Krag Collectors Association Forum

About 20 years ago, back when I was still working, a friend bought this, thinking he would take it hunting. It never went hunting. It's way too heavy to carry around. It had a Spaghetti copy of a Winchester rifle buttstock, with a deeply curved buttplate. As happened all to frequently, my improvident friend got in a bind. Since it was unfired, I gave him what he had in it and took it home. Immediately, I replaced the buttstock with a real Winchester Musket buttstock. That's a Uberti or Pedersoli tang sight. Quite good enough. Caliber? .30/40 Krag, of course. Barrel is close to a Winchester #3.

That rifle looks like a lot of fun!

How strong is the action? Can it be loaded to 50K?
Even if it could be loaded hotter, it may not be a good idea as mix ups could occur if you have both Krags and a stronger rifle.
Thinking out loud here.

I broke the bolt on a Krag simply by using a Ken Waters "pet" load. I try to always stay with something wimpier than the original Krag loads. And I try to keep all my .30-40 Krag ammo interchangeable.

While the Uberti is at least in theory made with modern steel, etc., the basic design is still something from the late 1870s and not as modern as a Krag. I do not think this Uberti has a Mann-Niedner-type firing pin, a 1905 development added to original Highwalls by prudent experimenters. That would have added several steps to Uberti's manufacturing process and would have increased the list price by $100 or more. One of the photos shows a gas escape hole, something lacking in the originals. It does not cost much to drill a hole.

The action has a case-hardened finish. I do not know if this is just some sort of painted-on cosmetic treatment or if it was put on through a heat-treating process. If the former, it's all for appearances and I don't know what is under the paint. If the latter, maybe the action is brittle. Remember, it is only intended to be a reproduction of a 19th-Century design, intended for those who want to dress up and play cowboys.

I have only used 2 loads with this rifle.

The first one is a cast bullet load; 308403, cast 1:25 from an old Ideal mould or the same cast from 311403, a 1960s Ideal mould, Emmert's Lube applied by pan lubing, and about 11.5 grains of either SR 4759 or IMR 4227. That's a 100-yard target load.

The second load is the Krag equivalent of the old 300-meter target load from the 1930s, with a change from HiVel #2 to IMR 3031. 34.4 grains of IMR 3031, a 168 grain Matchking bullet, and either CCI or Federal primers. I've played around increasing the powder charge by as much as 2.0 grains, but with no better results. MV is about 2200 fps, a .30-30 load. I have loaded cases with this load several times. Recently, I found a pin-hole in one R-P case on its 5th firing. I did not notice any change in the rifle's ignition or accuracy, but on extraction, a gas leak was obvious on the case. The Uberti handled that with no problems.

Just yesterday I had a pinhole leak on the 4th firing of my Graf cases right at the base of the shoulder, I annealed the rest of the cases in hope that they will last another 5 loads. I also sectioned the bad case to look for thinning in the body and there was none. Thanks for the load info, I am an avid caster, and I also have some 168gr jacketed bullets I'll try with that IMR 3031. Nice rifle by the way, I love the 30-40 Krag cartridge and have been eyeing that Winchester 1895 high grade they are producing in that chambering.

Took the U to a long-range gong shoot, invitation only, this AM. We shot across a canyon at a 6 ft diameter steel gong. Canyon runs NE to SW, very near the coast. Wind blew a steady 20 out of the NE, with gusts going close to 30. Huge fog & cloud bank to our N, but we were in sun.

I shot 17 rounds from cross-sticks, sitting. Target was 1,040 yards, probably 50 feet vertically below our firing point. 7 hits on gong, 2 on supports. That load of 34.4 grains IMR 3031 is really out of gas at 1000 yards. My spotter said he could see the bullets bounce off the target. 6 other shooters, all with BP single shots. Our rule is "American single shots or reproduction, any then-standard caliber". I get frowned on for the .30-40 Krag, but Winchester made the Highwall in that caliber.

Awesome Range opportunity! How much compensation for 'bullet drift' with the .30-40 cal. high-wall at 1,040 yards?

Hard to tell with all that wind. I moved the rear sight 4 graduated lines to the left. No idea what a graduation is. Could/should have moved it another 2.