Favorite load recipes?

Took my new (old) Krag to the range today for the first time.
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Fired several handloads that I tried to keep on the mild side, both for the rifle's sake and my shoulder's. Shoots great. Made several different loads out of components I had on hand. IMR 4320, resized .303 brass, 180 gr. and 150 gr. spitzers. Best result was had with 35 gr. of powder pushing the heavier bullet. At 100 yds. I kept 3 rounds within 1.6" and 2 rounds went over the paper (I attribute that to the shooter). The group was about 8" high which I expected due to the 300 yd. battle sight. The rifle is obviously capable of shooting much better than me.

Now that I know the rifle is a shooter, I need some recipes. I have used up the 4320, so will be buying new powder and I have also obtained some .30-40 brass. What do you guys shoot in a 150 or 180 gr. spitzer that will group pretty well at 100 yds? This will not be a hunting load, just killing paper. I know the rifle is designed for a 220 gr. bullet, but they are hard to find and I have a good supply of the smaller stuff on hand.

BTW, this is a full military version with the 30" barrel and 1896 rear sight.

Thanks
daveboy

Daveboy,

H414 is really a great Krag powder. Use magnum primers. A lot of people have had good luck with faster-burning stuff, too. H380 is good and easy to measure out. Unless you are loading to the max, or for accuracy, you can use ballpowder thrown straight from the measure.

good luck!
jn

My best load in a while.

178 gr. Hornady A-Max bullet, 40 gr. AA2495, 2396 fps, 21.65 sd, ~1.5" at 100 yards.

I developed this load in a Winchester 95, which is strong as a house compared to a Krag, and it really likes faster powders. The load showed no problems, so I tried it in my '98. Shot great and very little case stretch. I've tried some of the AA ball powders, but they didn't work as well as the sticks, for me at least. For some reason the loading manuals don't list faster powders for 30-40.

The usual caveats apply. You have to determine if it's safe in your rifle. I once had a '96 with a frosted bore that even the starting loads were too hot. For some reason, factory ammo would chrono right on the spec, but handloads of 4350 and 4831 had to be backed off 2 grains at least from the book starting loads to get under the max book velocity. Each one is an individual.

My favorite is 22.2gr of IMR 4227 under the Hornady 123gr, .310 diameter V-Max made for the 7.62x39. The bullet is available from Graf's for only $17/100 and has proven to be very accurate in my .310 groove diameter Krag rifles at various velocities ranging from 2000 to 2800 fps. Many Krags have oversize bores that will give best accuracy with bullets made for the 7.62 Russians or .303 British. I've so many Krags with oversize bores, I sold off the one .308 barrel I had so that I could load the same bullets for all!

I have had very good results with any of the 4350 powders and either 180 or 220 grain bullets.

My favorite is 180 grain bullets, as the recoil is very mild, and accuracy is excellent in either the carbine or rifle.

Select a load from any manual, staying a little below max, but work up for safety's sake.

About any powder short of the very slow or very fast ones should work, from 4895 up to 4350.

I happen to like 4350 in these mid capacity .30 caliber rounds, and it has proven very easy to use and accurate for me.

powder, but I always download 3-5% or so from the manual. I have a ton of 150 grain FMJ pulled bullets that I've slowly been drawing off of. Accuracy is not great but still not bad for "battlefield accuracy", from a sandbag about 3-4 inches at 100 yrds is about the best I can get. These krag bores just dont seem to like light bullets. I'll make up some 200 or 220 grain loads on softpoints occasionally, and accuracy is much better with these....I've shot several groups between 1.5 in and MOA during different sessions, enough to make me believe the rifle can shoot better than I can consistently hold with open sights. Mixing brass seems to hurt group size, I normally sort for case neck thickness and the consistency is noticeable on target. The problem with the soft point bullets is that they get deformed or hang up on the sharp seam between the side plate and the receiver. A small piece of milk bottle plastic held over the seam with a piece of double sided tape seems to fix this problem.

4895 powder is great because it has the right burn rate for the M1 Garand as well.

sub 2" at 100 yards with 150 grain Speer Soft Point. IT's the group outlined in pink/red.

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Pic attached of the results of some experiments I've been doing with a clone of the Eagan MX3-30AR (I have the cherry), 20grs of Blue Dot, Rem 9 1/2M primer. The Eagan is a tapered bullet, this particular one designed by John Ardito who has also designed molds for Lyman. This one was designed for cast bullet competition using the .30 benchrest cartridge. The bullet, unchecked and unlubed, weighs 167gr in the alloy I'm using and really shouldn't work as good as it does in my oversized bore Krags. Only the driving band is .311, forward of the lube groove is .308 and I just didn't think it would work worth a hoot, but I'll let the results speak for themselves. Velocity should be in the neighborhood of 2000fps. That's 12 or 13 shots at a paced off 80 yards (I have long legs), my rest was kneeling with the rifle supported on the rail of my back porch. No leading with my 23bhn lead based babbit. The shot outside the group, up high, was called, I slipped on the railing a wee bit as the striker fell, hate it when that happens!

Here's a good one that won't blow up your gun and has been quite accurate for me:

180 sierra RN over 40 gr. H380 will light up fine with standard primers, and I'm guessing about 1800 fps. Burns clean, kicks about like a 25/35.

jn

Mine is in such nice shape I don't shoot jacketed bullets at great velocities, I shoot 170 grain flat nose in front of 11 grains of Trail Boss, very accurate, pleasant to shoot and not very costly...

My goto cast bullet load for the Krag is

Lee C312-185 (cast from wheel weights)
19.0 gr SR-4759
CCI primer
R-P brass

The bore in my rifle is over-sized and the 312 bullet shoots very well.

With jacketed bullets, I've had fair success with IMR4350 under the 220 gr Hornady round nose. I don't have my notes with me right now so I don't recall the charge weight.