #1 - one of the special editions Cabelas sold, with high polish blue and jaw-dropping circassian wood. Took an 8 point buck with it. Eventually, it went to a new home, and I made a tidy profit on it. The wood would not have been out of place on a Purdey, or any London Best Grade gun.

The Krag is an interesting and well made action; you dare not hot-rod it, but that's hardly necessary to harvest NA game.

Wow! that is a beautiful work of art. A couple questions. 1- Did you build this completely from scratch or start with an old rifle? 2- Is that rear sight attached to the end of the bolt?
Very nice work!

Had another Krag fall into my lap this morning. It's a M1898 infantry rifle cut down to carbine dimensions. Kinda ho-hum, but this one was "sporterized" by Sedgley, probably sometime in the early-mid 1920's. When the gov't released all Krags from service, Sedgely bought a bunch and converted them into hunting rifles. This appears to be one of them, going by the Sedgely trademark on the barrel. What's interesting about this particular one is that it sports a Carbine rear sight. Score! The sight is worth almost as much as what I paid for the gun. (Carbine sights are quite rare and command a premium among people who collect such things.)

Bore is perfect, and the front sight is contained by a band, another trademark of some early Sedgelys (and no, the band isn't an '03 Springfield sight band). Can't wait to shoot it.

Awesome score Gary. The closest thing I have to the 30-40 is a very old Lee Enfield MK I*** in 303 British. It's fun to shoot. Haven't figured out the sights completely yet. It's supposed to be regulated all the way out to 2800 yds!

I had one years ago, sold it, wish I would have kept it.

I have a 1898 Krag that has been sporterized. It is carbine length now (I dont know what it was when origional). It's in pretty good condition metal wise, shoot's good,nice shiny bore. Has a Lyman receiver sight and a ramped front sight. I need a stock as whoever slimmed down the original went a little to far for my liking.
Karl

Thanks for asking this was a challenging and enjoyable project.
The client for this project supplied an original military Model 1898 Krag action in wonderful condition. The action was altered to provide a third action mounting bolt on the bottom front of the action. The sideplate was also altered to slim it down so I could build the stock over the sideplate. Both of these alteration strengthen the two obvious weaknesses of the original Krag rifle.

The bolt peep sight is adjustable for windage and elevation and was welded to the cocking piece.
SDH