U.S. Krag actions

[Naphtali]

Norwegian Krags, and perhaps Danish also, have their single front bolt lug AND the lug formed by the rear of the bolt guide [lug] as bearing surfaces while U.S. Krags engage only the single front bolt lug.

During a rebarreling and general truing/blueprinting of any U.S. Krag action (1894, 1896, 1898) can the gunsmith create that second bearing surface at rear of bolt guide-to-receiver bridge without a great deal of trouble and expense?

[Reg]

By design , there is supposest to be a very small gap at that junction. Seems like I remember years ago , someone had the same idea and did in fact make both points bearing. Didn't work out to well as I recall. Don't remember exactly what the problem was but the final decision was --- don,t do it. In addition, you must remember that about everything on the Krags was case hardened. Yes, you can cut back metal to create the condition you speak of but in all probability you will weaken or remove the case hardened coat and not only will you have to re do it, most likely you will have to do some refitting on the action. Also is the consideration of the metals themselves that are in the receiver and bolt. We have much better now.
The Krag is a great old action and usable for many things but with the age, metal and design, its best to keep it within the pressure areas that it was designed for.

[gnoahhh]

Reg nailed it. Lapping the front lug to bring the safety lug to bear will invariably remove the case thickness on the bearing surface of the lug and/or the lug seat in the receiver. Rapid wear will result, not to mention intruding on the safety factor. Remember too that the barrel will likely need to be set back to correct for headspace.

It seems to have been a rare adaptation found on a few high end custom jobs from a couple of generations ago. One Krag collector told me that the one he has is one of the most accurate Krags he ever owned, but he only tested it for accuracy, then put it away. He has no idea how much its been fired, or if the carburization of the steel was compromised.

The Krag is just fine the way it is. A better bolt action platform for cast bullets never existed, IMO.

[Bret4207]

I have to agree. Leave well enough alone. We don't need to use Krags for wildcatting anymore. Use it for cast and be happy!