Grandpa's krag carbine

[Char-Gar]

Following WWI, Krag rifles were sold off by the government for $1.50 each. Many, many of them were purchased and modified as your has been. There are still many of them out there on the used market. I have two such modified Krags. Yours looks like an excellent example. The front sight band and sight are from a 1903 Springfield. Your rifle has been reblued at some point in it's life.

I killed my first deer with such a modified Krag in 1960 and I still have the rifle. I paid the huge sum of $15.00 for it from an old Dentist who had given up hunting. For grins below is a pic.

The only cast bullets tip I can give you is these rifles have large throat and give their best cast bullet accuracy with long heavy 200 grain plus cast bullets sized .312 - .313.

Best of luck with this fine old family heirloom.

[Reaper]

I'd be inclined to shoot it with the bulged barrel. If the bulge is minor, it may even improve accuracy. Before the flame war begins, let me give a for instance. One of my 1911's is a parts gun (Essex frame, US&S slide, WWII barrel, G.I. mags). Shooting some handloads, I fired a round into a squib. Thought I saw dirt fly behind the backer. Result, bulged barrel with slide stuck open. Took the pistol to Bill Simpson at Poway Gunworks. May he R.I.P. Bill drove the slide back to battery with a leather mallet. Put the barrel in the lathe and turned down the bulge to original diameter. put the gun back together and told me to go shoot it. He said that in his time as an armorer with the Navy Marksmanship Unit that these reworked barrels would deliver acceptable to superior accuracy. He couldn't say why, but he was right. The accuracy my pistol was as good or better than pre-bulge. Since then, two shooters have brought me their 1911's, one Taurus and one Colt, with the slides stuck open. Drove the slides back with a leather mallet and told the to have the bulge turned down. Both are still using those barrels today. Just sayin.................

[4570guy]

I neck size my Krag brass using a Lee 303 Brit neck size die. This works fine in my Krag with a .312 bore.

[303Guy]

If the bulge is minor, it may even improve accuracy.

That's what I like to hear! I'm kinda betting it will shoot just fine.

I'm looking forward to range reports.

Great looking rifle there, Char-Gar.

[WineMan]

I second the FL = Short case life. Had a Rifle Sporter and was given a bunch of reloads. When I FL sized them, about 25-30% had head separations. Some of the brass was pretty old FA04 and FA06. Shoot them once and NS them after that. I checked the headspace and it was greater than Field, I think 0.074"

Dave

[madsenshooter]

Greater than field often comes from someone lapping the lug so that the guide rib bears on the receiver too. Friend of mine was taking a gunsmithing course and did that to a new bolt body. Checked the headspace and decided to get another bolt body, no lapping this time.

[jugulater]

me and the Krag took a trip to the range today.i was shooting .312 diameter boolits over 17 grains of IMR 4227. the bullets were gas checked. I felt like everything was going ok, then i checked the target to measure my groups, and found that every round was keyholeing. From the research ive done my next step will be to use bullets that fill the throat. any other suggestions/ideas?

Attachment 130912

[madsenshooter]

Hmm, that does not bode well, not a good start to your personal "battle of the bulge". Could be gas cutting while the bullet is traveling through the bulge. How's the bore look on the far side of the bulge? Sizing bigger isn't going to help, the barrel is still going to squeeze them down before they get to the bulge. Maybe a jacketed bullet proposition for you without rebarreling, but don't give up yet. I doubt it has a rough throat, or you'd have already mentioned it, but one of mine had a very rough throat, likely didn't get cleaned after shooting corrosive blanks. Alloy was sticking there and subsequent shots stuck more. They were getting hard to chamber and after five I stopped to take a look see. I pulled a big ring of alloy out of the throat with a brush. With each shot the bullets were getting a wee bit smaller before heading down the pipe. Polished the throat with a stainless steel brush to remove the roughness and it works ok now. How rough was it? Rough enough to snag a patch and make it very hard to push further.

[jugulater]

the throat is clean and smooth. not ate up or corroded. the barrel is clean and shiny on both sides of the bulge. such a shame that it is bulged, it would have been a nice barrel otherwise. ill try some jacketed bullets to see if that makes things better. if she still proves to be inaccurate i might as well rebarrel it. i would much rather pass on a shooter than a wallhanger.

[gnoahhh]

Yeah, new Criterion barrels are cheap enough to not make fooling with a cantankerous original barrel worthwhile. Save the old one for posterity since it came off of your heirloom. I doubt Granddad would criticize you for improving his treasured rifle. He would've probably done it himself if he had the wherewithal.

[skeet1]

jugulater
If you want to shoot this rifle but don't want to change the looks by installing a new barrel, you might consider having the old barrel relined with a new barrel and chambered again to .30-40 Krag. One of our own members here on this form, John Taylor does this kind of work. I have an old 1898 that is desperate need of a barrel and like you I don't want to change the originality of the old barrel. When I get to it I want John to do this to my rifle. http://www.johntaylormachine.com/49.0.html The way I understand it this is not just an ordinary reline job. what is involved is the old barrel is bored out and a new barrel (not just an ordinary liner) installed inside and rechambered. I think this is the best option for an old rifle.

Ken

[John Allen]

I have one of the krag carbines myself. They are just an all around nice rifle.

[Rich/WIS]

If the bore slugs .309 then your bullet diameter is fine as far as bore size goes. What design bullet is it and how well is the bore riding portion supported by the lands. My Krag sporter also has a .309 bore pitted its entire length but it still gives excellent accuracy with the Lyman 311284 and 311041 sized at .309. I could/should size larger but the sizing die was purchased years ago for my 06's and I am too cheap to buy another one. Lyman and Redfield no drill receiver sights turn up on E-bay now and then and are easier on old eyes than the original sights if you plan to shoot it regularly.

[tdoyka]

i think i mentioned this before, a new barrel https://estore.thecmp.org/store/cata...ogList&cat=BAR .
i did not know that skeet1 had another member that could reline the barrel. http://www.johntaylormachine.com/49.0.html
he could be the one to save the original barrel.
you might build a new barrel,(shilen, mgm, douglas...), but i am not sure ?. maybe someone else out there out there knows something. i'm sure somebody with alot more experinece from our members can tell you.

[Kraschenbirn]

My Krag sporter has a Lyman 48 rear sight (pre-1922 mfg, according to Lyman Customer Service) but, otherwise, is pretty much identical to yours and Char-Gars. FWIW, I didn't have any success with 4227 in that rifle...or in my .303 Brits, for that matter. You don't mention what weight boolit you were shooting but as others have already posted, Krags seem to prefer heavier boolits (original gov't load was a jacketed 220-grainer) so, if I were you, I believe I'd tinker with my loads some more before getting serious about relining or rebarreling. My best load, to date, is 36.5 gr. IMR4350 under a Lee 309-200R sized to .312 (mould beagled to drop .313).

Bill

[madsenshooter]

He didn't mention the weight, but the keyhole is pretty long! I would get a Criterion simply because they are made of stronger modern steels. There's no chrome moly in original Krag barrels. I'll be getting one eventually, I managed to ring the chamber on one using Puf-Lon filler.

[Rich/WIS]

Should have mentioned I am using the starting loads of 2400 listed in the old Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, 16 grs with the 311284 and 17 grs with the 311041. Also tried 121 grs Blue Dot with 311041 and it shot right along with the rest.

[jugulater]

well, i did forget to list my bullet weight. my bullet is a lee 200 grain bullet. it drops at about .312. ive got no clue exactly what model it is because it has no markings. i bought it years ago and have used the mould heavily. if i do rebarrel it will be one of the new barrels from the CMP. Ill shoot it with some other loads, maybe ill get some better results. ive got alot of IMR4350 so ill give that a shot first.

[madsenshooter]

Don't forget the CMP barrel doesn't come with a front sight. Might be able to use the one you got, or S&S has repros of originals.

[303Guy]

I would try a fibrous filler. My choice would be wheat bran. It should seal the bore through the bulge. Worth a try.