overbore barrels

[kendall]

Hello fellow Krag afficianados.
I grew up on Krags, the old man having about half a dozen of them in the gun cabinet. Sadly, I don't know the story behind their coming into his possssion. I can only assume he bought them through the NRA, or 'Monkey Wards", or similar. My first deer at age 16, (1965), was taken with a Krag. I remember emptying the rifle at a Muley running full tilt uphill and cross canyon from me. I managed to toss a handful of shells in that slick side magazine and continued with the artillery barrage until that poor buck succumbed to a heart attack.
When dad went the way of the earth, I managed to miss out on inheriting one of the Krags, (8 siblings), but it never bothered me at the time, (I got his Greener shotgun), and never much thought about Krags again until my oldest brother passed and his wife gave me all of his guns. His collection included one of two Krags that my dad had "sporterized".
Long story short, the bore on the thing slugs. 315". I have tried..312" cast 303 Brit bullets in it and they keyhole at 25 yards.
I'm assuming that going with a custom mould that drops bullets ~.317" is the only hope I have of getting the rifle to shoot.
Consensus?

I have since picked up another nice sporter that has a nice clean. 308 bore and shoots cast bullets like a champ.

[reincarnated]

You are correct when you say that a custom mould will cost considerably more than an off-the-shelf mould, but there are other alternatives. How much are you going to shoot? And what is the diameter of the chamber at the neck? If you had a .317 bullet, could you put the loaded cartridge in the chamber?

The Krag was not designed for lead-alloy bullets. That some (or most) Krags shoot pretty well with cast bullets is a nice benefit, but not something that was intended as a design feature. Back in the day, deep grooves were places to store fouling. Obturation was not necessary at Krag velocities.

The .311-.312 jacketed bullets for the .303 or 7.7 Jap or 7.65 Mauser, especially those with round noses, will probably shoot to an "issue Krag" level of accuracy. And some of that 7.65 Mauser ammo has bullets that measure about .315.

Next, try salvaged bullets pulled from 7.62 x 54R Russian military ammo. Those bullets have very sloppy tolerances and may run as large as .315. Sometimes a loaded Russian military cartridge will not even chamber in a Moisin-Nagant. You should be able to find over-sized salvaged bullets for very little. That is not hunting ammo, but it is OK for the range. Use a magnet to cull out the plated steel jackets.

There are lots of used moulds available for the .32-40 and not all are collectors items. Many of those old moulds cast bullets in the .318-.319 range and can be sized down. And there are also bullets & moulds available for the 8.15 x 46R Schuetzen cartridge that might do well in your Krag. Once again, the neck of the chamber may well be the limiting factor.

[madsenshooter]

Night Owl Enterprises has a version of the Lyman 311299 that casts .316" on the bands. The nose is larger than the 311 version if I recall correctly. Wow, a five cavity is only $98! :D I can vouch for the quality of their products, I have several of their molds. Sizing might be a problem, but a .314 Lee push through sizer could be honed out. Some case neck turning might be necessary too, as the biggest bullet I can use in any of my Krags without doing so is .311.

http://noebulletmolds.com/orders/catalog/index.php?cPath=31&osCsid=9j07bhv19o6cn5p68rt9kfbfc0

[psteinmayer]

There is one other option that would allow for the use of normal Krag ammo... Have you considered re-barrelling? Being that it's a sporter, you don't have to worry about historical accuracy. Krag barrels manufactured to exact specifications by Criterion are available from the CMP for under 200 bucks. http://www.thecmp.org/Sales/accessories.htm#NewBarrels
You would need to have it installed by a competent gunsmith because the barrel will be short chambered, but it would give you essentially as issued accuracy for years to come! I can vouch for criterion barrels as I recently had one installed on my Garand with fantastic results.

Paul

[kendall]

Thaks to all for the good advice. The chamber and throat are huge!, I cerrosafed them, and additionally I sent fired cases to Lee for some custom neck dies, so that I wasn't constantly working the crap out of the brass in standard Krag dies.

I have considered trying the .311 jacketed bullets but have been a fearful of high pressures in the thing. I think I'm going to try a few and see what they do. Also thanks for the link to the mould man and the idea of re-barreling. I'm guessing that with bluing, install of front sight and installation would peg out about $400 but that might be the wisest choice of all if I want to use the thing long term and maybe hand it down to a family member.

The Krag may not have been "designed" to shoot cast bullets but I'm sure glad they do.

[psteinmayer]

I was just checking Numrich, and they have Krag rifle barrels, that are blued and fitted out, with the front sight and blade installed, and the barrel is also blued... Ready to install. $246.75 plus shipping! http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Detail.aspx?pid=767220&catid=11893

Paul

[kendall]

thanks for doing my homework, I'll look at those.

[gnoahhh]

Has anybody used any of those Numrich barrels? I'm building a G&H-style sporter and would like to use a 24" barrel, and am not averse to cutting down a Numrich 30"-er. I wonder if they are Criterion barrels.

[psteinmayer]

If you are looking to cut it down, then I would go with a Criterion barrel from the CMP. They are un-blued, but they don't have the front sight installed, so you wouldn't be removing an otherwise useable front sight. They are also less expensive. I mis-spoke in my earlier post in that the Criterion barrels ARE chambered, with the relief cut for the extractor, and should not require reaming. By the way, Criterion also has a 22" carbine barrel, also available at the CMP site.

Paul

[kendall]

Took my .308/.315 Krag to the range the other day and screwed up enough courage to fire a .311 jacketed bullet through it.
Allelujia! It grouped and showed no signs of pressure. After all these years, with a little prodding from board members here, I think I have found a fairly elegant solution to my keyholing problem with the old blunderbuss.

So, no new barrels, no custom moulds, just my own personal .303 British Enflield/Krag. WhooHoo! thanks you guys!