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    

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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!