New Krag owner!

[TheFlynn01]

Hello and thank you for stoping by! I just became the proud owner of a US Krag made in 1902. She is very clean but has a crack in the wrist I am going to have to fix, but other than that I think shes perfect, would love to hear good info, and see what I can learn about it. Also see your guys thoughts on rust bluing to conserve the fire arm. Cheers!

Mike.

[Whig]

Mike,

Welcome to the KCA and congrats on your Krag. We love to have new people stop by and show off their Krags whether they are newly acquired or old family treasures. We also don't care if they have been altered but many of us are die-hard military Krag lovers and others shoot and collect sporterized Krags.

Your Krag looks like a rifle from the one picture. If you can post more pictures and tell us more about it, we can help you get the most info about what you have. The full serial number would help also. Pictures of the receiver markings, the front and rear sights and any other markings or damage would help.

I would like to see, also, a picture of the magazine door opened. The rear of the magazine door looks different for some reason. It almost looks like there is an extra piece of metal there, but I may be mis-interpreting what I see. There was a rare piece attached to some later Krags called the Parkhurst Device that aided with loading from a clip. These are rare and your's isn't that but a better picture would help.

Thanks for sharing and welcome to KCA again!

[TheFlynn01]

Thank you! It is a rifle. Not sporterized. I have a few more pictures on my phone. That I will send now, and more after work. Its a beautiful rifle, went to get my first rifle and fell in love with it.

I will get a few more pictures soon and the serial number.

[Whig]

Thanks for the pictures added. Your 1902 Krag rifle looks pretty nice. I see the remnants of a cartouche on the left side of the wrist below the receiver, the rear sight is a M1901 sight, the hand guard looks to have a crack in the rear portion but hopefully not too bad and stable, there isn't any finish left to the metal but it looks like good honest wear on this treasure. The rack number on the back of the stock is pretty common.

Overall, you have a nice Krag rifle that has seen a lot of use but probably still shoots great! Do you know what condition the bore is in? Have you shot it at all?

Generally, we don't encourage re-bluing on good Krags. That's your choice but the honest wear on this looks fine and re-bluing would lower its military collectible value. This is not a pristine Krag but most of them aren't and it should be a great shooting rifle. Make sure the bore and chamber and bolt are checked for integrity before shooting.

[TheFlynn01]

The crack goes though the entire hand guard. It was glued or something by the previous owner. But it has held so far. I have shot it and the bore is nice, and she seems to be a good shooter. With a poor shot owner haha.

Here is a picture of the serial number. I have the barreled action out of the stock to fix the crack on the wrist.

[Whig]

If you are planning on trying to repair the hand guard at all, please take note of the care needed to prevent more damage. This has been written about many times on KCA forum posts.

The hand guard metal clips are frequently under a tremendous spring tension. If you remove the hand guard, first remove the stock, which you have done, remove the two rear sight screws and lift off the rear sight, slide the hand guard forward until it hits the front sight and then lift the hand guard off the barrel. It is also advised to put a nickel or quarter in each clip to take the strain off the hand guard wood. This is often what causes them to crack.

You may not, depending on your specific hand guard, be able to repair the crack without it cracking again. If that's the case, you can clean off all of the old glue or epoxy and slip the hand guard back on the barrel in position and glue it in place. Just leave it on with the clips engaged on the barrel. I have had to do this myself on a couple Krags. If you have treated your hand guard with Boiled Linseed Oil, you may not be able to glue it because the BLO prevents the glue from working.

Hope some of this helps. Good luck in your repairs. Glad to hear it shoots well. That's what it's all about!

[TheFlynn01]

Well I would like to repair it, and I got it off no problem. I saw it was spring held and just simply slit it forward and lifted. Here is the pictures of it. I think it needs repair but I would love your guys opinion.

[butlersrangers]

'TheFlynn01' - Welcome to the KCA Forum. It looks like you have a good model 1898 for shooting and to learn with.

IMHO - Since your hand-guard is now lacking much of its exterior finish, it would do no harm to fill the crack gaps with 'Acraglas' epoxy, mixed with the walnut colored powder that comes in the kit.
This won't make an invisible repair, but, it will make a pleasant and stronger repair.
After it hardens, the Acraglas can be filed and sanded smooth. If you stain and oil finish the hand-guard after repair, the appearance can be improved.
You really have nothing to lose in improving the appearance of this hand-guard.

I also think your Krag's metal has a pleasant appearance, as it is.

Good luck with your stock wrist repair. Keep us posted on your project.

[Whig]

I have repaired hand guards like yours before. I clean out all of the old adhesive, dry the wood well around the repair with denatured alcohol and re-glue with common wood glue. I wipe the excess glue off after clamping the wood and scrap excess, if any, after drying, carefully, with a razor blade and lightly sand. Then, I re-stain or wipe down repeatedly with Boiled Linseed Oil to the depth of tone I want. Let the BLO dry or soak in well before re-applying.

There are many accepted ways of repairing the hand guard. This is what I do and have gotten extremely good results that well match original work.

Good luck!

[Mark_Daiute]

If I have a vote please do not rust blue anything, or re-finish anything, simply gently clean and let it be. Of course you have o choice with the handguard.