My Springfield 1898 Krag

[Bladewurk]

['ol shooter]

Pics?

[saudadeii]

Fix your IMG tags. You need the / in the 2nd one to close.


Meanwhile, here it is.

[beerman]

Your gonna love that smooth action. Should be a nice shooter.

[Bladewurk]

sorry for the large pics, trying to post from an older IPhone and Imgur won’t give me a jpeg

https://imgur.com/gallery/ZjvLEfR

[golfish]

Very nice

[Sutcliffe]

Krags had some very sensuous lines to them. That oddball box on the side distracted from that, but one, smoooooth action.

[200Apples]

What bullet weights were typical to the .30-40 Krag? I don't know, personally.

What's the barrel twist? Have you slugged the bore?

Answers to these questions will help you better choose a target projectile.

Wonder who made the stock. Nice looking sporter, for sure.

[pennstater]

Ohh, that is nice looking! I've always heard the 220gr RN was the load for it.
Bet its going to shoot lights out. Very nice rifle.

MLC

[Fjold]

The original loads were a 180 grain bullet at 2,300 fps or a 200 grain bullet at 2200 fps but remember that the KRAG isn't a strong action and in the US Army trials of 45,000 PSIG loads they frequently cracked locking lugs. The heavy bullet loads are going to have the trajectory of a mortar though.

I have a Ruger No. 3 rifle chambered in .30-40 Krag but because the action is so much stronger, I can actually load it faster than a 308 Win. The Krag case is actually larger than the 308 Win. But the older guns can't take the modern pressures.

I would start with 150 grain bullets and you should be able to get them up to 2,650-2,700 fps with IMR3031 or IMR4064 while keeping the pressure under 40,000 CUP.

[highpower]

It's kind of funny, for a long time US Krags were getting quite expensive, then the market softened on them somewhat and they have become a bit more affordable.

While yours is certainly not in original condition, it is leaps and bounds better than the usual ones you see with cut down rifle stocks. Is the barrel still full length? Beerman is right, they are as smooth as a babies butt.

Here is a picture of a rifle and a carbine for comparison (ignore the Trapdoor):

[Bladewurk]

to get back to this and some of the questions..
I don’t think this is an east coast conversion like the Stoeger Peerless, I’m guessing this is one of the West Coast jobs ..seems to be a Bishop stock. Looks a little later style stock design maybe in the 50s but still guessing, it’s a Pachmayr pad but probably later addition.

I googled a bit and am gonna start with some heavier 180 gr. bullets, maybe Hornady.
The barrel is 24 inches I think, so probably cut? I thought originally 30 and 22 was only issued.

[DueceMcGurk]

Blade,
As Frank suggested, you will want to stay away from the 45,000 psi max pressure.

If you are a reloader, consider a 180-220 gr cast boolit with a GC. Lyman 311299 perhaps. IMR 4895 would give you a wide range of load possibilities to tune your target loads.

Nice rifle. Congrats.

[RNE228]

I've long thought the side load on the Krag, and the Johnson rifle were interesting. Definitely different.

[Wheellock]

Looks great. I still kick myself for passing on a mint 1903 production Krag years ago...I still want one.