Krag rifle help....

[butlersrangers]

MasterChief: If your Krag is stretching fired cases and causing case-head separations, you might give a 'new' bolt a try. Frankly, from my experience, Krags are not prone to show problems with head-space. However, in the old days, some gunsmiths lapped the locking lug in order to get the bolt's guide rib to also bear on the receiver. If this was done to your Krag, it adds several thousandths of free travel between the barrel breech and the recessed bolt face. This is easily remedied with a new bolt.

[butlersrangers]

Note: Norwegian Krags were fitted so that the bolt contacted the receiver both at the locking lug and bolt rib. U.S. Krags were fitted so that there was a gap between the bolt rib and receiver. If a U.S. Krag is wearing its original barrel and the bolt rib is making contact with the receiver, it is likely someone lapped the bolt lug. This would increase the head-space.
Attachment 55809

[Fred G.]

Wow, that would seem to me to be a recipe for disaster.

[butlersrangers]

In theory, the rib contacting the action gave the bolt more support. If a new barrel was being fitted, things could be adjusted to keep head-space in limits. With the rimmed .30-40 cartridge, excessive head-space probably caused case stretching and short case life, but, the case rim and walls probably sealed gas from coming into action.

[13Echo]

You may not have a problem with headspace. Headspace for the rimmed Krag is measured on the rim only and not from the bolt face to the shoulder. The chamber is going to be, shall we say, generous and the case shoulder will move forward on firing. If you full length resize and move the shoulder back it will stretch again on the next firing and eventually cause case head separation. Neck size your cases and don't move the shoulder back and you should eliminate the problem.

Jerry Liles

[browningautorifle]

If the bolt has moved back, of course the headspace increases. That means the cartridge no longer resembles it's original shape. But, he IS having separated cases.

[butlersrangers]

MasterChief never stated in his post, if his rifle's "excessive headspace" was causing problems. I assumed something must be happening for him to conclude he had a headspace problem.

[browningautorifle]

Great shooter except for one tiny flaw: excessive head space.

I should think this means there's a tiny flaw...(problem)

Mind, I've had many .303s that would separate brass after several shots and that wasn't a problem for me. I just discarded brass after so many shots.

[MasterChief]

Thank you all kindly for your replies.

I deduced excessive head space after the 5th round blew back the hair hanging down my forehead. Then I found 4 blackened primer pockets and one completely blown primer. I Sherlock'ed this was probably due to excessive head space. These were Remington factory rounds from circa 1950's, new rounds, not reloads.

Someday (and that day may never come) I would like to try the neck up/neck down trick to create a temporary artificial shoulder for first-firing/fire-forming new brass and ressurrect this old wallflower.

I will check the bolt fit.

Thanks again and best wishes. Dave

[butlersrangers]

MasterChief: If your Krag was backing out primers with factory loads, your assumption about excessive headspace sounds likely.
If you have an empty .30-40 cartridge case, you can improvise a headspace gauge. You can 'glue' a washer on the base of the case. File the washer so that the maximum dimension from the front of the rim to the back of the washer is .073 inches. This is the dimension of a 'Field' headspace gauge. A 'stripped' Krag bolt (Striker/extractor assembly removed) should not close on the built-up .073" rim, with light finger pressure on the bolt handle.

Attachment 55993