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 10 .243 Win Norwegian Krag (Read 7381 times)
madsenshooter
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.243 Win Norwegian Krag
Oct 31st, 2016 at 7:10pm
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I have a packrat friend who I keeps an eye out for firearms related things for me during his trading.  He came up with something real nice for me!  A complete and matching 1916 dated Norwegian Krag receiver!  So now I have this Austrian made .243 barrel, and a complete receiver to plug it into!  Not to mention a FP-NK receiver sight w/target knobs, a 1950s made stock blank, and a new old stock Lyman ramp front sight that fits the barrel.

Now the problem.  Should I have a .1" taken off the barrel stub and turn it into a 6mm Niemiller, thus precluding the chambering of any factory .243 Win?  Or, since it is for the time being, mine to be used for shooting cast bullets at moderate velocity and pressure, should I just leave it in .243 and perhaps add a plate to the loading gate stating that factory ammo is a no-no, consider Hodgdon start loads as max loads?  The Niemiller would require custom headspace gauges whereas I can rent the .243 gauges for $7.  Also, no payment to a machinist to modify the barrel and a sizing die.  Oh, decisions, decisions!  One thing I gotta say, the receiver is obviously a much higher quality of steel than a US Krag.  I could play with it as is for awhile, knowing it's in my possession, unless something sudden should happen to me, and I could always turn into a Niemiller later.  I know I wouldn't want to meet my grandson on the other side at an early for him date, because he got an unsafe rifle from me.  Well, I have time to think it over, I have a lot of other little projects going on, no money for a machinist at present, so I guess I'll just let the things gather dust for awhile longer.  I'll consider all advice that you guys might wish to give.
  
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FredC
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #1 - Oct 31st, 2016 at 10:19pm
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243 brass should always be available. I can not remember what  6mm Niemiller is made from. I have a 6.5/06 I have been meaning to build and was going to use 25-06 brass to reform into the 6.5 brass. I have had brass on order for 3 years and only gotten 50 cases. Be careful you do not make something that brass should be available, but is not.
  
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madsenshooter
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #2 - Oct 31st, 2016 at 11:26pm
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I have a bunch of GI 7.62x51 leftover from my failed attempt to make some money swaging it down to 6.5 Japanese.  Even took out an ad in American Rifleman.  Then companies other than Norma, who made the very undersized stuff that failed early, started making the brass and I lost my market.  It was too much work anyway.  But, the Niemiller is the .243 with its shoulder pushed back .1".  Enough to prevent chambering the .243.  So the Niemiller could be made from any .308 based case.
  
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madsenshooter
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #3 - Nov 1st, 2016 at 7:49pm
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Here's an approximation of the 6mm Niemiller beside, L to R.  A once fired and unsized .243 case with a Eagan MX2-243 bullet sitting in it.  Next a full length sized .243 case, then the Niemiller.  It's an approximation cause the expander rod would need to be modified a little too and I'm not doing that yet.  The shoulder has another .010" to go, but the rod is about the same length as the the case body and I'd be pushing the rod up into the neck while the case is still in the sizing die.  I already blunted the depriming pin pushing the case up into the die this far. 
  
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FredC
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #4 - Nov 1st, 2016 at 10:07pm
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Available brass is good. I kind of like the longer neck, I think it contributes to accuracy.  I just bought a 222 over 223 for this same reason, thinking the 222 to be slightly more accurate. Could not get Remington brass for it, ended up getting Lapua match brass instead, the Lapua brass seems to contribute to  accuracy. Imagine that!
  
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madsenshooter
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #5 - Nov 2nd, 2016 at 5:07am
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I had a 6x45 Obermeyer barreled AR15 at one time and I wished I'd got a wildcat based on the .222 case.  I was shooting that little Eagan bullet, about 70gr, around 2000fps and getting some pretty good groups.  I couldn't go much higher with accuracy, it had a 1/8 twist, and the borerider was a bit small. 5R rifling too.
  
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FredC
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #6 - Nov 2nd, 2016 at 12:41pm
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Went back and looked at your original post. There are certainly a lot of advantages to keeping it 243, if you can eliminate the risk of accidentally putting a factory round in it. if you have no other 243 rifles YOUR keeping things safe will be pretty easy. If you have other 243s then going the other way could get exciting and I do not mean in a good way!
If the rifle turns out to have real accuracy potential 243 match dies are easy, probably off the shelf easy. Starting load data, every where. With your GI brass you will have to account for reduced capacity from the wall thickness plus the reforming to smaller dimensions.
You have been thinking about this for a while, you have more of the pluses and minuses in mind than anyone else, putting them all down on paper should make it easier to decide.
  
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madsenshooter
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #7 - Nov 2nd, 2016 at 11:44pm
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Some of the GI brass will need neck turned, some of it won't, I found when going down to 6.5.  The steel is uber hardened, through and through if you ask me, not like a US Krag at all.  I would think that should one fail with a higher pressure cartridge, it would not do so catastrophically, but be manifest in a cracked front lug, or by cracking where the guide rib bears, if that's properly set up.  I will write the pros and cons down.  One thing I thought about is although the Niemiller is .1 shorter to the shoulder, the pitch of the barrel threads is not .1".  So if I cut the extractor slot now, indexing might be a problem if I later decide to go with the Niemiller.
  
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madsenshooter
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #8 - Nov 18th, 2016 at 5:43am
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I'm thinking having ammo around headstamped .243 that's .1" short to the shoulder may not be such a good idea.  I'd planned on using GI, but I have some .243, and on down the road someone else could make theirs from .243, if I was to go with the Niemiller idea.  I thinking that having such ammo around would be more hazardous than leaving the rifle in .243!  I'm finding other similar 6mm wildcats too, some old some new.  Just having the loading gate engraved is sounding like a better idea to me.
  
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #9 - Nov 18th, 2016 at 6:37pm
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Why not chamber it in .244 Rem (6mm Rem) and make cases from 7x57? If somebody fires one in a 7x57 chamber, no harm done. If you try to stuff an unaltered 7x57 in the .244 chamber, bolt won't close. Mark barrel "6x57 Krag Special" or some such fiction.

Should feed better than stubby .243 Win. anyway. Plenty of die sets, reamers, gauges available.
  
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madsenshooter
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #10 - Nov 19th, 2016 at 10:06pm
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I'd have some brass to use for that idea.  I have a couple Japanese type 38s chambered for 6.5x257Roberts.  I have S&B 6.5x57 ammo that I have sized down using the rifles.  Still, wouldn't it require an improved configuration to clean up the .243 chamber?,  Unless it's setback.  I don't imagine SAAMI .244 pressures are any lower than .243, so I'd still have the same hot factory ammo problem.

However, right now I have the barrel seated to the point that the bolt will just close freely, it appearing to me that the boltface contacts the breechface, leaving no fore and aft play as the guide rib contacts the receiver.  Closes the same on a full length sized case, but if let down slowly on a once fired and unsized case (likely fired in a Handi-rifle), it doesn't go all the way down on it's own.
  
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Parashooter
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #11 - Nov 19th, 2016 at 10:27pm
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madsenshooter wrote on Nov 19th, 2016 at 10:06pm:
. . . wouldn't it require an improved configuration to clean up the .243 chamber?,  Unless it's setback.


Yes, unless you're sufficiently unconventional to accept the ~.020" secondary shoulder that appears when we ream a .243 Win to .244 Rem. Fired brass might look a little odd, but should function fine in a neck-sizing environment.
  
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #12 - Dec 11th, 2016 at 1:05am
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Check your project!!!

LEFT HAND THREADS!

Good luck.
  
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madsenshooter
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Re: .243 Win Norwegian Krag
Reply #13 - Dec 11th, 2016 at 5:33am
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Oh I know, that's how I recognized the two barrels for what they were on ebay.  Brought in back in the 50s by Globe Firearms Co. They were converting Norwegians to both .308 and .243.  The .308 was their model 777 I believe.  Don't know what the model # of  the .243 was, but I know of at least one in Canada that a fellow has been using with factory varmint ammo on coyotes.  I noticed that Remington and Hornady both make a reduced recoil loading in .243 both of which produce some mild pressure.  I could mark the loading gate as only for those loads, and/or Hodgdon youth loads!  I hereby disavow any responsibility for any future harm that might come to those who do not read!
« Last Edit: Jan 2nd, 2017 at 7:17pm by madsenshooter »  
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