Chargar
posted this
30 December 2012
In the for whatever it is worth department on Krag bullet sizing diameters, I have two Ideal No. 3 tong tools with the bullet sizing holes in them. One is an older Marlin tool and the other is an Ideal New Haven tool. Both tools size bullets .312.
I have no idea what that factoid is worth, but there it is. You might win a gun trivia round with that bit of information.
When it comes to primers, I use Remington 9.5 for all my Krag loads. No particular reason, but I “think” if is easier to find a good shooting load with those primers. No impirical evidence to back that up and I am probably a little deluded on the issue at hand.
I bought 64 pounds of WC772 back when it was dirt cheap, well cheap anyway and it have proven to be a pretty good cast bullet powder with a couple of quirks.
Don't use in any case with less than 40 grains capacity, it won't burn well.
Trickle or settle the powder in the case and have the bullet give light compression on the powder charge.
If you don't use enough powder for the bullet to give light compression, top the powder with a little shotshell buffer until it does.
In the 30-06 round, a charge of 50/WC872 with .5 to .75 CC of PSB (buffer), depending on bullet weight, will shoot amazing groups, with any decent bullet. You can quickly tell which bullet your rifle likes with this load. It is sort of my “proof load". Not proof in terms of pressure, but proof in terms of bullet performance.
50/WC872 (without any buffer) also does very well as a cast bullet power in the 308 Win./7.62 round.
In the 30-40, .308/7.62 and 30-06 rounds 50/WC872 will give a velocity of 1.8K to 2K fps depending on bullet weight, rifle barrel length and all of that stuff. I am talking 160 to 220 grains weight bullets.
This powder burns a long way down the barrel, so be careful about picking the rifle up by the barrel after a few rounds, it is HOT. Pretty common to leave some unburned powder, but who cares if the groups are small.
I have had super good luck with the long Loverin 311467 bullet with one proviso. I size the top two bands 300 - 301 to ride the lands. This makes a huge difference in both the performance and seating depth of this bullet. This bullet has worked well for me in both the Krag and 30-06 rounds when everything else is put together right.
Have I mentioned, I like US 30 caliber military rounds and rifles? Krags, 03s, 03A3s, 1917s and Garands tend to accumulate around my house. I would not swap a good example of any of them for the fanciest bug hole bench rest rifle out there.
