Chrome plated parade rifle

[gnoahhh]

No, only one he had (private sale).

[Top Dean]

My Luck

[soldierofhistory1898]

About six years ago a coworker of mine said he had a present for me. I followed him out to his car and in the trunk he had two chrome plated Krags. Both were 1898's w/ the shiniest chrome plating you ever saw. He said "Just grab one they were free". My first question was "What N.G. armory did you steal these from"? His response was that his Masonic Temple had decided to dispose of all twenty of their parade rifles and were giving them to anyone who was interested. My coworker was able to grab two and some other members got the rest. I was thrilled to get one for free even if it was plated. That evening I placed it in my gun safe next to my other four Krags and then realized it had a 24 in. barrel. Oh what the hell it was free. Shortly thereafter I found a local plating Co. that agreed to strip it for fifty bucks. Oh what the hell at 24 in. & stripped it will still be a cool looking rifle. Got it home and did a Birchwood/Casey blue job which came out pretty sharp. Next I got busy and scoured the bore which turned out to look pretty decent for a parade rifle. The next thing I did was to try to cycle five dummy rounds thru the magazine. But what the Hell! the rounds didn't chamber properly when I closed the bolt. Turns out that for safeties sake the chamber had been reamed out to .050. It was so large I could chamber a 50/70 ctg. in it. Well so much for freebies.
Thanks for listening to my sad tales of woe and have a nice day.
S.O.H.1898

[psteinmayer]

Have you considered having a liner installed? It may make the rifle operable again.

I've heard of this before, as well as filling the barrel with molten pot metal or aluminum to prevent the rifle from being fired. I guess they worry about someone marching in a parade and deciding to start shooting...

FWIW, my sporter is 24 inches... and I've installed a scout scope to use for Cast Bullet matches. I hate the stock though (a bubba with a cheek pad and pistol grip), but what the heck - I'm using it for non-military cast shooting. I would eventually love to install a carbine stock, if I could find one for my budget (which right now is free, LOL).