220 grain bullet loads for 30/40 Krag

[coyotejoe]

A good friend recently got a near mint 30/40 Krag carbine and wants to hunt with it. He got some info online somewhere that convinced him the 220 grain is "the only way to go". Didn't take much convincing since he always tends to go to the heaviest bullet in any caliber. All OK but he also was told he could get that load up to 2300 fps, while the top load I find in any manual is 2100 fps and that is from a 30" barrel. I'm wondering what is the top load for a Krag carbine with the 220 grain RN bullet?

[stimpylu32]

cj

I did some looking over at Ammo Guide , they list a load for the 220 gr. Rem with a 22" barrel going 2183 fps with a load of 40 grains of IMR4895 .

I would drop down to 36 grains and work up from there , as the 40 is listed as a MAX load , just be very careful as some of the older guns will not take as much pressure as a newer one will .

stimpy

[iiranger]

Krags have only one locking lug and if it fails-- if you are lucky, you are dead... Having it magnafluxed or such is not excessive....

Carbine? You might point out to him that rifles of that era usually had "long" barrels and the "cut downs" for use on horse back cannot be expected to equal performance of an extra 6 or more inches of barrel. As I understand the history, the 220 grain bullet was necessary to burn the smokeless powder available at the time. Same bullet used in .30/'03 by US and with powder improvement redesigned to .30/'06 U.S. and much lighter bullets. So he might want to substitute a 200 grain bullet for less drop with safe pressures... but you have to "sell it." Otherwise, loads are all over. Hit the sites. and enjoy.

[crow_feather]

My wife dropped her buffalo and a nice sized elk with a 30-40 Krag, 22" barrel and a 220 grain bullet.  With the 220 and the  200 grain bullet, you have at most, a 150 yard shooter.  But it will be very deadly within that 150 yards.  I have found that with the right load, sub moa accuracy is common in these rifles.

If it is a real 30-40 carbine, it's value is increasing to where any modifications would be unwise.

C F

[coyotejoe]

Thanks for all replies! He has made up some loads with 180 and 220 roundnoses and is leaning toward the 180 since they seemed to group a bit tighter.
 The rifle is an original carbine, not a "sporterized" rifle and yes, we understand the collector value but he wants to make use of it, not just look at it. I drilled the receiver for a Williams Foolproof peep sight and added a brass bead to the original front blade. That will likely be the extent of modifications. We both appreciate the Krag carbine as the classic poor man's hunting rifle of the early 20th century and now it's continuing such use in the 21st.

[crow_feather]

They do make a scope mount for that  rifle.  It's a bit pricey, but you can see what it looks like on the Brownell's web site.  It requires no drilling or modification of the rifle.  That's what I put on my Krag and with the 220's, can put three inside 3/4" at 100 yds. with the rifle locked on the bench.

C F

[303Guy]

A good friend recently got a near mint 30/40 Krag carbine and wants to hunt with it. He got some info online somewhere that convinced him the 220 grain is "the only way to go". Didn't take much convincing since he always tends to go to the heaviest bullet in any caliber. All OK but he also was told he could get that load up to 2300 fps, while the top load I find in any manual is 2100 fps and that is from a 30" barrel. I'm wondering what is the top load for a Krag carbine with the 220 grain RN bullet?

coyotejoe

I know of a guy who gets that velocity from a 30-40 Krag barreled Lee Enfield.  The 30-40 Krag has more case capacity than the Lee Enfield which in turn has a higher SAAMI chamber pressure.

303Guy

[Ifishsum]

My old Krag shoots 180s extremely well.  Regardless of bullet selection, pushing a load to the max is not something I would suggest for this design, regardless of condition.  The ONE locking lug on the bolt has been known to develop cracks.

My grandpaw killed lots of deer and elk with that rifle.  He had it checked out by a gunsmith then gave it to me when I was 14.  He put an old Weaver k2.5 in a side mount on it and it still holds zero and shoots quite well.  I haven't taken it afield in years but one of these years I'll kill something with it again.