Picked up my first Krag

[lonegunman762x51]

Hello all,

I picked up my first Krag, it is a rifle, 397,xxx range, the stock was lightly sanded by the previous owner, it has a sherif "P" and no cartouche. The previous owner had owned the rifle since he was a teenager, his grandfather gave it to him for a deer rifle. He was about 80 when he sold it. The bore is bright, the metal has a bit of patina, barrel mostly blue, a couple of the screws are bunged up.

On a neat note, it had one section of the three piece cleaning rod in the stock, the patch section. Any ideas about finding the other two?

The gun has oil varnish and flecks from someone rolling paint in the closet it was stored. It sat for at least twenty years before he sold it, no kids wanted it for some sad reason.

I'll post a few pics when the cleaning is done. Overall it is a good looking gun. I'm pretty pleased, my wife could care less,,,,,,,,,,,,,,haha.

[madsenshooter]

No one wanted "that old thing"? I'd thought about building a couple for my grandson, I'd probably get the same reaction. At least until I took it out and shot a better group than his new whiz banger will do. No idea what they're missing. Your first one, kinda like going out to have only one beer. It gets lonely in your belly, so you drink another to keep it some company, they get in a fight, then you send another down to break up the fight....

[Kragrifle]

There is no such thing as "too many Krags (guns)!

[jon_norstog]

LoneG,

Welcome to the Klub. I'm a hunter and a military history buff - you shoot the gun, you want to learn how it was with the soldiers that carried it. As a historic milsurp, the Krag gets a plus because (a) it is a real work of the machinist's art, (b) it will group tighter than you can hold it (c) in its carbine configuration it is a great hunting rifle, and (d) it will bring down any game animal in N. America.

Good luck!

jn

[Deano41]

Looks like Numrich (gunparts corp.) has repros. http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/...px?catid=11890
Joe DeChristopher might have some. http://www.tradenet.net/joede/
And there's S&S Firearms. http://www.ssfirearms.com/
They just aren't making these things any more. Congrats on a nice find. According to the chart on oldguns.net it was made in 1902.

[psteinmayer]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Krag Rifles! You'll find that they are like Lays Potato Chips... nobody can have just one!!! I am just itching to get my hands on a third example. I have my 1898 Rifle and my 1898 cut down sporter... Now I need a true carbine!

It's sad that the majority of young shooters in this world have shunned these outstanding old rifles. Many of the members in my company's gun club are into the AR-15/M-16 style guns. I find these weapons to be pathetic when compared to a Krag, 1903, or even the M1 Garand. They're small and uncomfortable to shoot! Give me a 30-40 any day!

I wish you a lifetime of happy shooting with your new toy!

[lonegunman762x51]

Well I got it all cleaned up today. The receiver cleaned up decent, it had very little finish but the rusty stuff was all surface, the bolt was mostly varnish but cleaned up great, the extractor is nicely colored, the barrel had not been cleaned in forever, it is bright and shiney under the grime, it may have had cast bullets fired through it at one time, it was really grimey. It has the windage base rear sliding peep and the original front sight was painted white. There was a P stamped under the barrel, a 7 under the bolt handle and H 27 on the top of the butt plate. The last s/n number is a 7 so finding 7's seems like the norm.

The stock had a coat of grime that needed cleaned off and the entire gun looks a lot nicer then most krags you see floating around. I passed on a minty norwegian krag a while back, it was lovely but 1400 bucks. This one is American and has nice character, tomorrow if the weather pemits I will put a few round through it and see how it does.

[Shooter5]

Am still looking for my first Krag...

[lonegunman762x51]

Well a trip to the range was quite pleasant. Mild recoil and it shot the Remington 180's into a two inch five shot group at 100yds, the battle sight was just as accurate and three inches lower. No problems to report, the action was butter smooth and functioned perfect every time. I'm going to try and soak a little of the carbon/copper grime in the first five inches of barrel out in the next few days. I got the windage base loosened and the rear sight is now fully adjustable. Everything works and it is a great gun.