Finally got out to the range today with my vintage Farr one piece stocked flat spring high-wall. (See the Benenson thread under Single Shots) I had 4 bullets on hand in suitable quantity and picked 3 to start with in new Winchester 30-40 brass. I beveled and chamfered the mouths and ran the cases into a 30 Lyman M die and seated the bullets in a 30-06 seater. This worked fine except that I need to get a round nose seating stem for it to avoid marking the bullets. Going through a bunch of old manuals I picked out some moderate loads such that I had 20 separate 5 shot loads to test. The 3 bullets were Lyman 311291 GC round nose of 170 plus some odd grains, Lyman 308329 GC pointed of 180 some odd grains, and Lyman 311278 plain base cone shaped nose of near 200 grains. I had high hopes for the 308329 as it delivers near MOA in my K31 Swiss. The 311278 was Dr. Hudson's original plain base design for 100-200 yard target shooting in the 30-40 and preceded the 311284 GC version which he did for 600 yard shooting. As such, I couldn't load this up as much as most do their 311284s. The powders selected were 2400, 4227, 4759, and 4198. I was shooting at 100 yards on a calm day. Because of the size of the front bead getting a good sight picture was not easy. It would have worked with the ASSRA 200 yard target but totally covered the 100 yard target. I resorted to 8.5 x 11 sheets of dark green paper with a 3x3 orange square stapled on. The hold then was to approximate a 6 o'clock on the orange square which with the short barrel (22") and my old easily drying out eyes  was not the greatest. However, the loads which were fire forming the brass to the chamber (was pretty close to begin with) did show definite preferences for the rifle. 4759 turned out to be the powder of choice and the 2 bullets that worked well with it were the 311291 (3 in .7 inches, 2 in .8, and all 5 in 2" with 15 grains and 4 in 1.4" with 16 grains) and the 311278 (4 in 1.5" with 15 grains and opening up a bit with 16 grains). None of the other bullet powder combinations were of any interest. So I have a good starting point for future testing. The 311278 bullets were cast many years ago of indeterminate metal and I will make up a hard alloy for it for future testing. The 311291 was of my standard 1 to 20 target alloy. The light barrel heated up pretty quickly but did not seem to want to move the groups. Future testing will be with 10 shot groups, .5 grain powder diffs and a better sight picture.

My Shiloh really likes H-4198 with the lyman 210 grain bullet. I believe the 311284 was first made by Ideal for the 30 US round.

Yes, 311284 in 1906 was the first gas check design of Hudson and Barlow to try to add oomph to the Hudson I have, 311278, to get over 1500 fps for 600 yard shooting. Here's a nice write up: (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) When it all comes together, the Krag will shoot and the long neck makes it easy for cast bullets.

The pointed bullet seating stem in my die was marking my round nose bullets - actually the bullet was being seated by the bottom edge of the stem engraving the bullet. Wasn't a problem with the 311291 but the ledge left on the 311278 was sufficient to engage the rifling just before the round was fully chambered needing some thumb pushing. I wrote RCBS about getting a 30 caliber round nose stem and got this reply:
WE DO NOT OFFER ROUND NOSE FOR .30 CAL SEAT PLUG. PLEASE SEND IN 3 SAMPLE BULLETS AND WE WILL MAKE YOU A CUSTOM SEAT PLUG TO MATCH YOUR BULLET PROJECTILE - $17.95 AND $4.50 SHIPPING (SALES TAX IS DEPENDING ON YOUR LOCATION). So, odd that they don't have it but good that they will make one, I guess.

Even easier, since you may use several nose shapes, is to use a small wad of aluminum foil held by a gob of bullet lube that can be picked out and replaced at a moment's notice. I heard of this somewhere, and pooh-poohed the idea. Then, while trying a fat-nosed slug that was doing what yours is, I decided "what the heck" and gave it a whirl. No more epoxy in my seaters now. Just a thought if you want to try it while sorting different bullets in that Krag. Pat

For reshaping a plug so not to bugger a bullet nose, I have found and use hot glue.  It's a fast way to do the nose and will remain in the plug cavity with no distortion for many lubing's of the reloads
I use hot glue in the seating plug also to not bugger noses

Got around to casting some more bullets. I made up some harder alloy to see if the plainbase Hudson would perform better (and leave a little less lead in the barrel.) I have a quantity of wheel weight ingots that go way back so nothing extra weird in them. I added 8% tin to some of them and it cast some real nice bullets. All loaded up and hoping for a nice morning. I also loaded some 311467 heavy Loverins to try. They are GC but again of some unknown alloy from the past. Should give me an idea if it would like them though.

Made my final choice. In the past months I picked up a Lyman 311332 and filed the front bead down into a fine post which helped. This week I had a shoot off of the loads I had arrived at with the different bullets and am going to go with the 332 and 14.5 grains of 4759. Runner up was the 291 with 15.3 grains. The sight picture with my old eyes and the short barrel is still not great and I think next time out I'm going to fold the little target aperture out of the old Lyman tang and try the full size hole. Before I shoot the silhouette animals I think I'm going to add a little fluorescent orange spot on the tip of the post so I don't lose the black post on the black target. It's all fun, right?