krag / swede mauser ammo question

[NB.nagantsniper]

i just bought a very early (1895) m94 krag rifle ,

after some fixin up i plan to shoot it a bit from time to time.

SO my questions.

i have heard 2 tales ..................

1 swedish 6.5mm mauser ammo as made is slightly too hot for the krag rifles and not a good thing to do long term......it may cause early metal fatigue in the krag.

tale 2 ............if krag is in good condition its no concern . if what ever ammo is to swede mauser specs it should be ok.........ITS MODERN 6.5X55 AMMO THATS NOT GOOD /SAFE IN THE KRAG.

ok so .........any info most welcomed .

i own a 1912 krag carbine , a m94 ( ww2 altered krag in 6.5x55)
and am now starting a project on the old 1895 m94 long rifle .
so far using factory ammo as i can find it ( mostly federal or a little norma or surplus swedish stuff )

from don

 

[smellie]

Sweden and Norway decided to use the same ammunition. They were trying to put together a sort of a Scandinavian defence area, something like a Viking version of NATO: same rifles, same ammo and so forth.

In the end, Denmark settled on the early version of the Krag, in 8x58R.

Norway liked the later mod of the Krag, built it, but in the same cartridge as the Swedes, who were Mauser customers, were using.

Original MILITARY loadings for the Norwegian Krag and the Swedish Model 1896 were the same. If you are out on the East Coast and accidentally happen onto a bunch of that Norma Norwegian seal-hunting ammo (50-round brown boxes with red labels marked "spesielt fabrikert for selfangst"), it works just fine in both rifles and copies the ORIGINAL performance.

SOME modern ammo, European types especially, will be to hot for the old Krags, so be careful. They had only a single locking-lug and case-hardened receivers: glass-hard but a bit brittle.



BARNES (COTW6) lists 2395 ft/sec as the MV of original military loads in the long barrels; that's with a 156 RN bullet for 1993 ft/lbs ME. You can duplicate this with about 40 grains of 4350, which is progressive enough that it should be gentle on that old steel. Original loading was with a fast flake powder (and a lot less of it!), although TBSA-1909 doesn't list it.

Hope this helps.
.

 

[NB.nagantsniper]

thanks / good info to consider .

 

[Goldenlakepete]

As far as reloading goes - most manuals say that the pressure for both Krag and Swedish Mauser should be kept to the 45,000 psi area.

I've owned both and have always interchanged the cartridges.