Krag Collectors Association Forum

The receiver without the stock

The beginning of the barrel and receiver

Bottom of the barrel

Thanks for the details, you have given us more ideas for doing forward hold downs. The fellow that built that Krag used a good set of screw drivers as the slots look very fresh and clean. The escutcheon is a little off center of the screw in the photo. Not sure how gunsmiths would do it without a milling machine.
Soaking the parts in clean oil will hopefully soften up the dried stuff so it will clean up, we look forward to seeing it reassembled in the future.

One trick on getting the rust off without damaging the finish is boiling the parts in distilled water, or steaming the barreled action. That will convert the rust into black oxide, which is rust blue, the original finish on the barrel. I have boiled the rusty bands on my sporter and since the bands were not originally rust blued the places that were rusted converted to a slightly darker shade, but when oiled they blend in quite well, much better than bare steel that you get with aggressive brushing. It is surprising how much rust actually hides under oil, I often find spots of rust on parts that I considered rust free.

I like the sound of boiling the parts in distilled water. Rust and any other salts hiding under the oil can continue corroding stuff. Distilled water with no minerals already in it would be able to dissolve more of the garbage. Never having done it before I would do it cautiously maybe experimenting on junk before working on valuable Krag parts. Even after I had the process down I would only do a few parts at a time, I would not want the rust to get ahead of my doing the final treatments.

Thank you for the pictures Rabjaegar!! You have a very unique setup on your rifle.

Boiling can scare you at first as it will appear that the rust is spreading as it boils, don't worry it isn't, that is rust that was there it just wasn't visible under oil and grime. After boiling I use a bronze brush to "card" the metal, 2 boils of 30 minutes or more maybe necessary on stubborn rust. One word of caution is don't use your wife's pots for this, or be prepared to explain yourself when she comes home early from work and asks "whats cooking?"