I just picked up my first Krag a few weeks ago and, courtesy of my wife, got a Lee single stage press kit and started loading for it. I sourced a few hundred pieces of brass from friends and a local reloader who had some extra to sell. I also found a couple boxes of Winchester and Remington 30-40 Krag locally and bought those as well.

At this point I've got about 350 pieces of brass total and now need to make it last as long as possible given the extreme difficulty in buying or finding more at this point in time.

With that, being new to reloading I'm aware that neck sizing a fire formed piece of brass should give you more reloads before failure than full length sizing each time. My question is, how much more use can you expect to get with just neck sizing 30-40 Krag brass? Right now I only have a FL sizing die so I'm curious if it it's worth it to buy a Krag neck sizing die or not. If it is, which die should I be looking for? I've seen several different versions ranging from $25 (Lee .30 cal universal neck sizing die) to as much as $100 (RCBS 30-40 neck sizing die).

Sorry for the dumb questions but any thoughts or experience would be appreciated.

Stretch    

The advantage to neck sizing is less working of the brass along the side walls.  Every time you full length size you set the shoulder back and when fired the case stretches to set the shoulder forward to match your chamber.  This work hardens the brass just above the head and will eventually result in a partial or complete head separation.  If your rifle is tightly chambered this may not be an issue, but many Krags have what at best can be called loose chambers.  Google case annealing and every ten reloads or so anneal the case necks.  I just shoot cast bullets at very moderate velocities (1400-1500 fps) and have about 25 reloadings on the lot of brass I am using.  Eventually the necks do split, but nothing lasts forever.  If using a full length sizer adjust it down so it just sizes the neck, if tight chambering then adjust it down a little at a time til the round will chamber and stop there.

If you 'back off' a Full Length Sizing Die one turn in your press, it will size the case neck only and not the case body. There is then no need to buy another Die.

My experience has found Krag chambers to have been held to very close tolerances.

Try partially re-sizing some of your cases by backing off the Die a turn and see if the re-formed cases will chamber in your Krag.

Howdy Buddy.

As Butlersrangers said... back your die off one turn and you'll be fine.  I've see the pictures you sent me, and I think you did a great job loading! When you get a second Krag (cause we all know you will)... you'll want to separate the brass to keep the fire-form with the chamber it fire-forms in. 

I'll give backing my FL sizing die off a try. I've got about 60 rounds I need to reload again as of this morning.

I'm very impressed with the accuracy of the rifle. It's a much better shooter than I'm capable of using at this point. I was able to hit an 8" steel plate pretty consistently at 200 yards from a kneel.

I'm shooting 220 grain RN FMJ projectiles that look like the original (bought about 1800 of these sometime back) but was given about 15 rounds of 220 grain gas checked RN cast lead cartridges to shoot. The cast lead rounds were surprisingly accurate and I'm thinking these may be a better bet if I started shooting for accuracy.

Does anybody here still load up 220 gr RN FMJ or are most guys now shooting cast lead?

Stretch

For my vintage matches, I load the Hornady 220 gr RN, which is jacketed with a soft lead tip.  I also occasionally load Sierra 220 gr RN which has a slightly different ogive, and aren't as accurate in my Krag as the Hornady.  The Hornady bullets have the same dimensions and ogive as the original cupro-nickel 220 gr RN bullets in the original ammo.  Hornady used to have a FMJ 220 gr RN bullet, and I used these until I couldn't get them anymore.  They were vastly more accurate in my Krag than the current bullets, but the Hornady Interlock bullets are designed for hunting, not match shooting. 

There are some who use cast in their Krags for CMP matches... but I think most are using jacketed bullets.  I shoot cast out of my cutoff sporter in benchrest cast bullet matches, although I haven't been to a cast match in over a year now. 

Paul,

I believe that what I have are the old Hornady 220 gr RN FMJ projectiles (non-soft point). I picked them up from a guy who was selling them, advertised as original surplus (close enough for me),awhile back figuring one day I'd need them for the Krag I then didn't own. I really like shooting surplus ammo in my old military rifles so I figured loading to original 30-40 Krag specs was the best I'd get considering original surplus Krag ammo is either non-existent or too pricey due to being collectible (plus it's pretty old at this point).

As an update, I loaded up 10 rounds today with neck sizing only and they seem like they'll work perfectly. I did as suggested and turned the FL sizing die out a full turn and the necks of the case for about half their lengths were sized. I had no issues getting bullets to seat and they chamber smoothly with no binding in my rifle. I'll give them a whirl next weekend when I can go shooting again.   

Thanks again for all the help.

Stretch

There is a alternative market for those FMJ 220s. Don't shoot them up. They sell for about a buck apiece, but be very careful.

As Paul discovered when I traded him some of those Hornady FMJ 220s, they have a copper clad steel jacket.  Back in the day they were made, Hornady considered them a dangerous game bullet.  Joyce was going to Africa a lot back then.  See if a magnet will get hold of them.  I thought Paul would save them for Michigan moose, or the dogman.

Naw... Paul loaded them up and shot them in a couple different matches, and discovered that they performed beautifully in his 1898!  Paul still has 15 rounds of them left.

FWIW, Woodleigh offers a 220gr RN FMJ bullet... but beware - they run around $90 for a box of 50 bullets!

Back in the late 1980s, the Hornady FMJ bullets were better than the Woodleighs for both penetration & accuracy.  If the alternative users read this, the street value should increase.  $2.50 each?

Well crap, maybe I should sell a few to these alternative users and get a few buck back :-)

I paid about $.28 apiece for them shipped so I guess I did alright from a business perspective. I also managed to get a little over 1800 of them so I've got a nice stash that should last for a little while anyway at the rate I'll probably shoot them. At this point I've only shot about 60 or so just plinking since I'm not a hunter at all.

If I could just find a smokin' deal on pulled 150 grain M2 ball projectiles I'd be set for all my reloading needs. Garands are hungry........

Stretch

FWIW (not that this is a Garand forum...) but I used to shoot the Hornady 150 gr FMJBT bullets in my Garand... and they are available - and reasonably priced.  However, I find in match shooting that the Nosler 168 gr HPBT Match (Custom Competition) bullets perform night and day better!  They are readily available, and I pay around $75 bucks for a box of 250.

Paul,

Thanks for the heads up, I appreciate it.

Sorry for the slight off-topic but I'm only looking for pulled M2 ball since I want to load as close to original spec as possible much like my Krag.

I have an interest in old military rifles in large part due to the history. Because of this, I'd like to load rounds to original USGI spec whenever possible to shoot them as originally intended.

With that, if I was going to shoot in a completion I'd definitely like to load up the most accurate cartridge possible within the rules. At this point though I'm just plinking hence the original loads I'm striving for.

Stretch   

Have you considered ordering surplus HXP M2 Ball from the CMP?  There's tons of it out there, and at around $120 for an ammo can of 200 rounds, the price is pretty great!  It's Greek made, non-corrosive, easily reloaded, and very accurate in the Garands too!  Also, if you ever venture out to Camp Perry for Nationals Week... there's a vender who sells pulled mil-surp bullets by the pound.  This guy usually has M2, AP, and even tracer bullets for the 5.56mm, 7.62x51mm, .30-06, and more!

Paul,

Oh yeah I'm very familiar with CMP rifle and ammo sales (my Garand is a CMP buy).

I've already bought my allotment of HXP from CMP for the year. I bought 10 spam cans this year and about 5 last year. I've also bought 1,000 or so loose rounds of both HXP and surplus LC when a local gun shop was unloading it pretty cheap. At this point CMP no longer carries spam cans (which were the best deal) and at the rate ammo is selling there I doubt there will be much of any surplus 30-06 left next year when my allotment resets.

I've also saved ALL my brass so if I can find cheap components (ie: pulled M2 ball projectiles) I can load my own, to USGI spec, cheaper than I'll be able to buy anything that's readily available at this time.

Stretch