Bought a bag of Krag  brass at a gunshow for $5. Probably close to 100 rds. in it.
All are headstamped "WESTERN 29"
Anyone heard of that?

That's a new one.  I've seen Western brass, but not with a number.  Sounds somewhat old.  I'd inspect carefully and use with discretion.  I have some older Remington brass marked REM-USA, and old Winchester brass marked Super Speed which I occasionally use with lower pressure cast loads.  Just gotta be careful.

I'll do that prior to any reloading.  Always cautious about gunshow brass in a bag.  Figured for $5, may get a few usable.
Thanks.

Likely, Western brass originally loaded in 1929. Company was purchased by Winchester and became Winchester-Western.   

Good call Chuck.  I agree - probably 1929. 

If 1929 vintage suggest you anneal, age embrittlement is likely on brass of that old.

Oops, made my third mistake of the year!

Western Cartridge Company purchased the financially troubled Winchester Repeating Arms Co. in 1931, when the gun maker went into receivership. The merged companies became Winchester-Western.

"Western" component eventually became "Olin".

Update on Western 29 brass:
They will not accept large rifle primers!!
Had to try large pistol.  No issues. We'll see at the range.
Guess I was expecting too much for $5. LOL
Good thing I only loaded 20.

Warning:

At the least, I would test some of your pistol primers, by 'firing' in otherwise empty cartridge cases, to make sure your Krag's firing pin does not penetrate the thinner cup of the pistol primers.

For good reason, there are pistol primers and there are rifle primers. They are different, especially, in regard to strength of metal 'cup'.
Most rifle firing-pins strike harder than pistol firing-pins. Also, the Krag rifle cartridge will develop 2 to 4 times the pressure of some pistol cartridges.

IMHO - Something is wrong.

Maybe the 'Western 29' cases had their primers 'crimped' in place.

Many U. S. military rifle cartridge cases utilized a primer crimp. This needs to be removed from the primer-pocket in order to seat a 'fresh' Large-Rifle Primer.
This is done with, (either swagging or cutting), primer pocket tools.

(A couple of primer-pocket tools that will remove 'crimp' - cost about $14 online):

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Heck, you might get away with small pistol (CCI 550) or small rifle (CCI 450) magnum primers. Would fire hotter and probably give good ignition of your powder. Try a few to test.

If not, might be better to scrap them and look for real Krag brass.

I'd have probably made the same mistake. I've thrown out .45 brass with small primer holes. Trash.

I have a whole box of Fiocchi .45 ACP with small pistol primers.  Never reloaded em, and probably never will.

I suspect as Butlersrangers stated, the primer pockets on those Western 29 cases were crimped.  I wouldn't use the pistol primers either.  I would just abandon them and order some Hornady or GRAF brass instead.  You might get away with shooting them, but given the age and primer issue, you'd be taking unnecessary chances... and (much) better brass is available and plentiful!  FWIW, Pistol and Rifle primers are different sizes for a reason.

If you really want to get confused, with Berdan primers, there are no less than 9 different sizes! 

Are the large rifle and large pistol primers the same size? If so, maybe the primer was not aligned the first time the OP tried to insert them. I have mikes in the shop but the primers are in the work room by the house so I can not check them now.
I have 2 kinds of primer tools and with both you can occasionally try to put a primer in and it does not go till you figure out what is wrong.
Others have already mentioned the danger of using pistol primers in a rifle and those dangers are real. A blown primer may not run a rifle but it is hard on the bolt and could ruin your eyes.

Diameter of Large-Rifle and Large-Pistol Primers is the same. Cup strength is not!

'Psteinmayer' sums up Brass situation, nicely.

Ninety Year Old Brass is very risky and brittle. Reloading it is false economy!

While small pistol and rifle primers share external dimensions, large pistol primers (and pockets for them) are significantly shorter than large rifle. Large pistol primers are also allowed a slightly smaller diameter. See SAAMI chart below for some nominal dimensions -

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Thanks,  Parashooter. You use the same bushings for large pistol and large rifle in the priming tools so I was sure they were close on the OD. As mentioned they are not designed for the same pressure so that is one issue.

Now knowing the 2 types of primers are so close and there is a slight overlap in tolerances I will never have the 2 types out on the bench at the same time to avoid any mix ups.

If the particular brand or lot of pistol primer is too short, that could lead to a hang fire. Opening the bolt 20 seconds later when it goes off would be catastrophic. 
Another thing not mentioned is old GI brass may have had corrosive or mercuric primers. Brass that is cleaned right after firing may prevent corrosive damage. If its initial firing was done 50 years ago and put away dirty, who knows what damage was done.

All that said I have used 40s GI 30/06 brass for really reduced loads and not had issues with only neck sizing. That brass was used first by my father so he may have cleaned after the initial firing.

The $5.00 dollar brass is not really a bad deal for putting it in a display case.

I encountered a problem once when trying to use large pistol primers in a cast bullet load.  I had a heavy 27# Wolf striker spring in my rifle, and the primer pockets were uniformed, maybe a little deep.  I thought the pistol primers were being pierced, but what was really happening is that they could not stretch far enough to contact the boltface with the firing pin sticking in the middle of them.  Oh, they came back and contacted the boltface, but they had to give somewhere in order to do it.  The dent of the firing pin was where they gave.  Pressure must've dropped some before that happened, wasn't a whole lot of gas escaped, but enough to leave a mark on the boltface.  As mentioned, it was cast bullet load, probably didn't produce more than 30,000psi.  With a full power load it may have allowed more gas to escape.  With a lighter spring the primers didn't tear in the middle of the dent.

My memory ain't what it used to be, but IIRC, I inventoried a bunch of loaded Krag cartridges h/s "Western 29" at Lualualei Naval Ammunition Depot in Dec. 1961.  They were loads for sub-caliber artillery training devices.  Loaded with spitzer bullets, 170 or 180 grain. 

I bought a 20 round box of loaded 30-40 ammo at a gun show a few years ago.  The brass was marked Western 29.  They were in a brown cardboard military box that was in bad shape. It was loaded with 220 grain round nose FMJ bullets.  I pulled the bullets and fired the primers off.  Very weak primers, made very little noise when I fired them.  I have reloaded the brass a few times with low pressure cast bullet loads.  My brass takes a standard large rifle primer and the brass is holding up well.

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