New Krag to toy with

[wiljen]

Bought a sporterized Krag that I have to share.

Receiver and bolt have been color case hardened, sights are an extremely nice set of aperture (with multiple peep sizes) and a fine gold bead front. Story behind it was that it was a NRA gunsmithing school project in the 1950s. Cant wait to try it out this weekend.

[pietro]

Thanks for sharing it - They're about the VERY most smooth-cycling rifles ever made, and IIRC used to be a center for cast boolit shooting.

I like it.

.

[KCSO]

The BOLT was case hardened? Boy I would sure want to know who did it and how. The biggest problem with Krags is the single bolt lug and it's propensity to crack under too high of pressure. I was taught to never even heat the Krag bolts for fear of altering the hardness of the lug. Whoever did it did a super job with the rifle. I would guess that as long as you stick with cast loads the hardness of the locking lug won't make a difference. Do you know if the bolt was lapped back to have the safety lug contact?

[wiljen]

Do you know if the bolt was lapped back to have the safety lug contact?

Yes it was and I had it inspected for cracks and hardness on the bolt before purchase and all came out as it should.

[hickstick_10]

The BOLT was case hardened? Boy I would sure want to know who did it and how. The biggest problem with Krags is the single bolt lug and it's propensity to crack under too high of pressure. I was taught to never even heat the Krag bolts for fear of altering the hardness of the lug. Whoever did it did a super job with the rifle. I would guess that as long as you stick with cast loads the hardness of the locking lug won't make a difference. Do you know if the bolt was lapped back to have the safety lug contact?

Id wager whoever did that case hardening was a few steps above your average basement bubba gun tinkerer. Colour case hardening of that quality (which is exceptional BTW) is not something a man learns off of you tube.

I would have no qualms shooting that fine rifle.

[Multigunner]

The bolt may have been obtained as an un heat treated replacement part, lapped especially to fit then case hardened.

I have heard of low number Springfields being re heat treated by civilian gunmakers, though the US military did not consider this to be safe or beneficial, and unfinished Springfield 1901 production receivers being finished out and heat treated by gunmakers.

If from a gunsmith school project they may have actually made a replacement bolt for this project.

[scb]

Id wager whoever did that case hardening was a few steps above your average basement bubba gun tinkerer. Colour case hardening of that quality (which is exceptional BTW) is not something a man learns off of you tube.

I would have no qualms shooting that fine rifle.

I agree, and the stock is not the usual hack job either. Very nicely done. An excellent find.

[StarMetal]

Nice Krag Wiljen. I have an unaltered one I love and like you I use to think that the Krag was THE smoothest action out there. That was until I read about the Portuguese rifle and I'll have to say it would be hard determining if my new Hungarian G98/40 or my Krag has the smoother of actions.

[Multigunner]

I had a Krag Carbine many years ago, one picked up for next to nothing in a trade.
The rifle was in pretty good shape other than the bore being completely ruined by having been fired with corrosive cupro-nickel jacket ammo and left unattended in a closet for decades.
If i'd been able to find a replacement barrel back then I'd still have it, but I couldn't even find a smith willing to turn a barrel for it at any price. I guess few smiths had the machinery for cutting that sort of thread.
Any way I traded it to a collector who promised not to try to shoot it, just use it for display purposes.

While fooling around with it I was very impressed by how smooth everything functioned, and the excellent workmanship.

PS
When the Krag ammo was jacked up a hair to try to obtain a couple hundred more FPS the working pressure only increased by around 2,000 CUP, but when this sort of increase in charge weight is made variation in Maximum Standard deviation pressures can greatly increase. Out of any lot of ammo a few rounds are much hotter than the average working pressure. The same problem cropped up with M1 Ball ammo in the 1920, resulting in a decrease in the standard load.

When Krag Bolts began cracking the Ordnance dept made free replacement bolts available to civilian Krag owners. The owner would send in his damaged bolt with a full description of the conditions leading to failure of the bolt and receive a replacement.

[madsenshooter]

Nice Krag Wiljen. I have an unaltered one I love and like you I use to think that the Krag was THE smoothest action out there. That was until I read about the Portuguese rifle and I'll have to say it would be hard determining if my new Hungarian G98/40 or my Krag has the smoother of actions.

Not counting the newer bolt rifles that turn less than 90 degrees, I'd have to nominate my Madsen model 47 for "smoothest bolt action rifle". It works much slicker than a Krag. Now if I could get it to shoot as good as my Krags!

I've discovered, via a 92 Krag with a cracked locking lug recess, what may have been a contributing factor to the Krag's cracked locking lugs. I could see that the locking lug did not bear fully across the surface of the recess, it bore only on the outside edge, and the cracks radiated from that small contact point. I can't say whether the rifle was a victim of the 2200fps load, or from someones later overload. I'm going to guess the 2200fps load, because it had a like new barrel on it, and there was still cosmoline under the handguard. The stock was also cracked at the wrist. The rifle had been retired and stored by some branch of the service.

13gr of Blue Dot under the Belding and Mull 311169 shoots itty bitty groups for me Wiljen. That yields 1575fps avg velocity.

[StarMetal]

Not counting the newer bolt rifles that turn less than 90 degrees, I'd have to nominate my Madsen model 47 for "smoothest bolt action rifle". It works much slicker than a Krag. Now if I could get it to shoot as good as my Krags!

That last part will be hard to do. Those Krags shoot so good.

[wiljen]

shot my first group with it today. 8.2gr unique behind a 311407 in 303 brit brass reformed to 30-40 (short necked) and loaded to the same OAL as proper krag brass. Shot 1.5" 5 shots at 50 yards offhand. The redfield peep combined with the gold bead front are easily the best set of iron sights I've ever had on a rifle. I can now see firsthand why the redfield sights command such $ when they come up for sale. I look forward to a more proper testing of this gun and think it will stay with me for some time to come.

[KCSO]

Wiljen
If you are that desperate for Krag Brass I can let 20 rounds go.

[wiljen]

Wiljen
If you are that desperate for Krag Brass I can let 20 rounds go.

Got some on order from Grafs - just wanted to try it out.