I was rifling around in my safe and found a 30/40 Krag full-size military rifle. I remember buying it a long time ago; original sale tags still attached. I searched for ammo in the cabinet and found none!

I would like any ideas you all may have on where to source ammo. Local stores just go "DUH"'

Thanks.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

30-40 Krag Ammo | Bulk 30-40 Krag Ammunition - AmmoSeek.com 2023

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No school like the old school.

You may be able to find some ammunition but it won’t be cheap. If you reload, .303 British cases can be used if you can locate any. Also, .30-40 brass may be more easily found than loaded ammunition. Older ammunition sizes no longer used much are just not widely distributed these days.

I looked at Ammoseek prices above. Wow. Just WOW. You should take up reloading.

I did take a quick stroll through Google, and it seems there are many sellers of unprimed .30-40 brass at prices around 50 cents to $1.00 each.

The 30-40 is a great rifle for fun at the range, but as stated the price of ammo is very high.

I think finding brass, bullets and a die would be best if you plan to shot that rifle a lot.

The 180 or 220 gr. RN bullet is the standard factory load, that feed without any problems, in that rifle.

Being a old timer, you will have a hard time finding ammo but with so many
rifles being sold and used in the USA, it should be doable.

Good luck.

Original military rounds were 220 FMJ that ran around 2000fps. That is the ammunition your the gun is sighted for. I once bought a box of 180g and could not get the rear sight down far enough to shoot at 100 yards, so always shot high wit lighter bullets.

You will find most all vintage ammunition was loaded with 220 grains, some FMJ and some soft-point. Had to show an unusual cartridge I found when buying a box of odds & ends 30/40 rounds. Appears a little too long to chamber, so never shot it.

Let me add that these rifles have the smoothest actions of any military rifle I have ever shot. They also can be topped off without opening the bolt. Here is a picture of my Krag along with Philippines War era equipment.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

I have several hundred pulled 220 grain .30 RN FMJ military bullets somewhere, not sure whether they came from .30-40 or .30-‘03 cartridges. I have loaded some of them in .30 Remington. They grouped well at 50 yards as I remember, but that was many years ago. They had to be seated deeply.

Like your SAW rig there glowe. Picked up a 1896 Krag carbine last year. Great rifle. Smooooth.

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I had a neighbor with a couple of .30-40 Krags. (One was passed down through the family and originally used by his grandfather while in the USMC. He was designated as a sniper because of his abilities.)

I bought him HSM ammo years ago. I just checked their website and they have Sierra Game King and Cowboy loads.

You searched for .30-40 Krag - Hunting Shack Ammunition

I keep my eyes open at gun shows for 30-40 ammo. There’s usually someone selling remanufacered ammo that has a box or two.

What I’m actually looking for is surplus 220 gr. military ammo. I usually come up with a box or two.

I'm doing the same thing Rpg is doing. I inherited my Krag when my Dad passed in 1965. Ammo has been very hard to get over the last decade so I don't shoot much. About the only reason I go to local gun shows anymore; looking for 30-40 ammo.







I've not fired anything in it but the Remington rounds since 1968.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

30-40 has been relegated to the 'Load it once in a while' list by the ammo makers.
I see it at Gunshows quite often, but like all factory ammo, it isn't inexpensive.

Reloading it is easy. It's a great round to load and brass last a long time.
I recently retired a box/20 Remington/UMC brass after the 21st loading as a coupe had a partial head separation.
These were light loads,,12gr of RedDot.

Empty brass is pricey as well.
303 Brit brass is easily formed in a 30-40Krag FL sizer. as mentioned.
It will leave you with a slightly short 30-40Krag case (about 1/16"? maybe) but they work just fine.
Same rim thickness and dia, same base dia, Same Headspace gauge in fact.

I have a 1898 Model in Military form and a '98 that I (re)built as a Sporter.
The sporter is a rescue project from someone else's failed attempts. Came out nice I think. Kind of G&H-ish.

Found this one in Baltimore 2 years ago. Was wrapped up in cosmoline. It was mislabeled as 1898, when I cleaned it up it was an 1896.

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I load for two: an Infantry rifle 1898, and a Carbine 1901. If you can find brass, 170 gr .30-30 round nose bullets work very well. I keep velocities to 2200 fps or less. If you're into casting, Lyman's 311291gc, sized to 0.310 and cast from wheel weight alloy works as well as the jacketed types.

I've also had good luck with pulled military M2 bullets at 152 grains. They don't feed quite as well as the round nosed types however.

HTH's Rod

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Vote the bums out!

This post is a result of a local shooter buddy who recently bought a 30-40 Krag carbine from that auction house in western Illinois. He hadn't fired it because of winter weather. He has a full-size Krag as well. He also had 20 rounds of handloads. He loaded the carbine and fired but got no recoil of notice. He opened the bolt and found the brass was blown up. Tried one more round....same result. Now he has 18 pieces of usable brass.

My friend is a gunsmith and did some measuring; the chamber is reamed much larger and the bore mikes out to .35". He walked down to check his target and found a keyhole hit 2 targets to the left of aimpoint!

He called RIA and they pointed out he was way past the 30 day window for returns but they decided to take it back and refund him. It clearly has been converted by a capable gunsmith to a different caliber(35 Remington maybe??). Converting old bolt action military rifles was quite common back in the day.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I found a carbine that my grandfather bought in the 80’s. Someone in its long history put a set of Lyman adjustable rear sight, and a Lyman front post. It’s a very handy little rifle.

I got to shoot a carbine one time. How sweet. I think smaller, local gun shows may be your best bet for ammo. Good luck.

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No baby we aint

I have passed on several because of ammo problems. Even reloading them isn't easy because of the brass shortage.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

This gun has a little story to it. My friend bought an old house and while he was cleaning out the attic, he found this gun. It was only the barreled action and the bolt. He gave it to me and I took it home because, well, it was still a gun and it needed a home. The bore was horrible and I figured it would end up in the junk parts pile. Not being one to leave well enough alone, I plugged the bore and filled it with Kroil. Every few days, I would pass a bore brush. To my surprise, the rifling started to appear and soon it was looking pretty good. The next thing I did was start looking for parts. I found the rear sight and trigger guard on EBay and the stock is a Boyd's. My photo isn't the best, but if you look carefully at the front sight, it is apparent that the barrel came from a 1903 Springfield. The cocking piece is dove tailed and it had a fold down aperture sight in it when it came to me. I'm sure it was someones budget deer rifle at one point. It shoots really well for having been made in 1895 and I love to take it out at the range when everyone is banging away with their Tactical Tommy AR. It usually gets a lot of looks and questions. I load a 150 grain, FMJ and 35.5 grains of IMR4895. The Krag action is notoriously weak and you really need to treat it as such. One thing I would do before I shot any Krag, even one from a known source, is to have the head space checked. Once you know it's safe, it's a fun and satisfying gun to shoot.

A little over a year ago, found a nice sporterized 1898 Krag infantry rifle for sale on the Classifieds. Took most of that year to restore it to issue condition ... i.e., buttstock, bayonet lug, hand guard. Hand guard was almost impossible ... but an exceptional one was found. By the kindness of fellow S&W members, was able to buy needed brass, dies, bullets and even some loaded ammo. Only issue ... front sight is a Lyman replacement blade. Doubt it is going to work well with the 1902 rear sight. We'll see what we see. (Pun intended) !!! Sincerely. bruce.

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<><

If you have not checked your serial number, make sure it falls between 118,894 to 134,256. If not, the barrel was cut from an original 30" Army rifle. Also, all 1903 Springfield 24" barrels have a date stamped right behind the front sight, while Krags did not. A sight would have to be added if the Krag barrel was cut. Good to know what you have if you are planning on selling down the road.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

It was a rifle cut down to a carbine. The ‘03 front sight instead of a Krag front sight is a dead giveaway. They still are a fine rifle.

In the mid-1970s I had a rifle most do not connect with the .30-40 cartridge, AKA the .30 U. S. Army, the Winchester Model 95. It was in fair condition, but some previous owner had drilled and tapped four holes into the left side of the receiver for mounting a scope. I could never get used to those holes and did not keep it very long. I doubt that I fired more than several hundred rounds through it. Legend says that a fair number of Texas Rangers armed themselves with Model 95s chambered in .30-40. Today, it is one of those many rifles I wish that I had kept.

You are right about Springfield barrels. I have never seen one that was not stamped with the date of manufacture and the flaming bomb. My 30-40 does not have a date on it's barrel. The other thing that is changing my mind about it being an 03 barrel is the holes for the rear sight were there. It wouldn't make any sense that they would go to the trouble of drilling them and then put that aperture sight on it. I'm sure that this went through a "Bannerman's" type treatment and was sold mail order from the back of a magazine. Probably for $6.95 with free shipping. It has a 5 digit serial number starting with 25xxx and is dated 1895. The barrel is 22 3/4".

The neighbor I mentioned in post #8 above used to take his grandfather's Krag to the range and with it on sandbags, he'd bang away at a steel plate at 400 yds.

A lot of the kiddies with their black guns would hear the pinging and stop by to watch. Quite a few would ask, "What is that?" Seems their AR's weren't up to the task and they wanted to know what he was hitting the plate with. They didn't realize you could do that with a 100+ year old gun with open sights.

I think what has happened is a general decline in the desire to do the work to become a good shooter. I have not shot the Krag outside of 100 yards but I do regularly shoot my 03's, K31 and a couple of AR15's at 300 yards on steel. I shoot open sights and from the sitting and prone position mostly. The guys shooting next to me are using big scopes and ballistic computers and all the toys from the bench. They look at me funny when I unroll my mat and get down on the ground. It could be because they fear that they might have to help me get up. I certainly have no problem with all the technology and I have most of it and enjoy fooling around now and then but there is something satisfying about hitting those targets old school style. My apologies to the OP for the thread drift here.

Go to local gun shows and look for the possible 30-40 Krag ammo.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

Keep an eye on Steinel (sp?) ammo. It is on his list of upcoming calibers to load.

My American Legion post still uses Krags during parades. They are lighter to carry than our Garands :-D Stopped being able to get 30/40 blanks around 2000 which is why we switched to Garands. Unfortunately our 1873 carbines that we had prior to the Krags were stolen.

I had a Winchester 1895 saddle ring carbine in .30 Army. It was a nice rifle. 30-40 was all over the place in the 70s. Mine was shot a lot but it still went where you pointed it. It seemed about like a 30-30 Win. Mild recoil.

The old Krag is one of those rifles I've always had a hankering to have but never got around to buying. Maybe one of these days...

John

Back in my old Ohio home town, the Legion also had Krag rifles for parade and honor guard use. Metal was plated, stocks were painted white. I also remember for blank firing salute use at burials, etc., they had 1917 Enfields. That was years ago but I wouldn't bet against their still being in that service.

That's how my dad got the Krag I now have. Our Legion post upgraded to 1903's after WWII and they burned the Krags. Dad pulled one out of the fire. The burn marks remain on the fore stock.


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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Why would anyone want to burn Krags? Even back when they were cheap.

Same reason they used to burn witches...? Or your basic heretics?

Well, no... Not really!

Cheers!

I enjoy shooting my fathers 30-40 Krag with light loads over the years
and have passed this rifle over to my brother to enjoy.

I even down load my 1903 down to "Krag" 180 fps, for when I go deer hunting
to drop a deer , with minimal meat damage, and make for a nicer clean up, job.

Not all rifle bullets have to go 3,000fps to do great things.

You don't watch enough movies about zombies, dinosaurs returning, or aliens visiting just to hunt us.

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Release the Kraken

My first was a cut down rifle carbine that I redid as a scout rifle but my second was a 1896 school rifle or Constabulary Carbine. A very nice rifle. The Krag Bowie is a faux that I built.

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Buffalo Arms Co has some 30-40 Krag ammo. I have purchased other unusual ammo from them and have been pleased.
It is not cheap.
30-40 Krag Ammunition 220 Grain RN Soft Point Box of 20

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Ken

I love those bayonets.

Never owned a Krag. Been looking though. I bought a bit of ammo over the years. I saw some the other day. Win and I think 180 gr RN. Did Win ever load Silvertip ammo? I have some that was ugly and run thru a tumbler for a fairly long time. I think I should break it down...JIC. Guy that gave it to me wanted to make it shiney

Few years back I bought several hundred GI 30/40s. Came in bandoleers marked Frankfort Arsenal 1905. I still have some intact but pulled most of it because cases were deteriorating from inside out. You could put your thumb against bullet and snap neck off case, charge was a grease ball.
I loaded bullets for Krag and 1895 Winchester.
I sold rifles and dies but still have some store bought ammo and brass. I experimented with pulled GI 150gr FMJs but ended up loading 180gr RN
Hornadys. Also did some Midway USA 170 gr FN bullets intended for 30/30
they didn’t do bad either.

I never had any early 30/40s...but I got a fair batch of 06 ammo FA 11. Brass musta been bad back then cause after I shot a couple I found you could break the bullets off some..the ones that didn't beak all cracked in the necks when fired...took me a while back then...duh

Winchester loaded 180 grain Silvertip, but can't tell you exactly when. I bought a Ruger #3 .30-40 around the mid-1980s and it came with a box of Silvertip ammo.

In 1899, a Krag in .30-40 caliber was used to shoot the world-record Rocky Mountain elk. The record stood until the latter half of the 20th century.

30-40 has always been a popular big game round.

I shoot my 1898 and 1899 Krags, with cast bullets only. 1500-1600 fps loadings, with a 210 gr, home cast bullet. Very accurate, and pleasant to shoot. I just neck size, with a Lee .303 collet sizer. The brass lasts almost forever. I was fortunate to buy a quanity of the brass, when it was more readily available.

My 30-40 Krag story is that of acquiring necessary reloading gear as part of a larger purchase. Dies, factory new brass, bullets, some loaded ammo, some factory ammo. Only seen a Krag once or twice at a buddy's cabin. Should probably inventory and offload...

I was at my LGS last Friday. To my surprise he had 3 boxes of new Remington 30-40. Always looking for some to feed my 95 Winchester. Not sure of the load. It was $76 a box. He still has it.