As-issue Krag for cast boolit matches

[Pentz]

Finding an issue Krag for unmodified military cast boolit matches has been very taxing. I had a promising one, guaranteed excellent with return, no questions. Well, it had a 2.75 MW and shot patterns. It went back. So - it it at all feasible to rebarrel or line a shot-out barrel? Few sellers seem to be able to supply MW readings. Any tips or references? Guess my 2-groove O3A3s have spoiled me rotten....

[madsenshooter]

Answered on castboolits, but for the benefit of others: That's likely normal for a Krag, the majority of mine have .301 bore, .310 groove. I have a couple that are .300x.308, but I'm keeping them! One of them has a star down by the P proof mark, and I think it was a star gauged barrel, though collectors will argue with me as Brophy said they weren't marked. Maybe not where they could be seen, but it makes no sense at all to not mark them in some way. I don't know if you're talking about CBA matches, but if you are, it has to be an original barrel. The CMP sells Criterion barrels and they are legal in NRA/CMP type competition, but not CBA.

Don't worry so much about what the barrel measures, just size the bullet to fit it! I think you're trying to apply what you know about rimless cartridges and jacketed bullets to rimmed cartridges and cast bullets, and that doesn't often work very well. For example, there was nothing wrong with the shoulder going forward on your case, headspace is on the rim, not the shoulder. And, cast bullets need to be just a tad bigger than the measured groove diameter. I even do that with jacketed by using .310 bullets made for the .303 british or 7.62 russians.

It shot patterns with what bullet, sized how big?

[dave]

Whats a boolit, some kind of ghost? hehe.

[madsenshooter]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ Ah, the OP is from Vancouver, CBA has a club or two up that way, that answers some questions I had.

[Mark Daiute]

Bob, I got spanked hard for saying "boolit" on this forum, you got off light! Can't remember the guys exact words but he corrected me and told me it was "bullet". I explained my use of the term but never heard from him again.

Jumping from one forum to another sometimes we forget where we are!

Be careful what terms you use and where!

[madsenshooter]

Some haven't been enlightened by the silver stream Mark. Since I know Mark had a barrel relined, I'll mention that wouldn't be legal in CBA competition either. I have debated with the CBA officials trying to get them to allow the Criterion barrels, not just for Krags, but also the rest of the rifles the CMP sells barrel for, but the old guys in charge think that the challenge of getting a bullet to fit and shoot accurately in the original barrel is a big part of the game. I also should mention that there are other factors with the Krag that could make a rifle shoot patterns. The fit of the bands, whether or not the action screws are tight, and the condition of the crown (recrowning is legal). Then we could get into the hardness of the alloy being used and go on from there. If it was easy, kids would do it. Here's a target effected by the fit of the bands, in this case, they were too tight. Not a run of the mill lead bullet load, 2175fps. Bullet cast of a 23bhn lead based babbitt.

[Pentz]

Now THAT's shooting! Thanks for the thoughtful and informative replies, I'm on a steep learning curve with Krags, admitedly.
FWIW I used "boolit" as shorthand for cast. Will fall in line and use "cast" henceforth here. I've done quite a bit of casting and shooting the '03A3 2-grooves out at Clark Rifles, and on my best day have done 7/8ths inch at 100 yds with a .311 dropping at 205 gr. over 17.5 gr of 2400, seated to kiss the lands in my Remington.

So - will take another look at oversize muzzles. The quandry for me is whether the muzzle is belled out by use of a cleaning rod, shot oversize, or just oversize. It will give me something to work on. I'll do my due diligence and report back when that is done. Guess a .314299 mold is in my future.... at least I'm sitting on a half ton of lead and linotype and 3 lbs of 2400!

[Mark Daiute]

So - will take another look at oversize muzzles. The quandry for me is whether the muzzle is belled out by use of a cleaning rod, shot oversize, or just oversize. It will give me something to work on. I'll do my due diligence and report back when that is done. Guess a .314299 mold is in my future.... at least I'm sitting on a half ton of lead and linotype and 3 lbs of 2400!

That'l make for a lot of BOOLITS!!!

[madsenshooter]

Now THAT's shooting!

Thanks, but as you're probably aware, when you shoot next to the benchrest cast bullet shooters, that's a huge group, nigh 1.25", discounting the first shot. I cheated a little too, my Parkerized Krag was wearing a 7x LER scope that day. The rifle has a reverse taper groove diameter. .308 back by the throat, .310 up near the muzzle, but the bore diameter is a consistent .301. That's why I used filler in the load, to keep gas from bleeding past the bullet. The bullet was an early Don Eagan nose pour design, the MX2-30H. It's on the right in the pic, I think it weighs around 195gr check and lubed. MX3-30G on the left.

Mark gets good results with the 314299 and 2400. Least I think he used that number. Discovering what works is the fun part, but sometimes it can be trying. Hate it when you use a load that worked so good in one rifle in another rifle and it's total flop. Keep looking, you'll find one with a decent barrel.

[Mark Daiute]

I've had great results with the 314299/16.5 grains of 4759 or 311284/16 grains of 2400. Right now it's 311284 cast from 50/50 lead/lino over 50 grains of 5010 that has me excited/

[madsenshooter]

Glad you got around to using a slower powder Mark. I've got some decent results with WC860. Lower pressure, that builds slower seems to work pretty good, just like Richard Lee said. Takes more of the slower burner, but if surplus, it's a lot less expensive.

[Mark Daiute]

I bumped into this jug quite by accident. It amounted to 12 bucks a pound. So far the few unburned grains of powder has been a non-issue. It remains to be seen if the 50 grains of 5010 that I'm using is as accurate as the 16.5 grains or so of the faster powders that I was using. I do like the increased authority and I am way passed the chance of double loading the cartridge. Fifty grains of 5010 is about an 1/8th of an inch from the top of the case and I'm pushing it down with the boolit (bullet). If I had the money and the cajones I'd spring for a couple jugs of the 860-870 group of powders.