Hey Guys,
I'm dredging up this old thread to update those of you who were interested.
This old Springfield 1898 rifle had a new Criterion barrel installed before I bought it:
http://criterionbarrels.com/barrels/3040-krag
I slugged the barrel and the bore is .3085", perfect for shooting cast lead bullets!
I have experimented with at least a half dozen cast lead bullets from 161-204 grains, and the rifle does pretty well with all, especially with any weighing over 170 grains. One of the first bullets I tried was the Lyman 311299, a long-nosed bullet that weighed between 192-202 grains depending on alloy hardness. The rifle likes this one; here is a target shot at 50 yards with 20.0 grains IMR 4198 at a velocity of 1,578 fps:
There was no bore leading, so I felt that I probably should boost velocity if I wanted to take down the 500 meter Ram silhouette targets that weigh 50+ pounds, so I upped the powder charge to 23.0 grains IMR 4198 which gave a velocity of 1,800 fps right on the nose. It still shot a very respectable five-shot group at fifty yards:
Today I made the 66 mile trip to the rifle range, and thanks to excellent spotting by a friend I was able to quickly get on the 500 meter Ram silhouette targets with the cast lead bullets. Alas, despite repeated hits, the Rams would not go down!
In case that should happen, I took along some 180 grain Remington jacketed bullet reloads I had for my other .30-40 Krag rifle, a Browning Model 1895. Even these loads took two hits to topple a Ram, which surprised me as they had always taken down the Rams when fired in the 1895.
I have a partial box of Sierra 220 grain .30 caliber round nose jacketed bullets in my stash, so I think I will give them a try on those pesky Rams. That oughtta do it!
SHASTA