Henry Rifle Forums

I recently acquired a model 1899 .30-40 Krag carbine. As you probably know, the Krag was the U.S. service rifle from 1893 to 1903; and about a million were made, all at the Sprinfield Armory. It replaced the .45-70 Trapdoor Springfield, and was itself replaced by the '03 Springfield. Reportedly, the Krag had a bad time of it in the Spanish American War of 1898 when it went up against the 1893 Spanish Mauser which was fed by an 5 round stripper clip enabling a Spanish infantryman to more quickly reload his rifle than TR's Roughriders were able to do with their Krags.

Does anyone have expperience reloading .30-40 cartridges? If so, can you share with me your reloading recipe(s). I have reloaded 100 new brass .30-40 rounds using both Hornady 180 gr Interlock BT spitzers and 220 gr RN bullets. (I am aware of, and adhere to, the 40,000 psi resriction on .30-40 loads.) My 100 yard benchrest results are OK for whitetail hunting, but I am striving to achieve 100 yd. 3" - 4" groups like I shoot with my '03 Springfield and M1 Garand. For both those rifles I use Hornady 165 gr. BTSP Interlock bullets atop 45.5 grs of Accurate 2520 powder.

Thanks in advance for anything information you can share with me.

congrats on your purchase .... I have no experience with a Krag so I can't help with your questions .... I do hope someone will come along, its an interesting round