The 30-40 Krag was a hell of a round in it's day, although the rifle itself left much to be desired when compared to, say, a Mauser which had a far stronger action (and thus could take the pressures of much more potent loads). Originally a black powder cartridge, it replaced the .45-70 as the US standard military round in 1892 as the US's first smokelss powder round in a bolt-action rifle and was itself replaced by the .30-03 (in 1903 funnily enough) and thence by the .30-06 (in '06
the Yanks had such imaginations!), which has since taken more deer in N. America that any other round.
Like most
successful military rounds, it has been a popular hunting round for decades after military obselescence and is still manufactured commercially today in limited quantities by Remington and Winchester with 180 grain bullets of Core Lokt and Power Point designs, respectively. At 200 meters, the commercial loads push a 180 gr bullet at about 2000+ fps with just over 1600 ft/lbs of energy. Zeroed at 200m (3 inches high at 100m/-12 inches at 300m) that translates into a decent mid-range deer/elk round.
For handloaders, Sierra also make a 200 gr GameKing Boat Tail Spitzer bullet that can be easilly driven at 2200 fps muzzle velocit. A decent choice for moose!
With improvements in cartridge types and shapes, as well as powder development, etc., though, there are many carteridges on the market these days that can easilly better the performance of the 30-40, shooting flatter (less maths involved) and hitting harder.
By comparison, with .308 Winchester (7.62mm NATO) out of a 26" barrel, I am able to produce a MV of almost 3000 fps with resultant superior down-range data.
The claim by some that the .308 Win (7.62 NATO) is modelled from the .30-40 Krag is essentailly false (or at least misguided). In fact, the .30-03 and thus the .30-06 took aspects of the .30-40 Krag as design elements. The .308 case is in fact, a shortened .30-06 with a slightly steeper shoulder angle.
Yes, I admit to being a bit of a geek when it comes to this stuff, but handloading as a hobby.
My old uncle in Preston had one of those Italian carbines with the folding bayonet when I was a boy in the eraly 70's. He never had any ammos for it and so I was allowed to play with it in the back yard like a toy. I wonder what became of it.
