Krag loads

FN798

Does anybody have any hunting loads for the 30/40 krag with a 150 or 165 gr. bullet?? A friend of mine has a beautiful 1898 Krag in a sporter stock that he is going to be using as his deer rifle.

jonk

Well, I'll just say that Krags are at their best with a long round nose bullet matching the original profile. They fill the chamber and throat better. It might be overkill for deer but a 180, 200, or 220 gr RN would be a good choice. I often load mine with cast lead bullets- great shooters out of the gun but could be overpenetration for hunting.

That said, mine does pretty well with 150 gr Hornady soft points and IMR 4350 and 4895. I don't have the charge for the 4350 handy but can say that the 4895 charge was 35 grains. Pretty mild by other gun standards but you have to treat the single lug on the Krag with kindness. [:)]

CapnMidnight

FN,
Like Jonk said, 35gr of IMR 4895 is good safe deer load for 150gr cast bullet, I put alot of venison on the table with that load when I was a young'n.
W.D.

FN798

I am loading this up for a friend of mine. I will be using 150-165 grain soft point jacketed bullets. and I was wondering if 35 for 150 jacketed would be ok, I know they are different than 150 lead. Also I was thinking about using 33.5 behind the 165 grain jacketed bullet.
Just let me know what you think....

guntech59

35 gr of IMR 4895 is listed as the starting load for 150 gr jacketed bullets in my SPEER (14th Ed) manual. Max is 39gr.

34gr-38gr for 165 gr.