Krag Jørgensen carbine

JDR

Well-Known Member
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I've been restoring a 116 year-old Krag Jørgensen carbine

All I need now is to find some brass and I can start developing loads!


Jon
 
Wonderful rifles and the 30-40 is a wonderful cartridge to reload for. I think I got my first Krag When i was 16 years old and it was one of the first bottle necked cartridges I loaded cast bullets in. An old grounds keeper at the local shooting range had a Krag and he gave me brass and helped me cast bullets for it. I've forgotten the charge of IMR 4198 we used with the 215 grain bullet but I remember being thrilled with the accuracy.

I currenty have three Krags and one action. One of the Krags is a target rifle rebarreled to 25 Neidner Krag, another is 30-40 but with a Douglas Air Gaged barrel, the last is a classic 1940's sporter with the original barrel. I shoot cast bullets in all of them and have taken deer with the Sporter using a 187 grain RCBS 30-180 SP bullet @ 2300 fps. Sub MOA accurate and the deer didn't seem to notice I'd made it on my back porch. I have hunted the Valle Vidal wilderness area in the Sangre de Christo mountains of northern New Mexico for elk with a Krag. It is a once in a life time draw and I didn't hesitate to pick up the Krag as my weapon of choice.

The 30-40 can be made to bark using a number of bullet weights but the classic is the 220 Hornady RN. Not legal from a velocity standpoint in parts of the UK but it lacks nothing in energy at 1900 fps; at least out to 150 yards.~Muir

(Winchester or Remington for brass. I have 3K pcs of 30-40 in my basement. Swing by Montana and pick some up! Lee dies are a good call for the Krag.... Cast bullets? The Lyman #311-284. It was designed for the Krag.)
 
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Gosh, I still am fretting over a very nice, all original Norwegian Kray Engineer's Carbine I found on a work trip to California... for $00.00. Because of the crazy gun laws there, the shop was afraid to sell it to me and ship it to my FFL. I tried to convince them to talk to my FFL, but they would not consider it.

Then I passed up a .30-40 Krag, all original, two years ago, because I had just bought a Sako Vixen the day before. What did that have to do with it? What was I thinking? I was going to sell the minty Vixen, anyway.
 
I had a Norwegian Krag. It was a tight bored SOB with a .263" groove diameter. It was a beautiful rifle but a PIA so i sold it.~Muir
 
Mine has slugged at .305" so I should be OK with most things. I'm having trouble finding an FMJ roundnose bullet for it though. I'd use Hornady but those are expanding and we can only have those in the UK if the firearms licence has an expanding ammo condition.

I might just use hard-cast lead. I've got some that I made myself and they're great. 205gr and .312". A tight fit but they''re cast lead. I also have some commercial .3092 ones as well. Both types are gas checked so we can drive them quite fast.
 
Mine has slugged at .305" so I should be OK with most things. I'm having trouble finding an FMJ roundnose bullet for it though. I'd use Hornady but those are expanding and we can only have those in the UK if the firearms licence has an expanding ammo condition.

I might just use hard-cast lead. I've got some that I made myself and they're great. 205gr and .312". A tight fit but they''re cast lead. I also have some commercial .3092 ones as well. Both types are gas checked so we can drive them quite fast.

I'm confused: The groove diameter is .305"?? or the bore diameter?? I have never seen a Krag under .309" groove diameter. Frankly .312" should work quite well. Clean out the copper, snug them into the lands. Such fun.~Muir
 
I had a Norwegian Krag. It was a tight bored SOB with a .263" groove diameter. It was a beautiful rifle but a PIA so i sold it.~Muir
Thanks for making me feel better about not being able to buy that one.
Now I can concentrate on finding a nice .30-40. No rush. My Winchester 1895 in .30-03 is giving me an Old Military fix.
 
Thanks for making me feel better about not being able to buy that one.
Now I can concentrate on finding a nice .30-40. No rush. My Winchester 1895 in .30-03 is giving me an Old Military fix.

I dug out my Sporter last night. I have a pile of #311-284's sized .311" cast up...~Muir
 
Found 40 FL resized cases, too..... and my Lee Target Loader in 30-40.
I may be heading for the range with some AA 5744 or H4895....~Muir

PS: Interestingly, this 30-40 loader came with a tap-in case mouth flaring plug for seating cast bullets. Somebody knew what worked in the Krag.
 
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