Krag 4 update

[Char-Gar]

Well I did a clean up of my new Krag sporter. It is the 4th and was a gift. Lots of surface rust and a stock finish that was badly blistered. Bore cleans up nice clean and sharp. Gone is the old Weaver scope and in it's place is a Refield peep. Here are the before and after pics.

[madsenshooter]

Good job! Is the barrel still full-length?

[Char-Gar]

The barrel is 25 1/2 inches long. The front sight and band is an old Pacific. They used the military butt plate. The stock forend is quite slime with a schnauble. There are some Euro-style panels in the action area to give it strength. The stock has some deep gouges on the right side and an old break that has been repaired. I am told it happened in a confrontation with a bear in Alaska. I didn't try and removed the dents and gouges. I just removed the old finish and gave it a four coats of Tru-Oil and finished with a rubbing compound.

I wanted the stock and metal to have about the same look in terms of age and wear. I wanted the battle scars and character to show. The stock had some kind of shellac or laquer finish that has blistered with age and was almost black. You could scrape the old dirt off with your finger nail. Formsby Furniture Refinished removed the old stuff ASAP and the wood turned out to be a light colored walnut.

The blue is an slow rust job and that held up well in spite of a coat of light rust.

The guy that did the original work was a pro although certainly not a master of the craft. I am guessing the work was done shortly before or after WWII. The scope is one of the very early WEaver K 2.5s. The scope is in pretty good shape, but it does need a good internal cleaning. I don't know who to send it to, that does that kind of work. The old Weaver employee in El Paso who did this kind of work has hung it up now.

The rear barrel mounted sight holes were plugged at the time of the blue job. There were no holes for a receiver sight, although an old Pacific or Redield could have been used with adding holes. The goofy thing was an extra long screw with a nut on it that was used for the ejector pin/screw that stuck up above the bolt about 1/2 inch. I disassembled the bolt and checked it out and can see no reason for that thing to stick up so I cut if off to the correct length. I wonder if the guy used it as some sort of crude rear sight to align with the front. The front sight/ band was canted, but I straighted it up with a brass punch and hammer.

As it now sits, it is a good solid, well balanced old rifle that should give many more years of good service with cast bullets.

[leadman]

There was a thread awhile back on who took over repairing the old Weavers. I'll try to find it as I have 5 or 6 of these.
Nice Krag. Great you are putting it back in service.

[Throwback]

Nice Krag - That'll do!