New to Krag

[Okstate86]

Greetings all! I just picked up a really nice 1896 Krag rifle serial 399xx. Any advice for a Krag newbie? Resources? Best bets for available ammo? Etc?

[psteinmayer]

First of all... welcome to the wonderful world of Krags! Be careful, as they tend to multiply.

The best advice I could give you would be to treat her like a lady and feed her well!

Remington is one of the very few manufacturers still producing Krag factory ammo (albeit seasonally), although Winchester still has it listed. Finding it is another story though, so when you do find some, my first piece of advice would be to purchase it. A box of 20 rounds of Remington with 180 gr Core Lokt bullets will run you around $36.00. Sometimes you can find it on sites like Midway, Cheaper than Dirt, and Graf & Sons. SAVE YOUR BRASS!!! I can't stress this enough. Available brass for the Krag has been a dicey affair at best the last couple years, with some jerks charging $2 a piece or more on sites like Gunbroker. Recently, Graf & Sons has had brass available under the GRAF name, and 50 pieces will run you around $42.00, (about $0.84 a case). My second piece of advice would be to get as much brass as you can, whether new Graf's or once-fired Remington, and learn reloading. That's what most of us with Krags do these days! You'll find no shortage of great people here willing to help you get started!

How about posting some pictures of your new found love?

[5MadFarmers]

Greetings all! I just picked up a really nice 1896 Krag rifle serial 399xx. Any advice for a Krag newbie? Resources? Best bets for available ammo? Etc?

Tis a little known fact that Alvin York actually enlisted with his cousin. Nobody ever talks about his cousin. Probably due to the Courts Martial.

When the two of them were in training camp, York's cousin had the bunk to the right of him. When the Krags were issued for training the guy in the bunk to the left of York marked his rifle so nobody would steal it. Great big X after the serial. York, impressed with the idea, followed suit and marked his with two X's. His cousin, following the pattern, used three "XXX" and was promptly drummed into the brig for that. Sad end to a promising career.

Your rifle, with them two X's, is clearly York's.

[jon_norstog]

Then there was the guy 2 bunks down who marked his "XXOX."

Welcome to the club. What Steinmeyer said, hoard brass. Buy it when you can. One nice thing about the Krag round is that it shoots cast bullets really well. Some of the guys swear by wheel weight alloy.

I'm not a collector, I hang out here. I hunt with the Krag and I'm also really interested in that period of American history, including military history.

If you get a chance, read "the Little War of Private Post" by Charles Johnson Post. Another good read, but it's fiction, is "Cuba Libre" by Elmore Leonard.

Good luck!

jn

[Okstate86]

LOL! Gosh what a lucky guy I am! Thanks for the laugh.

[Okstate86]

Thanks guys! I've manage to find one box of Remington and I'm going to hoard it until I find more. Guess I'll start shopping for reloading dies huh?

[Dan Shapiro]

Stick a fork in him, he's done. :icon_lol:

[Rick the Librarian]

Ah, those days of yore when all I wanted was a "sample" Krag!! LOL!

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[Pietro Panama]

Hey OSU Cowboy. Come to Tulsa and shoot that Krag in our Vintage Military Match on first Saturday of each month.
petebrunel@yahoo.com

[psteinmayer]

Hey OSU Cowboy. Come to Tulsa and shoot that Krag in our Vintage Military Match on first Saturday of each month.

There's the next big thing that will grab hold of you... Shooting them in a match! I shoot my 1898 every month too, as well as the National Rifle Matches at Camp Perry every summer. In addition to the Vintage Rifle Match, they're holding a Theodore Roosevelt Commemorative Match which is geared towards Krags (although they also allow 1903s).

As for dies, there are a lot of good dies out there, but I always use LEE Pacesetter dies. Great value and IMHO just as good as others. Been using 'em for more than 30 years and nary a problem had!!!

[Rick the Librarian]

Even ***I*** have managed to reload Krag ammo!. :)

[03collector]

Were i come from (Wisconsin) i have not much trouble finding krag ammo. The stores just don't have 20 boxes of it. But then i buy ammo every chance i get.

[03collector]

Nice collection of krags Rick. For such a short life there sure are a lot of variations.

[Sunray]

"...for available ammo?..." It's one of the cartridges that is loaded 'Seasonally only'(read that as When they feel like it. Remington is currently on "limited production" and not at all by Winchester according to Midway) by Remington and Winchester. No mention of when said season is though. So if you see any buy it all.
Graf's is listing their own brand of brass as being "In stock" at $42.99 per 50, $773.82 per 1,000.
Rumoured that it can be made out of .303 Brit brass too.

[Dick Hosmer]

The .303 is sort of a last resort, as it comes up a trifle short - still, valuable knowledge to have, though. Support Graf for now, and hope that Privi steps in with loaded ammo in the future.

[psteinmayer]

Amen to that Dick!

[Fred]

Hey Rick, whatever happened to all of that old surplus Krag Ammo that some guy had found? It was all tinned and original. I think he had several hundred rounds of it.
Of course nobody in their right mind would try to shoot any of it. It's too expensive as a collectable and none of it could ever be replaced. That ammo should be used in displays in belts and such.
Of course if the sh!t ever hit the fan, I'd load up my Krag with it.

[Okstate86]

I was at a gun show in Fort Worth and found a guy that specializes in custom and obsolete ammo. I picked up two boxes of 30-40 from him (made from .303) for $72. I was pretty excited. I'll take it to the range this week and post a report.

[psteinmayer]

Last Autumn, I exchanged emails with someone from a custom cartridge company (before the Graf brass hit the market), and he offered to produce match-grade 30-40 ammo for me from either .303 or .405 Win brass. When I saw his price, I nearly had a heart attack. It amounted to almost $3 per round with the .303 and almost $4 per round with the .405! Needless to say, I'll roll my own thank you very much!

[Rick the Librarian]

As I've said before, I made a habit of checking the "junk ammo" boxes of sellers at small (and sometimes large) gun shows. I picked up quite a bit of Krag ammo, like several hundred rounds. So much that I pretty much stopped reloading. It's there if you turn over enough rocks!

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