Reloading cast bullets for 1898 Krag

[Fairshake]

I want to thank everyone of you good members who took time to answer my request. I'm sorry for not getting back sooner but right after I posted this thread, my laptop took a dump and it's taken me a while to find this loaner until mine is repaired. I've been shooting cast bullet rifle loads since the 70's but they have been in a 30-30 lever and a 308 bolt Ruger 77.
For the shooter who is having a problem with his position sensitive powder, there is a very easy solution to use to stop that. After you drop your powder charge, follow it by inserting the material that is sold in craft shops for pillow stuffing and craft work. Don't pack it into the case but just make sure that it's on top of your powder charge and holds it next to the primer. It reminds me of the angel hair tree dressing that we used at Christmas. I'm sure the hobby store can give you the name of this material. I have a supply of it that I purchased many years back. Take Care David

[madsenshooter]

Here's my experiment, waiting to be shot. I'm going to get out soon, I promise. The bullet is from a mold I had made with a cherry from the estate of PA gunsmith and mold maker Don Eagan. A fellow that was at that auction said he had quite a few Krags too. The bullet is his MX3-30-G. Checked and lubed in my alloy, they weight around 205gr. Lube is an experiment too, a mix of LLA and Marvel Mystery Oil that's been drying for quite some time now. I pre-foul the bore with a quicker drying version of the lube. I've got them loaded with 37.5gr of RL19 and use a Fed magnum primer. Should get me around 1950fps. OAL of 3.33 has them into the lands, over magazine length but they likely wouldn't feed even if I did set them back to max mag length. I'm going to use my cutdown 92/96 with the 12X scope.

The bullet is fully tapered, from .301 at the ogive to .314 at the rear band. I have cherries to cut molds for this bullet and another similar one. Eagan's molds were nose pour, the base is the same on each bullet. I can't wait to get out and try em!

[McKrag]

Great looking bullet. You've really got those puppies seated out, I'm assuming so they lightly engrave the rifling/throat when chambered.

I've just started on working on power coated cast lead bullets. We have a 600 yard vintage rifle match in my area and my usual 1400/1500 fps cast bullet loads would be like shooting an M79 grenade launcher or mortar. if I did manage to even get them into the berm at that range. I'm thinking I'll need right at 2000 fps and powder coated bullets can be driven to that velocity with no fouling problems I do shoot powder coated bullets in 9mm and .45ACP and got the bright idea to give them a run in the Krag. So far I'm not having much luck with my favorite 205 grain Lyman 314299 bullet. after power coating the bore riding nose is a tad too fat. I can't get it to engrave yet fully chamber. I'm going to try and seat the bullets deeper, but the gas check is already close to the bottom of the cartridge neck. I don't want the gas check seated down into the body of the case.
I'm working on it. If I can find powder coat in bright silver or maybe chrome color the bullets would resemble the old school cupro nickel bullets..way cool.

[madsenshooter]

Yep seated to slightly engrave. The top of the bottom band is at the casemouth. It wasn't the worst outing I ever had, but far from the best too. It almost shot a group! I was hitting close enough to fragments of clay pigeon that were on the berm to move them, busted a couple whole ones. But some of my shots were obviously going high. It didn't help any that the posts on the bench broke off at ground level. Rest was shaky and I had to stretch awkwardly to get a position. I sometimes didn't get a good checkweld, so probably had some movement due to parallax, which I didn't seem to have adjusted right. In retrospect, I should have set up on top of my car and skipped the bench. So nothing great, but still not shabby for a 120yr old rifle with homemade bullets at close to 2000pfs, shot off a wobbly bench. No sign of leading and I shot a couple Nosler 168 BTHP loads after the cast. It was up to its usual accuracy, the shots touching about 4 min higher than the Eagan. I'll try to do better next time! I hope the DNR fixes the bench. If people don't quit leaving their trash, that might not happen!

[madsenshooter]

David, at my request, NOE bullet molds made some base pour versions of the Eagan MX2-30-H. For a cast bullet, it has a very high BC, .451 for the .314 version, which I'm sure you're aware, is really high for a cast bullet. The original seats a bit long in a Krag throat, but Swede has made versions with larger ogives. I already have the original mold, but bought the .314 and .316 versions, as the .300 ogive is a tad small for most of my .301 bore Krags. I can't say Swede's base pour version is 100% as good as Eagans, as I've not not shot any yet. The basing is nearly as consistent. Eagan left a little cup in the base, just a few thousandths deep. With NOE's it'd be the cutoff divet. Others on castboolits bought the mold and seem to be getting some good results. Check out their catalog: http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php

Since you're powder coating, the standard size ought to be good for you. Slower powders work better for me when getting the velocity up to what you're after, 4350 and slower. Incidentally, I've used the standard bullet in my K31, the check is below the neck/shoulder a tad, but both bands are in the neck, doesn't seem to negatively effect accuracy any, so I wouldn't be too fanatical about the check being below the junction. It won't feed out of a Krag, I don't know if your 600yd matches include a rapid fire string.

Swede bases his weight on WW, Eagan used lino and his dropped at 185gr. It seemed to me the bullet had a sweet spot around 2175fps out of my Krags. I got there a variety of ways, most involved slow burners as previously mentioned.

[madsenshooter]

You made me curious, and I'm glad you did. Got out my .314 version of the 30H and something corrosive had got into one of the cavities. I was able to clean it up, but glad it didn't sit anymore! Here's how the .314 version, with its .305 ogive, would throat up in one of my Krags. Bands on the .314 version actually drop .316 with my alloy. I don't know how thick powder coat is, don't want to know, I have enough steps in the process as is! OAL is 3.111", but still won't feed, not even from my 92/96 that feeds spitzers good.

[GBertolet]

I have good luck using the Lyman 311291 @ .311 diameter, with 18.0 gr SR4759. I use a Lee .303 collet neck sizer, and Lyman M expander die. I get 1500 fps and groups run around 1.5 inches at 100 yards, from both my 1898 and 1899 Krags. At this loading level, the brass lasts forever, and can be loaded many times before FL sizing is necessiary.