This old Krag Rifle is new to me

[boomer]

Here's another photo with the cleaning rod in place.

[butlersrangers]

The threads and head shape of your Krag 'cleaning-rod' look vey good to me. The area, where the patina color suddenly changes, appears to be the point where the rod clears the front barrel-band. The patina color looks very consistent with that of the barrel and front band.

IMHO - It has been on that rifle for a long time and looks legitimate.

(Others, on the KCA Forum, know a lot more about the early Krags than I do).

Boomer - Your excellent photos have been very educational. Your Krag is a wonderful 'time capsule' with a complete and correct bolt, its original serial numbered side-plate, and great non-updated features.

I even like the 'chip' missing from the Toe of your stock. This shows why the later Krag butt-plate was a 'curved one.

Good advice has been given in terms of just putting Linseed Oil on the wood and just wiping the metal patina with a quality gun oil.

I would advise contacting Movieman630 - aka 'Grandpa's Gun Parts' and seeing if he has a suitable front Stacking-Swivel and screw for an early Krag. A loose model 1892 rear-sight would be nice item to keep with your "Gem", just to show 'evolution'. (But, leave your Krag with the parts it came with)!

Thanks for sharing.

Hey, what history came with it and how was it acquired??

p.s. I love this picture: it tells volumes!

[Culpeper]

Your rod looks like the rod on my 3140. 5MadFarmers has a good picture in his book.

[boomer]

...
I would advise contacting Movieman630 - aka 'Grandpa's Gun Parts' and seeing if he has a suitable front Stacking-Swivel and screw for an early Krag.

I haven't reached out to Movieman630 directly, but I have checked 'Grandpa's Gun Parts' website. They have a stacking swivel listed for an 1896, but not an 1892. If I can't find an 1892 soon, I will put an 1896 on it for display until I find one that is correct.

Hey, what history came with it and how was it acquired??

Sadly, I have no history whatsoever - acquired at Rock Island Auctions. I suspect it was in an old collection they were liquidating. I may have paid too much, but it went for less than I expected. Part 2 of that statement keeps me happy regardless of part 1 :)

p.s. I love this picture: it tells volumes!

My wife went with me when we picked the rifle up. She was thrilled (ok, that's an exaggeration) with the rifle until she noticed the chunk of wood missing. She wasn't happy about that until I explained how it told a story about the history of Krag rifles.

On another note, I will be taking some additional pictures later today that I will use to ask the next (final?) question I have about this rifle (correctness). As a teaser, I will tell you the source of my question is visible in this photo.

[boomer]

Your rod looks like the rod on my 3140. 5MadFarmers has a good picture in his book.

Thanks for the info.

I visited their website a few days back in hopes of ordering that book. The site doesn't look like it's had any activity in a long time, and I'm a bit reluctant to send a money order to something that is no longer active. Instead, I sent an email to their "contact us" address to find out if the book was still available. Of course, that email may not receive a response even if they have books to sell.

[boomer]

...Boomer - Your excellent photos have been very educational....

Thanks for that. I try to provide good photo's whenever I can... they say a lot more in less time than I can type, and most folks like them more. That's one of the reasons I still can't believe I didn't give any decent closeups of the cleaning rod earlier.

[boomer]

I've read that Springfield went to a flat head butt plate screw from a rounded head screw specifically to have the screw head flush with the plate - for the same reason they went to an angled toe. One of the things I noticed when I first got this rifle was that the large butt plate screw was not sitting flush with the butt plate. I hoped the screw just wasn't seated properly, maybe the screw is wrong, or the screw hole has something 'blocking' it. The screw was seated tightly and is identical to the one in my Krag sporter (and there was nothing blocking the screw hole). What I noticed when pulling the sporter screw to compare it was that the butt plate in that rifle has a counter bore (??) the thickness of the screw head on top of the counter sink. That allows the head to be turned in flush with the plate. There is no such counterbore in the butt plate screw hole on this rifle, resulting in the screw head sitting proud of the plate. I suspect the butt plate is the problem but will defer to the experts.

[boomer]

And since you've seen pretty much everything else on this rifle, here's the naked butt with no lightening holes. There is a marking from a previous owner that appears to have been made with a sharpie or something similar.

[butlersrangers]

How about an inside view of the butt-plate?

[boomer]

How about an inside view of the butt-plate?
The butt plate is about .08" thick (it tapers at the edges), which matches the dimension Joe Poyer gives in his book. I haven't been able to find when they changed the screw type. Did they change the screw being used when they changed to the toed butt plate? Maybe this is right for originally issued with a round headed screw, which was then 'improved' to a flat screw.