Craig Boddington was the senior contributing editor of our modern gun and ammunition caliber dictionary. Craig was involved in the development and testing of many of these and writes from first hand experience. This dictionary was written exclusively for Wholesale Hunter with unique information found nowhere else.
GUN CALIBER DICTIONARY
Rifle
30-40 Krag
The 30-40 Krag (30 U.S. Army) was adopted as America's primary military rifle cartridge in 1892 in the Krag-Jorgensen rifle. Fielding of the Krag was never quite complete; in the Spanish-American War it fought alongside out-dated trapdoor Springfields. Its service life was also short; in just 11 years it was replaced by the 1903 Springfield, initially in 30-03 and, after 1906, in 30-06. Perhaps because of surplus Krag rifles that flooded the market the 30-40 Krag became an extremely popular hunting cartridge and remained so until at least the 1940s. The Krag rifle is legendary for its butter-smooth action, and its rimmed 30-40 cartridge was also chambered to Winchester's Model 1895 lever-action and numerous single-shots. Current loadings are a 180-grain bullet at 2430 feet per second, still a potent and effective cartridge for game up to elk. New rifles in 30-40 Krag are unusual today, but ammunition remains readily available. — Craig Boddington