30/40 Krag Still Brings Home the Bacon After 116 Years

[wildcat junkie]

 

Not a pretty rack, but a mature buck none the less. From the spread at the antler bases I guess about 3 1/2 years old.

Most challenging shot I ever made. 120 yds, 20yds inside the brush. Iron (peep) sights, facing almost straight on. All I could see was his chest, the top of his legs & the white spot on his nose. I had to study the sight picture for a few reference point on the tree that was next to him as when I looked through the aperture I had a hard time picking an aim point on the deer's chest. I hit him dead center through the windpipe just above the midpoint between his chin & brisket. 160gr Hornady FTX over 49.5grs of Rl-17. 2500 fps Mv

At the shot there was dead silence & no movement where the deer was standing. After watching the spot for several minutes & got down from my tripod & walked to the edge of the brush before I could see him.

From the way he was bunched up he must have pitched down nose 1st. The bullet never entered the chest cavity. It must have taken out the spine.I hope to find the bullet when we butcher him.

 

 

If you look cloesly, about 1/2 way between the muzzle & the left edge you can see the gray roof of the tripod stand 120 yds disdtant.

 

Here is a zoomed shot from where the deer was laying. I think he was standing a little to the left as that large tree on the edge of the brush was what I used as a sight reference.

[shawnhu]

Nice shot!

X-Calibur Lighting Systems

http://facebook.com/XCaliburLightingSystems

[turkeyfeathers]

Great deer with a classic gun. Nice shooting Tex !!   Someday I'll do some range work with my Pop's 30-40 and get it out there.

 

P.S You do realize of course bacon comes from pigs  

[wmig2]

Congrats! that's a great shot with open sites.

[NYBowhunter]

Congrats, very nice the way you captured the moment with those pics. I'd give that buck a little credit and say hes a solid 2 1/2 yr old, nonetheless an excellent buck.enjoy!!

[wildcat junkie]

Great deer with a classic gun. Nice shooting Tex !!   Someday I'll do some range work with my Pop's 30-40 and get it out there.

 

P.S You do realize of course bacon comes from pigs  

 

I worked up some loads with 160gr Hornady FTX 30395 (30/30) bullets.

 

I use 49.5gr of Alliant RL-17. QL predicts 2700 FPS at 47000 PSI, but the actual MV of 2500 fps suggests about 42000. Recoil/muzzle blast is mild and the primers have a nice radius after firing so I think the QL prediction is a little exuberant.

At 3.089 COAL they are  just off the lands in my rifle.

The throat isn't eroded any, but the bore is only fair. I shot some bullets through it with fire lapping compound last year to shine up the bore a bit & had the muzzle done with a recessed flat crown.

My eyes aren't that good, but I can put 5 shots into about 3" at 100yds. At 50yds I can see the aim point much better & hold a pretty good group.

 

I've thought about bumping it up another 100 FPS but with a 200 yard zero it will shoot + or - 3" out to 250 yards so what would be the point?

 

[halfnelson]

Nice buck! And great pics! Congrats!

[wildcat junkie]

Congrats, very nice the way you captured the moment with those pics. I'd give that buck a little credit and say hes a solid 2 1/2 yr old, nonetheless an excellent buck.enjoy!!

 

Could be, but the deer around here ate themselves outv of house & home several years back & it's a hardscrabbke existance for them. not a lot af agriculture or mast. They survive on mostly brouse after the frosts hit. 2 1/2 year olds around here usualy have spindlier beams & less splay at the bases.

 

One things for sure, he ain't no yearling.

 

The fact that I shot him with my Dad's rifle that he bought 57 years ago really made it quite a thrill. Dad shot 2 bucks with that rifle, one in 1958 right after he bought it & just beforfe we moved to Chicago & another in 1967 after we moived back to P. Even though he made good killing shoits, the 180gr Corlocks didn't open up all that fast & both deer ran far enough that other hiuntes shot them & clamied them.

 

AS I walked back to the house to get my tractor I felt like my Dad was smilling down on me as he would have been proud to take that buck.

 

If I had been using my 8X57 I probably wouldn't have shot him because I've killed better bucks with it & it can thread a neddle at 120 yards. That's the 1st deer I've killed with iron sights since my last ML kill in 2001 & it sure isn't as easy as using optics.

[hunterdan44]

What make of gun do you have. my uncle left me a jurgensen I have taken out hunting a few times but no luck so far congrats great shot

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wildcat junkie]

What make of gun do you have. my uncle left me a jurgensen I have taken out hunting a few times but no luck so far congrats great shot

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

It's an M1898 Springfield.(seriel # has it built in 1899) Spanish American war era. Replaced the 40/70 and was eplaced by the 30-03 & in 1906, the 30-06.

 

It is based on the Norwegian Krag Jorgenson. Same action. The Norwegian Krags were usually chambered in 6.5 x 55.

 

19th century rifle taking game in the 21st century!

Edited December 5, 2015 by wildcat junkie

[hunterdan44]

Sweet thanks for the info great story

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ATbuckhunter]

Congrats and awesome story! Always cool to hunt with a piece of history. 

[Pygmy]

Good shooting, Dan !

Nice to see the old warhorse is still in action..

[wildcat junkie]

Good shooting, Dan !

Nice to see the old warhorse is still in action..

 

Now I don't want to hunt with optical sights, but my 65 year old eyes tell me otherwise.

[wildcat junkie]

Originally posted by Snellstrom:

I'm anxious to see the autopsy results, always interested in that sort of thing.

 

AUTOPSY REPORT:

Cause of death: Extreme violent trauma to the central nervous system. (HOMICIDE)

When we removed the skin of the victim, we could see that there seemed to be some severe tissue damage in the spinal area behind the shoulder.

            

After removal if the left shoulder we found yet more evidence of trauma.

           

It wasn't until we opened up the front of the throat and removed the trachea that we realized the extreme nature & violence of the trauma.

          

We them moved to the operating table with better lighting conditions to explore the wound cavity for ballistic evidence.

         

After more extensive dissection & probing of the wound cavity we found bullet fragments distributed throughout the wound cavity which was several inches deep. There were several vertebrae destroyed. The destruction was so compete we could only estimate that perhaps as many as 4 vertebrae were completely pulverized.

[Paula]

Congratulation!

[ATbuckhunter]

Thats some serious damage! Good shooting. 

[wildcat junkie]

So, I was contemplating going to the 30396 FTX bullet anyway. A call to Hornady confirmed that I am pushing the 30395 FTX 30/30 bullet beyond its design envelope of 2300 fps maximum impact velocity.. Anything closer than 100 yards will be beyond that with my load's Mv of 2500 fps. At 120 yards the bullet was still traveling a bit over 2200 fps.

The 30396 FTX for the .308 Marlin Express has a design limit of 2700 fps impact velocity. Loading that bullet at 3.150" COAL will raise pressure slightly with the same charge but still well within the limits. Mv should be around 2525 fps.

3.150" will still function in the Krag magazine & should still get me close to the lands with the slightly pointier ogive compared to the 30395.

[turkeyfeathers]

You sir know your stuff !!

[Pygmy]

I would think that standard plain vanilla cup/core .308 spitzers in 150 grain would perform well at those velocities.. They would certainly upset reliably but might not fragment as much as the lever gun bullets do...

[rj23nyr]

That is some great hunting, I have two questions...   

 

1) "The throat isn't eroded any, but the bore is only fair. I shot some bullets through it with fire lapping compound last year to shine up the bore a bit & had the muzzle done with a recessed flat crown." What does this mean?  

  

2) " 3.150"(COAL) will still function in the Krag magazine & should still get me close to the lands with the slightly pointier ogive compared to the 30395." What does this mean? What is the lands?  

[wildcat junkie]

I would think that standard plain vanilla cup/core .308 spitzers in 150 grain would perform well at those velocities.. They would certainly upset reliably but might not fragment as much as the lever gun bullets do...

 

150s come up a way too short of the throat & don't shoot well. Even 165 BTs with there long ogive have quite a jump to the lands.

 

The FTX bullets are shorter than most yet have a decent BC. The 30395 gave me some of the best accuracy I've seen with this particular rifle with bullets under 180grs..

 

The Krag throat is designed for 220gr RN bullets. It is difficult to get lighter bullets to shoot accurately due to that long throat. I originally opoted for the 30395 30/30 bullet as at 1.14" length it has a more rounded ogive than most bullets in that weight range, includingthe slightly longer 30396.

 

I think I can get the 30396 close enough to the throat by seating it out to 3.150. The magazine was originally designed for the 6.5 x 55 which is 3.150". There might even be a little more room, but I made up some dummy rounds with the 30395 at 3.150 & they feed flawlessly.

 

This is all an effort to extract the most effeciency from the Krag for Deer sized game at iron sight ranges. A 180gr RN shoots well, but at the lower velocities it is more suited for penetration on Elk size game.Too much energy is wasted after it exits the rib cage of a deer.

 

Impact velocities of 2500 to just under 2000 fps are what we are working with here with the FTX bullets in the 30/40 Krag. A bit high for the 30395 but right in the design envelope of the 30396 which is designed for the .308 Marli Express that has a Mv of 2660 fps.

 

30395 (30/30 160gr)

 

 

30396 (.308 Marlin Express 160gr)

 

.308 150gr Interlock.

Edited December 9, 2015 by wildcat junkie

[wildcat junkie]

That is some great hunting, I have two questions...   

 

1) "The throat isn't eroded any, but the bore is only fair. I shot some bullets through it with fire lapping compound last year to shine up the bore a bit & had the muzzle done with a recessed flat crown." What does this mean?  

  

2) " 3.150"(COAL) will still function in the Krag magazine & should still get me close to the lands with the slightly pointier ogive compared to the 30395." What does this mean? What is the lands?  

 

1) The chamber is cut in the breech end of the barrle to accept the cartridge case. The "throat" or "lead" is the portion of the bore immediately in front of the chamber that has the lands of the rifling reamed out to allow the bullet to enter the bore freely as the cartridge is chambered.

 

Wear usually occurs 1st in thethroat from errosiion because of hot gases & the abrasive affect of unburned powder being blasted out of the case in the instant after the bullet leaves the case. Damage to the bore is usually the result of corrosion & can be significant on guns built before the widespeard use of non corrosive primers.

 

A "dark bore" is from rust & if it isn't too bad "fire lapping " by firing bullets imbedded with fine abrassive compounds can improve the bore if it isn't too far gone.

 

2) Generaly speaking, the closer that the ogive (curved portion of the nose) of the bullet is to the lands, the more accurate the gun will shoot. .010" to .015" "off the lands" is the accepted distance to strive for. This is sometimes difficut to acheive if the bullet has a long pointy nose that will result in a COAL (cartridge overall length) to long to feed through the magazine or if it is short in length to allow sufficient "shank seating depth".. One must have a certain amount of the "shank" of the bullet seated into the case for sufficient grip of the case on the bullet.

[Daveboone]

Awesome.

Last year at a local estate auction I bought a sporterized Krag. I wasn't expecting to , but I got it for only 240.00. Yours is in much nicer condition than mine...mine was a commercial sporterizing job, utilizing the original stock. I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, but I would love to take it out. What is especially cool is that the auction was from the estate of one of the original settlers of the area. I love to think of the times it had in the woods here over a hundred yeasrs ago (family settled the area in 1780s).

[wildcat junkie]

Awesome.

Last year at a local estate auction I bought a sporterized Krag. I wasn't expecting to , but I got it for only 240.00. Yours is in much nicer condition than mine...mine was a commercial sporterizing job, utilizing the original stock. I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, but I would love to take it out. What is especially cool is that the auction was from the estate of one of the original settlers of the area. I love to think of the times it had in the woods here over a hundred yeasrs ago (family settled the area in 1780s).

 

When the barrel is cut back to 22" & the straight grip miliatry stock slimmed down, the Krag is one of the most pleasnant carrying rifles I have ever had the pleasure of toting arund inthe woods. A block for a forend screw is aesy enough to dovetail into the barrel & it allows a slended scnabel forend W/O a barrel band.

 

Krags do not lend themselves well to optical sights, but at the moderate range capability of the cartridge, a good receiver sight will get the job done provided it can be easily R&R'ed for bolt removeal W/O disturbing the zero settings.