FWIW - I've never encountered a 'rim jam' with a U.S. Krag, even with reloaded cartridges that are shorter than U.S. military ammo length.

I have had bullet tips hang-up on the barrel breech-face of some Krags, with certain 'spitzer' bullet profiles.

I have had rim-jams with Lee-Enfield rifles, in .303 caliber.

I found the thread with Parashooter's diagram:  (You need to Login to view media files and links)
To find it I went to yahoo and typed this into the search line:
  krag collectors association rim lock echelon
Google is actually more powerful but yahoo allows opens another window for you to look at, close it if it is wrong and type another search phrase.
You have eliminated something wonky happening with the ejector, correct?
In my short experiment trying to get a rim lock the speed which the loading gate and which way the gun was aimed while closing the gate made a difference. Maybe some experimenting is in order to find the solution.

My apologies I was at the end of page one and did not realize Parashooter had copied his diagram in to this thread when I posted yesterday. Instead of deleting this post I will leave it as some other useful info is in the other thread.

Believe me. I have thoroughly cleaned every part of this rifle  with an emphasis on the magazine area.  I installed a new follower spring that solved the problem of the last couple of rounds not being pushed up far enough to be caught by the bolt.  I polished all the surfaces of the magazine well to include the backside of the side plate.  The side plate is perfectly fitted to the side of the receiver.

The problem remains that if the rim of the cartridge in the ready position is behind the rim of the next round the rifle will jam solid every time. Opening a closing the loading gate does not fix the problem.

This is a beautiful rifle with most of the finish intact and almost no dings in the stock.  Perfect bore with no apparent wear.  It groups extremely well at 200yds.  I bought this rifle to go along with my M1917 and M1903A3 for use in CMP Vintage Rifle competition.  Looks like I will have to sell it.  Jams are not an option.

Does it jam with factory ammo?

GunGrunt wrote on Jun 7^th, 2019 at 5:04pm:


GunGrunt, please don't give up the ship just yet...  The answer may be just under our fingertips, and I suspect the "Ah Hah" moment is going to appear when no one is looking!

BTW, Para and Butlers advice is right on the money.  Check your OAL, make sure your cartridge rims have the proper bevel... and roll the rifle slightly left and barrel up when loading. 

If you're planning on shooting at Perry, I'll be there on Thursday afternoon (the day before the Roosevelt Match) and I'd be happy to meet up with you and take a look at it.

Bevel is on 'rear' of Krag rim.

U.S. made .30-40 brass, usually, retains this feature.

Neat 'charger' you made. Kind of looks like Italian Vetterli 'charger'.

I can't 'ID' your side-plate from inside. I have to see front edge.

If you have access to another model 1898 Krag, (that is free of feed problems), switch out parts and test function.

FWIW - I'm suspicious of your side-plate.

SOLVED!!  I think . . .

Thanks to the photo from butlersrangers.  I noticed the rear edge of the rim of the original brass had a very pronounced bevel.  The Hornady brass is almost squared off.  I chucked up five of my dummy rounds in my lathe and filed a bevel that looks like the original ammo.  Voila!!  All loaded as smooth as butter, even when I purposely loaded a cartridge with its rim behind the next cartridge.

THANKS again for eveeryone's help.  Now off to the range to zero it at 200yds.

BTW - I also machined a new front sight similar to the "Marine Corps" from sight authorized on the 03/03A3 Springfields.  That is, a VERY thin based that still fits the slot in sight base, but with a much wider top portion of the blade.  MUCH easier to see.