A while back I shared with you all the results of my range testing my 1898 Krag.  I was able to get some very good groups from it using .311" Sierra 174 grain Match King bullets and Speer 180 grain .312" Round Nose Soft Point bullets and IMR 4350 powder; however, the accuracy was not consistent and it took the barrel a long time to settle in after it had been cleaned.

Well, David Sams, my gunsmith called me today to let me know he'd finished installing a Criterion barrel on the gun with excellent results.  The barrel had been purchased from the CMP in the white and with no front sight base.  It was dovetailed for one and short chambered.  He fit the original front sight base and blade, fit and blued the barrel and chambered the gun with a short throat for match bullets.

The Criterion was actually the second barrel he fit.  The first barrel was purchased from Numrich and while it looked great had several problems.  It had a .312" bore, but was throated for .308" bullets.  Based on his description of the problem, the barrel seems to be made to shoot lead bullets rather than jacketed.  In any case it did not work out the way he wanted and he installed the Criterion instead.

He test fired the gun at 100 yards using his favorite hunting load and shot a 2" group, about 4" above point of aim with the rear sight set at 100.  Since I'm going to use a 6 o'clock hold this should work out fine.  the windage of the rear sight is set a zero/zero so he apparently put the barrel on straight

A range report will follow once the gun is in my hands and I've worked up some loads.

Keith

Will you be at Camp Perry with it?  I'll be shooting in the Friday AM session on the Viale range with Madsenshooter.  Look us up if you're there!

If I find the chamber will accept a RN bullet of 180-220 grain weight, I may just focus on that rather than a spitzer design which I know from experience does not feed as smoothly as a RN.  Since the range is only 200-300 yards (no first hand experience, but what I've been told) I'm more focused on smooth feeding in sustained fire than I am with long range accuracy that a spitzer can provide.  In my original testing, the two best loads were from the 174 grain .311" Sierra Match King and the 180 grain Speer RN soft point.  The Speer was actually the most accurate and consistent.  If the upcoming tests have similar results then the choice will be simple.

Those of you with experience at Perry can tell me what range the match is shot at and whether they ever go beyond 300 yards.

Which day and session are you registered for at Perry Keith?  If you're shooting Friday morning, you could join Madsenshooter and me.

The course of fire is 35 rounds:  five rounds sight-in and ten rounds for score - slow fire from prone;  ten rounds - rapid fire - prone from standing;  ten rounds - slow fire standing.  All shots are 200 yards.

For what it's worth, Camp Perry is a load of fun!!!  Last year was my first, but I am hooked!!!  I am shooting with Madsenshooter again this year (and my brother-in-law... he's shooting a Nagant).

I shoot Hornady 220 gr round nosed bullets over 40.0 grains of IMR4350, and I couldn't be happier with that load!  This is a close approximation of the original Krag load. 

I am trying CCI Magnum primers this year.  I've been told that Magnum primers help to achieve a cleaner, more complete burn with slower burning powders like 4350.

My OAL is 3.03, and that's based on the crimp groove on the Hornady 220 gr round nose bullets.  I never really thought about using a longer OAL either...  Maybe I would be able to improve my slow fire accuracy if I did.  Hmmmm... maybe after Perry, I'll look into that!

Well, I took my newly rebarreled 1898 Krag to the range this last weekend and got mixed results.  The new barrel is a Criterion from CMP with all the work done by David Sams in Cartersville, VA.  I shot all the rounds at 200 yards using a 200 yard NRA rifle center.

As I described in an earlier post I was shooting 220 RN SP bullets from Sierra, Hornady, Nosler, and Woodleigh, and a 200 RN SP from Lapua.  I used 40 grains of IMR 4350, each one hand weighed to the exact amount.  All were seated to an OAL to 3.100". 

The 220 Woodleighs vertically strung the shots at 200 over about 8 inches.  A group of three at the top, a group of two at the bottom and the rest spaced in the middle.

The 200 Lapuas shot higher than the 220s by about 10" at 200 yards (12 o'clock on the 200 yard bull) but to the same windage and a group about 6" in diameter.

The Sierra and Hornady 220s shot into about 4"-5" both near the bottom of the bull.

The Nosler 220 RN SP, also a semi-spritzer design like the Lapua, was the clear winner.  It shot 5 into a 10 ring size group, which is about 4" in diameter, with 3 out of the 5 in the 10 ring.

The sights were initially a challenge but with my reading glasses on the sights were sharp and clear and pretty easy to use with precision.  All in all the work was a success.  I intend to load up some more Sierra, Hornady and Nosler loads (loaded to 3.150" OAL) and verify the results as soon as I'm able.

Keith

Keith Herrington wrote on Jul 22^nd, 2013 at 8:28pm:


I noticed the same thing with my Krag.  I shot prbly 15 rounds until the rifle settled down.  I had soaked the bore to get rid of any copper fouling.  After the last trip to the range I just cleaned enough to get the powder out.  Is this typical of these barrels?