Went out a few days ago to advantage of an overcast morning to test my latest load for my Miroku 1895 .30-40 Krag. I'm trying to find something it liked with these cheaper Hornady 220 grain RN before I test out the much costlier Woodleigh version.  I love how thing thing comes up to my shoulder and points but the silly brass blade makes it hard to focus on for shooting groups.

Here's the target. It's hard to see but there are several different loads on that target. Just above the receiver you can barely see the pencil mark circling the best 4 round group I've fired from this rifle. The load shows promise but it's not quite "there" ye, I just need to play with seating depth and neck tension to find the "just right" spot. As I said I fired several loads on this target, all hit several inches to the right but all were relatively decent for elevation (so the groups on the left are actually 180 degrees from when they were fired).


Here's some beauty pictures:









The Hornady 220's are not a super tough bullet, in an email they told me though should open reliably down to 1700 fps. IF my loads are leaving the barrel at 2200fps then by 50 yards they should have shed over 100 fps in speed. The only penetrate into the dry sand/clay mix that makes up the backstop to a depth of a few inches and the majority are found with separated cores and jackets.
Top row: 8 and a half separated jackets
Middle: 6 "intact" bullets
Bottom: 5 identifiable lead cores and 2 other fragments
Note: Some of these separated jackets and cores go together, so somewhere around 12-14 recovered bullets out of the 20 fired.



After that last range session my supply of Hornady 220 grain RN's is for now depleted so todays ammo was playing with the other end of the spectrum.

Even at sedate .30-40 Krag velocities there is quite a difference in the recoil when you drop from 220 grains down to 100 grains (they look goofy as heck also).



As with the other target I'm cheap and reused this one, turning it every so often. So all of these loads shot fairly well for windage (one to two inches right) but were (obviously) very high. One group measured about 3/4" at todays extreme distance of 35 yards which is just fine for barn yard loads.



The following two pictures are the only two recovered projectiles next to an unfired bullet. Interestingly the recovered jacket is the only time I've seen this bullet do that. I found bits of green grass as well as old dead grass inside the jacket when I picked it up, so somehow it dumped it's lead core and continued on through the grass still flying relatively "straight" until it came to rest on the berm. Usually (even in soft dirt) these bullets basically disintegrate, the theory is that the jackets acts as a large gas check while the lead is pretty soft. Hence why I like them for the afore mentioned "barn yard load", it's rare in my experience that these ricochet.

Thanks for sharing.  Nice pictures and 95 carbine.  I have a 30-40 carbine made in 1898 and have been wanting to work up some classic 220 grain round nose loads.  Its a classic old round with good moderate recoil, I could shoot it all day (if I could afford it )

Thanks! The "factory" reproduction load found all over the internet shot horribly out of this rifle. I'd assumed it would have an 1-10 twist for the heavier bullets it's traditionally loaded for but that was not the case. So I had work up to the top end of the reloading manuals to get decent accuracy out of this one. It was disappointing as the "weaker" (not much) loads had almost no recoil.

Wow what a beautiful gun and one on my bucket list.  Thanks for sharing all the info.