1898 Krag Jorgensen project

[webradbury]

In the beginning, there was no Krag....

So my father has wanted a Krag rifle for a long time. He wanted a rifle length uncut rifle as he likes his milsurp weapons. I was looking around online for a rifle with which to surprise him and I couldn't find one that I was comfortable with. They were all more than my budget and I like to put my hands on a used weapon before I buy it.

So I was killing time at work one day and saw a Krag cocking knob/main spring/firing pin assembly for auction on Ebay. I bid about $15 and forgot about it. Well, I ended up winning it and so began an online quest for Krag parts to build a rifle. I found an unissued Krag receiver at Sarco and an unissued bolt body on Ebay. Ordered a semi-inlet full length walnut stock from Boyd's and began bidding on the small parts here and there on ebay trying to get the best deal. I also bought a brand new 30" barrel from Numrich which, I must say, is beautiful. It's crowned, blued, sight screw holes drilled/tapped and extractor notch cut. I don't think I've done bad, now I have every part to build the entire rifle.

Now, I'm one of those folks who doesn't see anything in the world wrong with a professional restoration of a historical firearm...I know many many people think old weapons should be left original but I don't. It's just my opinion, that's all. Having said that, I wanted my father to have a really nice rifle and I knew I wouldn't be able to restore one the way it should be so I'm piecing one together from new and used parts. This is going to be a shooter and hopefully a beautiful one at that. I look at it as resurrecting a rifle from the many rifles that are dismantled and sold as parts online (shudder).

So I started by polishing all of the metal parts (tedious) and getting any little nicks or pits out. The parts were in great shape to begin with. Polishing the receiver was not fun with all of the nooks and crannies in the krag design. My plan was to rust blue the parts and the process can be viewed on the Gunsmithing tips and Tricks page under the "Rust Bluing...interrupting the process" thread.

The parts are done now and I'm beginning to inlet the stock and fit the parts. I will be posting pics along the way so stay tuned. Will

[nekshot]

very good indeed!! wheres theres a will theres a way! My grandfather was issued a krag in the panama conflict and I have wanted one in a long time, now I have another option!

[webradbury]

Some pics of the blued parts and starting the wood work.

[Pb2au]

Gratuitous Krag porn,,,,I like it.
Very excellent, thank you for sharing this.

[seaboltm]

Nice ! FWIW, I always do wood work prior to bluing, especially when doing a new stock that will need a lot of rasping and sanding, which is apparently what you are doing. I have scratched too many nice blue jobs in the wood working phase. Just a thought.

[webradbury]

yes I kind of got ahead of myself on that. I'm being super careful but if I oops, it will just give me practice rust bluing. I still have to polish and blue the rear sight and butt plate. stock is going to be Watco Danish oil and i'm going to fill the grain. ive been in touch with Buckshot to get one of his one-off Krag receiver wrenches so I can get that going. Honey do projects and never ending grass cutting taking a toll right now!!

[webradbury]

Some pics of the stock. Plenty of wood where it needs to be for shaping.
I look forward to any spare time when I can work on this project but I have to be honest, I'm not looking forward to cutting out the left side of the stock for the sideplate. Plenty of ways to screw that up. I'm going to feel like the guy who had to make the first cut on the Hope diamond... he studied it for a month and passed out when he made the first whack.

[gnoahhh]

Man-oh-man, that's nice! Looking forward to seeing the finished product. (What- grass cutting is more important than rifle work? Perish the thought!!)

[webradbury]

Man-oh-man, that's nice! Looking forward to seeing the finished product. (What- grass cutting is more important than rifle work? Perish the thought!!)

I agree. I have procrastinated on the grass before and it gets out of hand quick this time of year! Of course, eastern NC summer weather is comparable to the Congo!

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I've inletted several of these, all from Boyd's, and you want to make cuts like for the sideplate undersized and them work them out to where they need to be. With the action in the stock I take a sharp lead pencil and reach through the receiver from the loading gate side and mark around the edges of where the loading gate hole is to be located. Take the action back out of the stock and you'll be able to see where to cut the hole out to the marks you made which will be just a bit undersized, and easy enough to work out to an exact fit. If you look at a lot of originals though you'll see that the wood to metal fit around the side plate really wasn't that precision. You're rust bluing looks great! Good work.

[webradbury]

I've inletted several of these, all from Boyd's, and you want to make cuts like for the sideplate undersized and them work them out to where they need to be. With the action in the stock I take a sharp lead pencil and reach through the receiver from the loading gate side and mark around the edges of where the loading gate hole is to be located. Take the action back out of the stock and you'll be able to see where to cut the hole out to the marks you made which will be just a bit undersized, and easy enough to work out to an exact fit. If you look at a lot of originals though you'll see that the wood to metal fit around the side plate really wasn't that precision. You're rust bluing looks great! Good work.

post some pics of your rifles here I'd love to see them! Thanks for the compliment. I enjoyed the rust bluing process... I found it easy to get results I was proud to show others. Will

[roadie]

That's an excellent polishing job, letters left sharp and edges preserved. Doesn't look like any wheels were used on it, just hand polished. It looks like a fairly high polish, were there any problems with the rust blue solution biting?

I agree on the restoration of 'collector' firearms, I want mine to look good as well as shoot good.

[webradbury]

It was polished to 320 grit. I did have a few spots it didn't want to stay on. That's when I started putting it on a little more wet. Seemed to work out. Thanks. Yes, no powertools used at all. Really wasn't that hard. The hardest part was the loading gate. It had some tiny pits but the front was very very slightly concave so the paper on the sanding block wouldn't touch the middle. Took a while to get it flat!

[reed1911]

Anyone else have a shot of adrenalin to the heart when looking at those pics...great job keep us up to date.

[gnoahhh]

For my money, rust bluing is the only way to go on a Krag. I have seen too many Krag receivers come out plum colored from hot caustic salt tanks.

[webradbury]

Still inletting. I've got the action, trigger guard and butt plate fitted. The butt plate was a pain in the butt! And as usual, no woodwork would be complete without me stabbing my palm with a sharp object.

Pics showing the fitting of the butt plate. Took me two hours. Getting the right fit at the 90 degree bend in the plate was tough but worked out. One pic of the bare wood shows pencil lines where the plate fits. It shows the extra wood that needs to be sanded off.

Going to be slow the next week...foot surgery tomorrow. Another shop accident...dropped a threading tool bit at my lathe and tried to catch it with my foot. I was wearing crocs and it landed like a little guillotine and cut my tendon in two. Now I can't raise my bigtoe. Did I say I was clumsy?

[Artful]

Wow, nice work on the rifle - I don't have the patience anymore - what the heck are you doing wearing croc's in a shop?

[M-Tecs]

Thanks great work!!! --- looking forward to the next installment.

[webradbury]

Got a little done today. I've been sanding the forend to get the lower barrel band fitted and it dawned on me that I needed to take about 1/8" off the top of the stock.

Decided to start fitting the sideplate and here are some picks. Too a little too much wood off the top right corner which I'll have to fix. No biggy.

[webradbury]

More sanding and shaping. Trying to work out the stock misalignment issue at the muzzle. I've got it to within 1/8" to the left. I can pull the stock in with a little finger pressure and the barrel band will hold it. I'm going to let it be and see if it affects accuracy.Looking more like a rifle. I was sitting on the front porch sanding while my son played with his remote controlled car...he gets bored in the shop. BTW, the trees in the middle background are 600 yrds from where I'm sitting.