Red Dot in 30/40 Krag

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  • Last Post 23 June 2018
beagle6 posted this 17 June 2018

My friends and I have been having informal rifle matches we call Krag a thons with our beloved Krag Rifles. We have settled on 8 grains of Red Dot with 170 grain bullets at .311 diameter. I cast mine and tumble lube. The others buy them. It seems to work both ways and we have a lot of fun ( even though the others out shoot me almost all the time). I have no idea of the muzzle velocity and really don't care. The load is accurate, and easy on the guns as well as the old coots shooting them.

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Ed Harris posted this 17 June 2018

Sounds like fun. I'm guessing your load is about 1300 fps like a .32-40.

Are you using gaschecks?  I suppose so...  I use 6 grains with #314299 without the GC in an '06 and it is subsonic.

 

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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beagle6 posted this 18 June 2018

Thanks Ed.Yes we are using gaschecks which is probably unnecessary. I would like to add that over the years I have learned an awful lot from your articles, so thanks for that too.

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dbarron posted this 18 June 2018

Been using 18 or 19 of 4227 with NOE's version of 311284 (gas checked)  in my hacked up sporter version of a '98.  Shoots great, mild recoil as well.  Won a couple of CBA military mod scope matches.  Chronograph puts in in the low 1500's.  Records show it shooting two to two and a half most days, and significantly better sometimes.  Wonder what the difference could be.   Me?  Nah.  Well, OK, yeah.    And ditto beagle6's comments regarding Ed's articles (and posts).   

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gnoahhh posted this 18 June 2018

I started my casting career 50 years ago this summer with a 311241 mold and a Krag carbine. Initial trials were with what I know now to be a fairly stiff charge of 2400, and no/zero/nada lube in the grooves of those bullets cast from WW's. After 20 shots and the bullets going god know's where (after initial outstanding accuracy) I found the bore to be packed full with lead. That lead to my first experience with scrubbing lead out of a barrel. Helluva learning experience for a 15 year old! After learning about bullet lube from the local gunsmith/curmudgeon (you really don't want me to repeat his pithy comments), I settled on a load of 6 grains of Red Dot and life was very very good.

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beagle6 posted this 18 June 2018

Nobody talks about it any more but the easy way to remove lead from a barrel is with mercury. Clean out any oil and drive a tight fitting wood plug into the chamber and pour the barrel full of mercury. Mercury is heavy so the plug better be tight or you will have a real mess on your hands.. Let it sit overnight. Pour out the mercury (it can be used over and over again) and the lead just brushes out. Don't recall where I heard about this, Maybe Townsend Whelan, Phil Sharpe or one of those old timers' writings.

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joeb33050 posted this 18 June 2018

Mercury is a poison, will get all over the area it's used in and contaminate floors and equipment. Do not use it. Look up "Mad as a hatter"

Some used "blue ointment" to remove lead, a mixture  of Vaseline and mercury-made and sold to kill crabs/crab lice. You won't find blue ointment any more.

To remove lead easy/fast, a few grains of Bullseye or other fast powder, any kinda wad, fill with cream of wheat, grease to hold it together, shoot. The lead leaves quickly.

No mercury! I know!

joe b.

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beagle6 posted this 18 June 2018

I wasn't advocating anyone using it just explaining how things were done. I used it several times on a badly leaded 357 and it worked very well. Mercury isn't readily absorbed through the skin, but prolonged exposure to the vapors is very hazardous.

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gnoahhh posted this 19 June 2018

No thanks. We have a small vat of mercury in the lab, and anyone who works with it in various experiments is governed by some rather draconian procedures, and the stuff is monitored religiously.

 

Then there was the time I took Phil Sharpe's advice from an ancient article and used Stronger Ammonia, in an unventilated room, to dissolve the cupro-nickel fouling I incurred in a Springfield barrel after firing a sack full of WWI surplus ball ammo. Sometimes I wonder how the heck I survived those teenage years. Must've been the beer, cigarettes, and wild girls that saved me...

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dbarron posted this 19 June 2018

 I still lead 'em up once in a while.  Experimental payback.   00000 steel wool wrapped around a brush and Kroil works pretty well too.  when I was a kid, we used to "borrow" thermometers, break the tube and play with the mercury.  I told my wife that once, and she made some comment about that explaining a lot.  

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Brodie posted this 19 June 2018

Mercury metal in and of itself is not toxic.  Mercury vapor certainly is.  It was a principal cause of death among placer miners in the 1800's, and the reason many lost their teeth.  My Father had a patient who tried to commit suicide by drinking mercury metal; her sphincter couldn't hold the metal in and she produced little shinny droplets that shattered on the tile floor of his office as she walked down the hall way.

B.E.Brickey

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Ross Smith posted this 20 June 2018

I second old coot. liquid mercury is no more dangerous than lead. When injested ,or vaporized or salts etc then really bad. I dare say most of us old coots have played with quick silver when we were kids and it hasn't caused me anyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyproblems. Just be carefull and don't eat the stuff on the back of the mirror.

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loophole posted this 22 June 2018

Anybody want share a good Red Dot plinking load for a 30-30?

Steve K

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beagle6 posted this 22 June 2018

Steve

I've used between 3 1/2 and 5 grains of Red Dot with the Lee 113 grain bullet cast from wheelweights and tumblelubed. Shot these with and without gas checks and it didn't seem to matter. Groups ran around 1 1/2 inches at 50 yds. from a Winchester M94 and iron sights. groups best if rifle is tipped up between shots.

Beagle6

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loophole posted this 23 June 2018

Thanks, Beagle6.

Steve K

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