Krag Rifle and Ammo/Brass

[gunner312]

A few years ago, I was given a Krag Rifle. The Gentleman that gave it to me was the son of the former principal of the Alaskan Native Boys School which went out of existence sometime in the 50's. The rifle was issued to the school during the 30's? and when the school closed it was his personal rifle. I would hesitate to guess the number and type of game taken with it. The patina on it is mostly a kind of mottled grey and the stock shows wear. I don't think of it as collectors piece but as a shooter.

What I'm wondering, what's a rifle like this worth? I've shot it several times and it's quite fun to shoot. When I bring it to the range the younger shooters are always interested and most have never seen a Krag Rifle in action before. Unfortunately Ammo is quite hard to find around here and when I do find it it's expensive. At present time I have about 40 pieces of brass and it is getting quite old. I don't think it has much more life left in it.

Any suggestions on where to find Brass for reloading?

Semper Fidelis

Gunner312

[Dick Hosmer]

Has the rifle been modified at all? That seriously affects value - more than condition, in most cases.

As to brass, have you tried Google at all? Your local gun shop may not have it, but it is usually available online, at places like www.gunbroker.com

[jon_norstog]

Gunner, that rifle could be worth a couple hundred, on up. Just depends. As for brass, Midway sometimes has it. Buffalo Arms in Idaho usually has it. The Black Sheep in Coeur d'Alene and Lewiston ID has the stuff almost all the time. There aRe other mail order outlets as well. http://www.midwayusa.com/30-40-krag/br?cid=7385

No joy there. Keep looking and good luck.

jn

[gunner312]

As Near as I can tell, not being an expert by any stretch. It looks to me to be completely original. It also has a very worn 1907 sling on it.

I guess I could take a photo and post that if anyone is interested. If so, what should I take close-ups of?

Semper Fidelis

gunner312

[Dick Hosmer]

Let's see a *good full length (right side) shot - that will tell a lot. Perhaps no tricky closeups will be required. The serial number would help as well.

*Here is an example which shows nearly all relevant detail.

[psteinmayer]

You could check Grafs and Sons for Krag ammo (usually Remington or Winchester loaded with 180 gr SP). Also, Cheaper than Dirt sometimes has the ammo too. I think Cabelas does mail order as well... and they usually have the Remington ammo available.

Midway runs the brass when it becomes available, but beware - it usually goes fast as there are a lot of shooters looking for new brass. If you buy used brass on Gunbroker, EBay, etc., inspect it carefully before using it.

Another word of advice, whether you are using your existing brass, or new brass, or even once fired from ammo you shoot... anneal your case necks. This will definitely help it last longer!

I look forward to seeing your pictures also...

[JimmyK]

.303 British Brass will do in a pinch. If you are a reloader, .303 British brass can be substituted for Krag brass. Yes, the neck is about .100" shorter than Krag brass and the shoulder is a touch longer than Krag brass. Run the .303 British brass through your FL resizer and reload as usual. I generally don't crimp the bullet. If you are out of brass, it works and will keep your Krag well fed when the proper brass is unavailable. When I tried .303 British brass several years ago, I was quite surprised that my loading data changed very little.

Please DON'T use factory loaded .303 ammunition in your Krag. That is not advisable.

[bobgar]

I can usually find krag brass on gunbroker.com. Just type in Krag for the search then click reloading supplies on the side menu. THe new brass is kind of expensive but you can find some fired brass a little cheaper.

[madsenshooter]

I second the .303 British, if you can't find the proper 30-40. With the PRIVI brass all I had to do was chamber the brass in my rifle, the shoulder was annealed which allowed me to close the bolt without too much force. Use a long bullet and seat to your usual OAL.

[psteinmayer]

Shoot... unless Remington or Winchester gets busy producing brass soon, we ALL may wind up using .303 eventually! I have 4 boxes of Remington ammo sitting in my safe, and I'm tempted to take them out and shoot em up just to replenish my brass supply. I have around 400 rounds of brass, but some of it is getting pretty long in the tooth, and I'm starting to see case neck cracks in a few. Maybe we could write PRIVI and officially request that they start making 30-40 brass. With the amount of Krags out there, there is still an enormous need for it!

[CJCulpeper]

I don't see that there is too much of a problem. The Dundee Cabelas had three boxes of .30-40 when we were there and the Wheeling store had four boxes a week or so before. That is plenty of brass but the getting it to Alaska would require some one down south buy it and break it down and pop the primers. Does it require extra effort and costs? yep, but the brass is out there in some form. The Krag world should be able to come together to help out their fellow man.

With Remington at 30-38 a box and the cost of unloading it and shipping to points north the that begs to be asked is do ya' want to suck it up and pay to shoot your gun or do you want to nail a foot to the floor and run in circles?

I would suck it up. The kids can go hungry for a few weeks.


Culpeper

[Dick Hosmer]

I looked at the list of cases presently made by PRIVI, and there are surely some already being supplied which have to less popular than the .30-40. Being so close to the .303, I suspect that some minor tweaks to the tooling would allow for producing both/either from the same raw cup with very little attendant cost to them. Sounds like a win-win to me.

[madsenshooter]

I sent PRVI an email about Krag brass once, they run .303 British. I tried to tell them there was a market, never heard anything back. Maybe they'd be more responsive if they got more suggestions: http://www.prvipartizan.com/contact.php