Show us your Krag Bubba!

[butlersrangers]

We have all witnessed examples of the "craftsmanship" of Bubba on collectable firearms. I suppose we could classify altered gun parts, metal and wood, into categories like good Bubba, average Bubba, and bad Bubba. However, that gets way too subjective.
I think it would be interesting to showoff examples of some of the "Bubba-ed Krag stuff" we have acquired over the years. Some will make us laugh. Some will cause tears.
Attached are some examples from my Krag junk box. #1 - A nice '98 magazine gate with Bubba's Soc. Sec. #. (Of course he put it on the butt plate too). #2 - A '98 Safety lever altered for low use with scope. (Of course it didn't work well. Bolt-sleeve was slightly altered to stop lever 1/2 way).

[madsenshooter]

I got this 92/96 that some Bubba sat the Brooklyn Bridge atop. Oh, that might have been Bubba Bob! It's a Miller Kodiak Dreamount from the 1950s. Scope shown is max, I have different height and size rings to pre-rig different scopes. The whole shebang comes off by lifting up and turning it 90 degrees where it then comes loose from the dovetail that holds the leaf spring up front. With the scope removed I have a bolt with a Rice peep I can put in. There's the bubba bolthandle too, I don't know what the idea was there, it comes out with the knob in about the same position as original, perhaps just a tad closer to the trigger. :D

[butlersrangers]

Madsenshooter: How well does the 'Dreamount' work and does it require permanent alteration to your Krag? It does not look very pretty. My Weaver mount required Bubba gunsmith to put permanent tapped holes in this Model 1898 carbine.

[psteinmayer]

I just mounted a Kraghaus long scope rail and a Scout scope on my sporter. I'll post some pictures later.

Oh, by the way, my sporter is pretty bubba too!!!

[butlersrangers]

Bubba front sight: I do not know what this sight came from. Its dovetail is a peculiar size and it is not level horizontally on the barrel. I had to remove a lot of metal to thin the blade. The blade was never high enough to be of any use.

[butlersrangers]

Bubba at R.F. Sedgley: Why bother with a nice Lyman front sight if you re-barrel a Krag using an '03 barrel and leave cross-pin grooves showing?

[madsenshooter]

The Kodiak mount works pretty good. Only modification I needed to have done was drill two holes in between the rear sight holes so I could mount a dovetail on the barrel. The leaf spring holds everything down on hardened feet below the rear ring. I looks a little better with a boosted Alaskan I once had on it, or long Weaver 6x I also use, I can mount them about 1/4 lower. You're out picturing me, my camera's on the blink, but I'll have another bubba up soon. I'm working on getting the arc weld warts off the 03 barrel right now. Someone tried to refill a dovetail that they handcut and was striking the arc all over. Here's one pic of it. The stock was once a relatively rare one, a 99 stock cut for an 1896 receiver. I like the pistol grip, can't say much for his checkering, except it does improve the grip a bit, so it's functional. I think it's an 03 barrel, very tightly chambered, but it has a long throat, about 1/8 longer than my milspec rifles. I'm debating leaving the barrel at 24" or cutting it back to 22".

[butlersrangers]

Bubba front sight on factory scale. I have probably seen a dozen of these on 'sporterized' Krags over the years. They always give me the dry heaves. I have no idea who made them. It looks like a modified part from a towel bar or curtain rod!

[Rick H.]

Well contrary to what some may think, I don't necessarily look at some of these modifications as "Bubba Work". Many people forget the time frame that the Krag and many other firearms originated from. When and if these old firearms needed work or modification to suit the owners requirements a real gunsmith wasn't conveniently just around the corner and even if one was, money was always an issue. So in a do as one can environment work was accomplished by any means possible. It may have looked a little strange, to us, but the mods usually worked and the owner was happy. I sometimes think that in our quest for the perfect rifle we tend to be too much the perfectionists. Each firearm must be appreciated for what it is whether we like it or not. Years from now some ultra-educated firearms experts may think we were the "Bubba's" for not fully appreciating what each firearm has to offer in its unique history and character. Be cautious with the term "Bubba", it's quite possible some distant relative of yours won't like you calling them by that name.

Rick

[butlersrangers]

"Bubba" is in the eye of the beholder.