1898 Krag, 1901 vintage

[skeet1]

Some time ago I obtained an 1898 Krag with a barrel that looked like the inside of a sewer pipe. I thought through some elbow grease it might come back where it would be shootable but I was wrong. After finding and obtaining a used but good full length original barrel on the internet I had to find away of re-barreling and ended up making my own action wrench with ideas and photos from Buckshot. The replacement barrel went on great and it appears that the head space is good. Well today was the day I shot my Krag at paper and for the first go round it grouped at about 3". With some practice I'm sure the group will come down at least another inch. What I am using is 47.0 gr. of WC872, Winchester brass and primers, and for a bullet the Lyman 314299 sized .311. With this load it shoots to point of aim at my 80 yd. range. The barrel I replaced would not hit the paper. I tried a stiffer load but decided that the 47 gr. load was about all I wanted to to shoot and it comes to the base of the bullet and slightly compresses. Thanks Buckshot for the information on the action wrench and WC872 powder.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

What a nice looking Krag! It sure sounds like your efforts at restoration (barrel) paid off. I haven't used those powders in any of mine. I've had great success with IMR 4895, and 2400 and Red Dot for plinking loads. In any event, I've kept the stronger loads in the 1900-2000 fps. range. I don't want to put too much stress on these old girls, because they're not getting any younger and parts are getting scarcer. The full length one in this photo was built entirely from internet parts. The hardest part to acquire was the original, full length uncut stock. It has one minor crack not visible in the photo.
Attachment 202193

[tdoyka]

very nice!!!

[skeet1]

Der Gebirgsjager
You are right about not putting to much stress on these old rifles although I'm sure they are stronger than given credit. I guess the point is that there is no point in stressing them. This is the reason I want to use WC 872 powder, to keep the pressure down and to fill the case. I expected to get a lot of unburned powder left in the barrel but I have not found this to be the case. The other plus to WC 872 is the cost, you can still get 8 lbs. from "Pats" for $48.00 and I bought 16 lb. I think with some experimenting this will be a good cast bullet powder for the 30-40 Krag and even the 30-06 and others. By the way, nice looking rifles .

[smokeywolf]

Really beautiful skeet1.

[samari46]

Beautiful krag. Seems your work has paid off. Many years ago trying to find a krag with a decent bore where I used to live was almost impossible. Local gun shop had a few that had been reblued but checking the bores found out that they were horrible. Finally at a very small gun show I found a 1898 that had been sporterized with the barrel cut to 25", ramp front sight with the original rear sight and stock cut down. Checked the bore and was delighted to find a very nice bore. And as the story goes she went home with me. Frank

[skeet1]

samari46
Yes, I was very fortunate to find the one I got. The only thing wrong with it beside the barrel was someone had slathered it with some kind of varnish. Thankfully they had not sanded it and the cartouhes were still intact. I just striped it and applied several coats of raw linseed oil. One thing I found out about this Krag, in 1901 and it think maybe other years they used some Italian walnut in the stocks and these are lighter in color and some have some tiger stripping and mine has a little.

Ken

[madsenshooter]

872 must be a bit easier to light than 860. Even the strongest LRM primer wouldn't clean it up. Oh the bullet went out the barrel approaching 2000fps (311284), but 860 left a lot of unburnt powder and gave me inconsistent results. I had to resort to a small booster charge.

[samari46]

Ken, mine was made in 1903 according to the cartouche and serial number. At the time there were no replacement barrels (criterion) on the market and good take off barrels were impossible to find. My stock is apparently walnut of some kind and over the years has darkened somewhat. Still isn't going anywhere soon. Frank

[skeet1]

madsenshooter
I didn't mean to imply that there was no unburned powder left in the barrel but not very much. I wonder if the 30" barrel helps for a more complete burn?

[Jackpine]

Sweet old piece.

I am curious about the action wrench you built. Did a search using with "action wrench" and "Buckshot" but came up empty. Can you provide link or was this through PM.

Thanks,

Jackpine

[guicksylver]

samari46
Yes, I was very fortunate to find the one I got. The only thing wrong with it beside the barrel was someone had slathered it with some kind of varnish. Thankfully they had not sanded it and the cartouhes were still intact. I just striped it and applied several coats of raw linseed oil. One thing I found out about this Krag, in 1901 and it think maybe other years they used some Italian walnut in the stocks and these are lighter in color and some have some tiger stripping and mine has a little.

Ken

Applying some Chestnut Military Stain to it after you stripped it would have brought it back to it's original color...I believe they say you can put it over the oil...

[Mark Daiute]

If anyone is interested in the original finish used on Krags see the book "Farmer's Notes, Vol 6, U.S. Military Krags" it was not BLO. It's an interesting side note.

[madsenshooter]

In some cases they tried to hide that orange wood with black walnut stain. I think it looks better than the black and it's more like the trials rifles, which were stocked with European walnut. The Steyr made Norwegian Krag stock I bought not long ago is that shade of walnut too. The handguard that came with the stock set is birch however.