My pseudo-carbine is now a 35 Krag scout rifle...

[rodentrancher]

Some of you may remember my previous adventure with a 1898 Krag, err, "replica carbine" (if we're being polite), that some previous owner created by transplanting an 1899 carbine barrel and stock onto a 1898 rifle receiver. Since this mixmaster had no legitimate collector value, and the bore was so bad as to be throwing keyholes, I've been experimenting with it, starting by having it rebored to .35 Krag.

The rebore fixed the keyholing and produced some nice groups, but getting it to shoot to point of aim was still a problem, and the sights didn't really suit my elderly eyes. So I took the handguard and rear sight off, got a Kraghaus rail, and picked up a old Leupold M8 2x EER scope off of Gunbroker.

May I present what may be the world's only .35 Krag Scout Rifle:

35 krag carbine.jpg (769.89 KiB) Viewed 2952 times

It handles and shoots quite nicely. Here is a 5 shot group from the bench at 100 yards. The one at the top is a called flyer (rifle slipped on the bags):

35 krag target.jpg (145.49 KiB) Viewed 2952 times

Ignoring the called flyer, it's a 1.5 - 1.75 inch group.
I'm quite pleased.

Edit: forgot to describe the load. Hornady 30-40 cases necked up to .35, White River Energetics primers, 44 gr. of AA 2495, 200 gr. Hornady .358 spitzer.

[butlersrangers]

Nice! Bambi is in Trouble!

[waterman]

Does it feed your cartridges through the magazine properly?

[rodentrancher]

Does it feed your cartridges through the magazine properly?

Not 100% - occasionally a round catches on the left side of the chamber instead of feeding into the chamber. It also did this when it was still a 30-40, before the rebore. I mean to try different bullet profiles, styles, and play with the COAL to see what might affect it. It doesn't happen often enough to be a major issue in it's current status as a range toy, but I need to get it sorted before I take it hunting.

[Ned Butts]

May be the side plate isn't always orienting the round correctly. Try swapping if you can and see how it does.

[rodentrancher]

Just made up a few dummy rounds with Sierra .358 200 gr. round nose (Sierra # 2800) - they feed perfectly, 100% of the time. Apparently my Krag just isn't entirely happy with spitzers.

Time to load some of those Sierras with primers and powder and see how they shoot. I'm a little concerned about what the extra "jump" to the rifling caused by the shorter round nose profile will do to accuracy. Necking up cases shortens them - loading the round noses just deep enough in the case to be confident they stay there gives a COAL around 2.900. And the Krag already has a good bit of freebore. Just have to shoot some and see what we see.

[butlersrangers]

I like your project.
If you please, where did you get Your Krag barrel re-bored and what kind of expense is involved?

[rodentrancher]

If you please, where did you get Your Krag barrel re-bored and what kind of expense is involved?

JES Rifle Reboring (http://www.35caliber.com/2.html). $325 if you send in the barrelled action, which is what I did. I went for the 3 groove barrel, you can get 4 or 5 groove for $50 more, but I didn't see the point in that. I believe his default twist rate for 35 caliber barrels is 1 in 14", which seems to work just fine for .35 Krag.

Turn-around time is about three weeks, payment is by money order or cashier's check - no credit cards. Communication is by telephone only, he doesn't do email. If you leave a voice mail, he usually returns calls within a day or so.

He did a very nice job for me, turned a keyhole-throwing bore into a rifle more accurate than I am capable of matching.

If you send him a 30-40 full length die with your barrel he will cut it off and polish it to make a body-only resizing die, no charge. You use this in conjunction with a neck sizing die for another 35 caliber cartridge (.35 Remington works) to meet your .35 Krag sizing needs. Neck size until it gets too hard to chamber, then run the cases thru the body sizing die. I've found I needed to use the body sizing die every 5 or so loadings of a case.

[butlersrangers]

Thanks good stuff to know!

[jon_norstog]

Spitzers hanging up instead of loading - My old Model 95 carbine would feed spitzers fine. My '98 sporter, not so much. I'm sure there is a cure, but for me, round nose bullets are just fine. I think RNs tend to expand at lower velocities than spitzers anyway.

I've heard and read about Krags chambered for .35 Winchester, but my guess is those are being fed with necked-up 30-40 brass.

There was a family of cartridges, included .35 Winchester, 38-72 and .405 Winchester using the same basic rim and case diameter. Any of them could be used in a Krag sporter.

jn