I'm looking to find or build a nice bolt gun in 30-40 krag. Other than building it off a 98 Krag action, what else could I do?
Likely use it as a target rifle. 24" #3-4 barrel. Repeater would be nice but maybe even a single shot...
Anyone have any ideas? Anyone have something like this they would part with?
Thanks

Yes, my head is full of rifle build ideas; that is all that is in there. 24/7.
Use a #4 Enfield. Perhaps with one piece stock, as the first Lees were.
Or a P14; that would be easy too.
I assume you need one already in Canada.
PM me if you want one. And are south of the 45th parallel.

Enfields are a bit too big for what I envision
Maybe a Mauser? I have a small ring in 270 but it shoots way too good to tear apart.

#4 Enfields are smaller than Mausers.
And really, a P14 with the ears milled off is not much heavier than a 98 Mauser; that is a misconception; and they are already set up to feed a tapered rimmed cartridge.
A Mauser requires a slanted mag box like some .303s they made way back. And a different extractor. Meaning, lots of work.

A Siam Mauser will work.

I have a Krag that I obtained as a usable action that now has a 20" barrel with full length stock and iron sights. It's a near perfect rifle for the jeep or four wheeler or just walking through the woods.

Siamese Mausers make up nicely and are not terribly expensive.

Clarence

The .30-40 Krag cartridge is significantly longer than the 8X52R Siamese Mauser cartridge, and the Siamese magazine would have to be altered accordingly.

The P14 action was designed for a quite large 7mm caliber cartridge, the .276 Enfield, with an overall length of 3.23", and has a magazine which easily accommodated the .303 British and later the .30-'06 cartridges. The .30-40 Krag.with its 3.089" overall length should fit in it nicely.

Maybe a Husqvarna 1600 series. Quite a few of these around. Side safety and floorplate are a plus.

Or a crf model 70.

Thanks for your suggestions

30-40 Why???

Because he wants it; reason enough.
Altering any action like the Husq that was made for the .473 rimless cartridges is a lot of magazine alteration/work to make the tapered rimmed cartridge feed, and for the extractor to work. As for the Siamese, the bolt face is way too big and again, could be done, and lengthen the mag, the rails of which are too wide, tons of $ work. Not worth it.
P14 is your best option. Already has the slanted mag box and rimmed extractor and correct bolt face. Just fit a barrel, which I can do.

M95 Steyr Mannlicher? you'd have to deal with the enbloc clips and magazine extending below the stockline, but the straight pull design would be interesting.

take a look at sdh single shot in 30/40 it's a WOW

it's in the new sports afield

M95; huge bolt face and extractor; more work.
What is a sdh single shot? Of course, any single shot is easy to make into a 30-40.
I googled it; nothing.

Steven Dodd Hughes. His personal rifle. Latest issue of Sports Afield.

Dave

Many years ago I built a 30-40 Krag from a Savage 219 30-30, the Savage cost me $35.00 the rechamber $15.00, I stocked in in a beautiful stick of French Walnut ($105.00) simi cresent butt plate and fancy checkering..Has a ball hunting with it for several years, it was light and handy with a 20 Inch tube btw and irons sights..pretty much a full custom job, but eventually sold it for $2500..

Today Im building another, may be a 30-30 Ackley this time, to tame the recoil of about a 4 lb. rifle

Looking for same in 25-20 to build myself a 25-35..

They sure are cute, so is a Ruger no. 1 or 3 for that matter, and probably a stronger action, but never had any problems with the low pressure calibers Ive used.

I have this old P14 with a sewer pipe barrel in 303. Shoots suprisingly well for how dark it is.
The stock is thick and big but has nice grain. Maybe thin it down and rebarrel.

Ditto. The #4 would be great and an easy conversion. Are you planning on using iron sights or a scope? Reloading? Cast bullets?

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Yes, my head is full of rifle build ideas; that is all that is in there. 24/7.
Use a #4 Enfield. Perhaps with one piece stock, as the first Lees were.
Or a P14; that would be easy too.
I assume you need one already in Canada.
PM me if you want one. And are south of the 45th parallel.

I would reload, likely not cast bullets though. And no iron sights.

Just to muddy the waters a bit, here is a comparison of action weights, based on information from Stuart Otteson's book "The Bolt Action":

Mauser 98 45.2 oz.
Enfield M 1917 54.2 oz.
Remington M 30 48.2 oz.
Enfield P14 modified 49.3 oz.*
*my measurement of actions with ears removed and bridge profiled like Remington M 30.

I would still go with the P14.

Here are my weights; 98 Oberndorf Mauser, and a 1914 Enfield modified with the ears cut off and the bridge contoured to more pleasing shape. With original bolt handle.
Mauser; 45.2 ounces
P14; 48.9 ounces
Not enough heavier to quibble about.
Clearly, the P14 is the way to go for a 30-40.

I have 30/40's on several bolt actions.
The first is a simple re-barrel of a #4 Lee Enfield. I've probably shot more game with this rifle (first as a 303 then a 30/40) than with everything else combined.
The second is on a P14 Enfield and is just an ugly beater which shoots real well.
The third is built on a Ruger 77 which has a soldered-in solid bottom and a Canjar LP trigger made for the Remington 700. This one has two barrels; one in 30/40 and one in 30/30.
The fourth is a prone rifle built on a Prairie Gunworks action (40x clone).
The 30/40 shoots just as well as any 308. I have fired 2" five shot groups at 300m with the PGW, prone with a sling (on a very good day, mind you).
I had one I built on a Siamese Mauser but I was never happy with it so I put the barrel on the Lee Enfield and sold the Siamese as a 45/70.
I have thought of building another on a 98 but have come to accept that I don't need to build more rifles; I need to shoot those I already more often. Regards, Bill

Krag actions don't lend themselves to mounting optics and IMO look better with a straight grip stock.











They also need some way of anchoring the fore-end to prevent spiting the stock from recoil due to the action screw locations.

quote:

Originally posted by Dead Eye:
Enfields are a bit too big for what I envision
Maybe a Mauser? I have a small ring in 270 but it shoots way too good to tear apart.

An intermediate length LR M98 action would be just about right, as would any SR Mauser.

How about a dutch mannlicher or romanian. Straight forward rebarrel. The 30-40 should fit in the clips without much modification. Classic British layout.

Any idea how much work it is to make rimmed ammo feed from a 98 Mauser?
It is not a drop in thing.
Dutch Mannlicher in 6.5? Looks promising.

Just get a Ruger No 3 in .30-40. Send it to Ruger for No 1 wood and bend the lever like a Highwall. R

quote:

Originally posted by Vol717:
Just get a Ruger No 3 in .30-40. Send it to Ruger for No 1 wood and bend the lever like a Highwall. R

Good idea.
Looking for one as well.

How about starting with a Winchester model 54 that in 30-30?
Of course, if you are looking at single shots, I have a Westley Richards 1881 in 30-40 already we could talk about.

When it was time to chamber my Ruger Number one, I intended to go with the 30/40 but decided I had enough of them for the time being. I had a set of dies for a 303 Epps so I chambered a 303 Epps on a thirty caliber barrel.
I also once had a Savage 219 which I re-chambered to 30/40. I also did a H&R Topper. Both were nice but I liked the hammer gun better.
For bolt actions, any will do but some do present challenges. A Remington 700 with a magnum bolt face is usable. So is a push feed Model 70 but the breeching is a bit specialised and I wouldn't want to guarantee feeding if it was a magazine gun. Used as single shots, recessed bolt faces are usable but not so good. as a repeater. A pre-64 Model 70 is great but the bolt has to be altered a bit and magazine and rail alterations could be a bit of a nightmare. Not surprisingly, the P14 is perfect. Regards, Bill

Griffin and Howe made very fine varmint rifles by converting the Krag to a singleshot.
Always wanted to do that!

quote:

Originally posted by Vol717:
Just get a Ruger No 3 in .30-40. Send it to Ruger for No 1 wood and bend the lever like a Highwall. R

My only 30-40 Krag

I have a Siamese Mauser in 30-40, walnut full stock, that hasn't been out of the safe in years. I'd let it go cheap if your interested. PM me.

quote:

Originally posted by Dead Eye:
I'm looking to find or build a nice bolt gun in 30-40 krag. Other than building it off a 98 Krag action, what else could I do?
Likely use it as a target rifle. 24" #3-4 barrel. Repeater would be nice but maybe even a single shot...
Anyone have any ideas? Anyone have something like this they would part with?
Thanks

I have a genuine Rigby slant box 303 action I've wanted to sell for a while. It was modified to rimless once upon a time and those 303 extractors are unicorn parts so I had the existing one altered. It happens to be wearing a scaled-down "E" pattern Lothar Walther barrel in 30-40!

I built a Krag much like pictured by wildcat Junkie except mine had a pistol grip..It shot like a house on fire..I like that approach and can't see much reason for the caliber otherwise in that I wouldn't waste an expensive action and stock for a 30-40 that has nothing to offer but nostalgia and only then in that super slick original action...Just my two bits and opinion, and opinnions vary...

The 30-40 has everything to offer that the 308 Winchester offers at ranges 99% of hunters will shoot. In a strong action like the Mauser it doesn't give up anything practical. And since that magazine box is already set up for rimmed cases it's a natural.