Rebarreling my 1898 Rifle for Competition

[Keith Herrington]

A while back I shared with you all the results of my range testing my 1898 Krag. I was able to get some very good groups from it using .311" Sierra 174 grain Match King bullets and Speer 180 grain .312" Round Nose Soft Point bullets and IMR 4350 powder; however, the accuracy was not consistent and it took the barrel a long time to settle in after it had been cleaned.

Well, David Sams, my gunsmith called me today to let me know he'd finished installing a Criterion barrel on the gun with excellent results. The barrel had been purchased from the CMP in the white and with no front sight base. It was dovetailed for one and short chambered. He fit the original front sight base and blade, fit and blued the barrel and chambered the gun with a short throat for match bullets.

The Criterion was actually the second barrel he fit. The first barrel was purchased from Numrich and while it looked great had several problems. It had a .312" bore, but was throated for .308" bullets. Based on his description of the problem, the barrel seems to be made to shoot lead bullets rather than jacketed. In any case it did not work out the way he wanted and he installed the Criterion instead.

He test fired the gun at 100 yards using his favorite hunting load and shot a 2" group, about 4" above point of aim with the rear sight set at 100. Since I'm going to use a 6 o'clock hold this should work out fine. the windage of the rear sight is set a zero/zero so he apparently put the barrel on straight ;D

A range report will follow once the gun is in my hands and I've worked up some loads.

Keith

[butlersrangers]

Keith: I'm glad you have a barrel to your liking. Its performance will be interesting to hear about.

[psteinmayer]

Will you be at Camp Perry with it? I'll be shooting in the Friday AM session on the Viale range with Madsenshooter. Look us up if you're there!

[madsenshooter]

My parked Krag is going to need another barrel. I've managed to ring the chamber up in the neck, by using fillers with cast bullet loads. I was using Puf-Lon and I tamped some of it down in the case too hard on one load. I've read a lot of other posts about ringed Krag barrels on other boards. Steel must be a bit soft. I think a chrome-moly barrel is a good idea. I'm wondering about the throat on the CMP barrels. Wondering if they're cut long enough for roundnose loads or chambered short enough that one can cut the throat they want. I have a reamer that appears to me would cut a throat for spitzer bullets. If the CMP barrels are already throated I'd just skip them and get one from Criterion that had no chamber. I'll be watching for your results Keith.

[Keith Herrington]

If I find the chamber will accept a RN bullet of 180-220 grain weight, I may just focus on that rather than a spitzer design which I know from experience does not feed as smoothly as a RN. Since the range is only 200-300 yards (no first hand experience, but what I've been told) I'm more focused on smooth feeding in sustained fire than I am with long range accuracy that a spitzer can provide. In my original testing, the two best loads were from the 174 grain .311" Sierra Match King and the 180 grain Speer RN soft point. The Speer was actually the most accurate and consistent. If the upcoming tests have similar results then the choice will be simple.

Those of you with experience at Perry can tell me what range the match is shot at and whether they ever go beyond 300 yards.

[madsenshooter]

Keith, the shooting is done from 200yds. You might find a local club that goes a longer distance, but there aren't many that have a longer range. I sometimes shoot mine in regular highpower matches at a club that goes from 200 to their max range of 300 for a rapid fire string. Then we shoot the last slow fire on 600yd targets reduced for 300. I use 168s, but the 92/96 feeds spitzers more reliably than the 98.

[psteinmayer]

Which day and session are you registered for at Perry Keith? If you're shooting Friday morning, you could join Madsenshooter and me.

The course of fire is 35 rounds: five rounds sight-in and ten rounds for score - slow fire from prone; ten rounds - rapid fire - prone from standing; ten rounds - slow fire standing. All shots are 200 yards.

For what it's worth, Camp Perry is a load of fun!!! Last year was my first, but I am hooked!!! I am shooting with Madsenshooter again this year (and my brother-in-law... he's shooting a Nagant).

[Keith Herrington]

I just got my rifle from David Sams and he did a beautiful job of installing the new Criterion barrel. Now, if it shoots as good as it looks I'll be a happy man.

I'm going to put together a few test loads using a selection of 220 grain bullets: Sierra, Hornady, Woodleigh, Nosler and Lapua (which is 200 grains and almost a semi-spritzer design). My starting load will be 40 grains of IMR4350 for a muzzle velocity of near 2000 fps. I hope IMR4350 works because its the only rifle powder I've got a good supply of, except H4831SC, which is not listed as one of the powders that should work. I've also got a couple of pounds of IMR4895 and may try that as well.

Your comments are appreciated.

[psteinmayer]

I shoot Hornady 220 gr round nosed bullets over 40.0 grains of IMR4350, and I couldn't be happier with that load! This is a close approximation of the original Krag load.

I am trying CCI Magnum primers this year. I've been told that Magnum primers help to achieve a cleaner, more complete burn with slower burning powders like 4350.

[Keith Herrington]

I shoot Hornady 220 gr round nosed bullets over 40.0 grains of IMR4350, and I couldn't be happier with that load! This is a close approximation of the original Krag load.

I am trying CCI Magnum primers this year. I've been told that Magnum primers help to achieve a cleaner, more complete burn with slower burning powders like 4350.

What OAL did you settle on? Are you using a longer OAL for slow fire or the same for everything?