really nice looking rifle!!! i wish my krag looked like that.
really nice looking rifle!!! i wish my krag looked like that.
I have "The NRA Gunsmithing Guide Updated", with a table showing a quality not specified in that Wikipedia article. Osage orange has a lower index of contraction and expansion than any other common gunstock wood. I assume they mean cross-grain movement, as lengthwise expansion is less, and less important, for all woods I know. It is about the best bow wood that is anywhere near easy to obtain nowadays. For that purpose it has to be cut at just the right size, before the grain starts to get twisty. But that is exactly the same with yew.
Quarter sawn is the best kin of timber for warpage-sensitive applications, and not worse for anything, except for economy in terms of getting the maximum amount of timber per tree. I have always found the term a strange one, and would prefer radially sawn. With small to medium logs it is just that. They cut the log in half, and then rotate each 180 degree segment while cutting slices that all point at the heart of the tree. Larger logs are cut on a compromise system and called quarter sawn, but you don't often get really large logs of good gunstock wood.
Ebony is very prone to developing cracks, in drying or when a short cap is fixed to a wood which expands and contracts more. I would prefer black bufffalo horn. I have one ebony forend cap which is very short, and I made the surface to be glued on the 4in. roller of my belt sanding machine. Then I shaped the walnut to match with graphite powder for spotting. The ebony grain actually runs at about sixty degrees to the bore axis. It slows penetration of moisture into the walnut about as well as anything, and must be about the hardest kind of forend cap to get knocked off.
Last edited by Ballistics in Scotland; 03-05-2016 at 06:24 AM.
My photos have returned, so here's how I solved my sling swivel mounting problem.
First, I started with a piece of 4140 steel that I had in the scrap box. I parted off a slice on the lathe. I could have done it with a hacksaw, but it would have take awhile.
Attachment 161135
Next I measured the diameter of the barrel at the desired point of attachment, then coated the slice of metal with Dykem, let it dry and then drew a picture of what I wanted to make with a scribe. I utilized my drill press to remove the metal where the barrel would sit, and then clamped the part in my bench vise and removed the corners with the hacksaw.
Attachment 161136
Hedge is popular for duck call barrels also..
From here on out it was pretty much a matter of filing and grinding away the sharp edges and rounding the corners. The bench vise aids the process immensely.
Attachment 161141Attachment 161140
Attachment 161137Attachment 161138Attachment 161139
When the part was pretty well shaped I drilled and tapped the bottom for the sling swivel. I decided to utilize the one that had come with the rifle. Detachable would be nice, but a long screw is needed to reach through the forend.
Attachment 161142
This illustrates the idea of how the part is to fit to the rifle once the appropriate area of the stock is inletted to accept it.
Attachment 161143
Here's the completed installation. Now the jerking and pulling of carrying afield will be borne by the barrel rather than the stock's forend.
Attachment 161145Attachment 161146Attachment 161144
And, like I mentioned much earlier, this gives additional integrity to the stock/barrel as there normally are no action screws forward of the front trigger guard screw. To quote Forrest Gump, "And that's all I've got to say about that."
Fini.
DG
That is a nicely done sling mount. I have never liked the idea of attaching the swivel to wood alone with a rifle which doesn't have much in the magazine area - for example the Krag with the wood underneath, or my Mannlicher-Schoenauer with its thin sides.
If it is intended to draw the barrel down into the stock, it would probably be better extending well above the stock level, or even a complete hoop. While it could be soldered instead, more steel would allow the barrel to slide longitudinally as it expands, like the nickel silver bushing at the forend tip of the early Schmidt-Rubin rifles.
I once had to restock a Martini carbine in .45-65 or some European chambering so like it as to have no functional difference. It would recoil too much for that very light carbine, which would also wobble a bit much in an offhand shot. So I glassed just over a foot of half-inch square mild steel into the barrel channel, and threaded both the sling swivel into that. The only stock mounting screw was close behind that, into a stud silver soldered to the barrel, and I used thin brown rubber sheet inlaid into the surface of the forend which butted against the receiver.
Any sling swivel can be unscrewed if the loop on one of the pair is mounted on a collar which rotates around its mounting screw. It inspires more trust in me than those rotating or button-pressing detachment devices. If it is the front swivel it also makes it lie better across the hand as a shooting sling.
I have a special place in my heart for the Krag rifles. My Dad had one he hunted with for years when I was little kid and we were about as wealthy as dust bowl farmers.
Maker of Silver Boolits for Werewolf hunting
Der
Nice job and thanks for asking what hedge is!
Actually, thanks for the enlightenment! I originated in N. Calif. and my mother, who was originally from Kansas, used to point out some trees growing along the highway at one location and say, "Those are Osage Oranges--but you can't eat the fruit." I had not heard the other names.
Now I've been an Oregonian for 28 years and have never seen one here. I suppose they're around somewhere.
My uncle up in Pennsylvania had an 1898 that had not been chopped. He did however had a side mounted scope installed. That being said after he passed away I had often thought about asking my aunt about possible buying it. Over 20 years since his passing and pretty sure she may not have it anymore. But did manage to find one that had been cut down and they installed a ramp front sight and kept the 1901 rear sight. Looked long and hard for one with a decent bore and got lucky with this one. The funny thing is the dealer said it came out of Pennsylvania. Frank
Well, Frank, we'll hope that it isn't the same one. Some of them can be restored to original if the barrel wasn't cut and remains at 30". Actually, I guess any of them could be re-barreled and be restored to "as-issued", but original barrels are all take-offs and in short supply. It's kind of become a non-stop serial cannibalization of existing specimens for parts to sell on e-bay to supply guys building them up. What is sort of surprising, to me anyway, is the number that were sporterized but the barrels left original. I mean, who hunts with a 30" barrel? Obviously someone did. When they occasionally appear on the online auctions one can buy them and then "stretch" the cutoff stocks back to full length by adding a piece of walnut where it's been removed. There is a science to it in that if done properly the joint is beneath the rear barrel band and undetectable unless the band is removed. Here's some photos of the two that I did. I wish that I'd taken a full sequence of photos like I did with the fore end job that started this thread, but sometimes when I intend to do so I take a "before" photo, jump into the project and the next thing I know the job is done and I can only take an "after" photo. The first photo shows some projects that were waiting to be done, including the two Krags to be stretched, and the second photo shows the completed rifles with an uncut original. I'll let you guess which is which.
Attachment 162776Attachment 162777
I do want to say that I don't dislike the cut off rifles, and in fact prefer them for their handiness. The Krag carbine has to be one of the few military rifles that was dimensioned close to being an ideal sporter, and when it's not practical to restore them to a full length rifle I try and make the cut offs as close to a carbine as practicable. But in the end, "it is what it is." The genuine carbines are getting more difficult to find, because they were so useable without any alteration that they got used up. The ones that are still presentable are very collectable and become more expensive every year.
Looks great!
When you are the anvil, bear; When you are the hammer, strike - Edwin Markham
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |