The latest project is an original 1898 krag barreled action in a new Boyd's stock. It will be loaded with 150gr Hornady BTSP and I plan to use IMR4350 only because that is the powder I have in the cabinet. Looking up loads in my newly purchased Lee Modern Reloading book and my well used Hornady 5TH edition and there is some very wide load range differences. The Lee book shows a 6.4gr higher starting load with a .4gr increase to max load with the same powder and bullet weight. The Hornady book has a max load 1.7gr below the max load in the Lee book. Now I am wondering about the accuracy of the Lee book. How should I proceed in loading this old war horse?

with old military rifles like the krag.I would load to a max pressure. The cartrage was loaded to about 38 to 40K Cup for pressure. I would use reloading data that reflected those pressures IMR 4350 150gr bullets should be a good match I would keep my max loads below 47grs.
Dave

Thanks Dave.

In my full length Krag 45 gr 4350 gives a 180 grain 2200 fps. The factory 180 goes 2290.
Good accuracy.

Thanks Hawkins

I load the old military rounds no hotter than the middle of the range of loads printed in loading manuals. That old steel wasn't as tightly controlled during its manufacture as modern steels are, and it wasn't formulated the same either. Most important, I don't know of any metal that gets stronger with age and high pressure use.

The 30-40 will do its job on game quite well with even beginning loads from the books, and will usually be more pleasant to shoot when not loaded "hot".

If I wanted an '06, I'd buy one. I like the Krag with loads which reflect its capabilities when it first became available to civilians.

Like Jeffe says in his signature, "Opinions vary".

When I worked up the loads for my Krag I used Sierra bullets and "their" data.

IMO Hornady bullets Hornandy data.