O.S.O.K.
08-28-2009, 12:12 PM
Thought I'd share this post with ya'll. I did this back in mid-July.
Some time ago, my Dad gave me a nice 1898 Krag rifle that had been given to him as a young man by his Uncle. It's a very nice rifle and the bore is vg - and it shoots very well! The only downer was that the Uncle had "sportered" the stock which was very common at the time of course. This was a simple stock shortening job - cut the forestock off and discard along with the front barrel band. This has always bugged me and I've been wanting to right this "wrong" about as long as I've owned the rifle. I did find correct replacement stocks for sale but they were going for $400 - $600 and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that. So, I kept looking hoping to find parts or an old stock that I could use as a "doner" to replace the lost wood. Well a few weeks ago, while perusing gunbroker I found that there were a bunch of parts listed in for the 1898 Krag! I found the front band and then found a replacement forestock - dimensioned to slip under the rear band - perfect!
Well I finally started working on this a couple of days ago and have reached completion of the fitting and assembly.
I forgot to shoot a pic immediately before starting... but here's the rifle right after I removed the rear barrel band and cut the stub of the original stock (you can see the stub sitting on the bench):
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2213.JPG
As you can see, I drilled three holes in the buttstock end to match the holes in the replacement piece - I found that a section of 45/70 brass worked perfect for the large hole as a reinforcement and a couple of cut nails worked for the smaller ones.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2212.JPG
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2210.JPG
I also forgot to shoot a pic of the replacement wood "in the raw" the wood is black walnut which is the perfect match for the original stock - I used Pilkington's English Red spirit stain (available from Brownells) which when wet, is a very close match to the original color of the stock - but when it dries, the red fades and it goes brown... I tried several applications attempting to get the red to stay but it just wasn't to be...
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2211.JPG
Everything fit well though and the boiled linseed oil is working well but I do need to apply several more coats to get it to shine.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2216.JPG
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2217.JPG
The replacement wood just doesn't have the same "sheen" as the original - I think I need to compress the grain some and keep applying the BLO until it builds to a shine...
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2215.JPG
Overall though, I am very pleased. It all fit together well and I was able to drill the cross screw and pin holes correctly and accurately. In holding the now whole rifle, in retrospect, its kind of a mystery as to what people were thinking by chopping these up - they didn't look as nice and the weight "gain" was almost undetectible... but then, those were different times.
Update - I decided to try some treewax polish on the stock - that worked very well and produced the sheen that I was after. Probably a few more coats will make it even better. This has carnuba wax in it which is what makes it shine after just one application and buff.
Some time ago, my Dad gave me a nice 1898 Krag rifle that had been given to him as a young man by his Uncle. It's a very nice rifle and the bore is vg - and it shoots very well! The only downer was that the Uncle had "sportered" the stock which was very common at the time of course. This was a simple stock shortening job - cut the forestock off and discard along with the front barrel band. This has always bugged me and I've been wanting to right this "wrong" about as long as I've owned the rifle. I did find correct replacement stocks for sale but they were going for $400 - $600 and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that. So, I kept looking hoping to find parts or an old stock that I could use as a "doner" to replace the lost wood. Well a few weeks ago, while perusing gunbroker I found that there were a bunch of parts listed in for the 1898 Krag! I found the front band and then found a replacement forestock - dimensioned to slip under the rear band - perfect!
Well I finally started working on this a couple of days ago and have reached completion of the fitting and assembly.
I forgot to shoot a pic immediately before starting... but here's the rifle right after I removed the rear barrel band and cut the stub of the original stock (you can see the stub sitting on the bench):
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2213.JPG
As you can see, I drilled three holes in the buttstock end to match the holes in the replacement piece - I found that a section of 45/70 brass worked perfect for the large hole as a reinforcement and a couple of cut nails worked for the smaller ones.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2212.JPG
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2210.JPG
I also forgot to shoot a pic of the replacement wood "in the raw" the wood is black walnut which is the perfect match for the original stock - I used Pilkington's English Red spirit stain (available from Brownells) which when wet, is a very close match to the original color of the stock - but when it dries, the red fades and it goes brown... I tried several applications attempting to get the red to stay but it just wasn't to be...
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2211.JPG
Everything fit well though and the boiled linseed oil is working well but I do need to apply several more coats to get it to shine.
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2216.JPG
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2217.JPG
The replacement wood just doesn't have the same "sheen" as the original - I think I need to compress the grain some and keep applying the BLO until it builds to a shine...
http://www.gunsnet.net/album/data//500/HPIM2215.JPG
Overall though, I am very pleased. It all fit together well and I was able to drill the cross screw and pin holes correctly and accurately. In holding the now whole rifle, in retrospect, its kind of a mystery as to what people were thinking by chopping these up - they didn't look as nice and the weight "gain" was almost undetectible... but then, those were different times.
Update - I decided to try some treewax polish on the stock - that worked very well and produced the sheen that I was after. Probably a few more coats will make it even better. This has carnuba wax in it which is what makes it shine after just one application and buff.