Looking for advice for my 1899 Krag Carbine

[Mike4MSU]

Spent a little more time on the threads and was able to seat the screw flush with the base.

[Playapat]

I'm curious to have the experts weigh in, but it looks like you did a terrific job to salvage the situation.

[Local Boy]

FWIW: I think you did a great job! Well done!

[butlersrangers]

Mike - #1 and #3 appear to be original Krag screws.

The four center-punch dimples that bracket the sight holes are not original.

You did a real good job of undoing Bubba's handiwork on your rear-sight screw-holes.

I am proud of you for making your Krag 'more better'.

[Mike4MSU]

Thank you all for those very kind and generous words. I feel Im the fortunate and temporary keeper of this and other historically significant arms. While I enjoy shooting them all, I do my best to also keep them original and/or make them whole again.

Now, I have to admit I soiled my pants a little on this one. There was a point when I was working on it where the new (correct) screw wouldn't go in, but the old (incorrect) one wouldn't bite anymore. That's when I wondered why I do the things I do. Thankfully Im pleased with the results and it all seemed to work itself out in the end.

My buddy finished 60 rounds of his special target loads to get me started. Heading to the range on Monday to finally see how she does. Hopeful that after all this, she shoots straight.

Mike

[FredC]

Looks like you picked up the original threads with the new screw. The brown material in the hole was probably epoxy residue. I just had a go round with Bubba and epoxy on my big tractor. The mechanic doing the engine swap gave me the crankshaft hub. Had a broken off screw in it, he could not get out. I worked some machine shop magic on it milling a slot in the broken off screw and making a custom screw driver to fit. Amazing how much epoxy was in that hole.

The thing about Bubba and old equipment you do not know when he struck. Your Krag may have had a couple of owners that knew nothing of the "screw up" before you discovered it.

If you ever take it apart again, I would pick out any of the epoxy remaining in the hole and flush it out with a spray of WD-40 or similar. Also I would use a flat fine file to knock off the high spots from Bubba's peening around the holes. the sight would fit better against the barrel if done. The goal would be to remove the high spots and not remove any material or color from the original surface surrounding. One or two swipes with the file while rotating the barrel by hand would do it. Actually I would do it reverse order so the flushing would get any metal chips out before installing the screw again.

[butlersrangers]

I have found it helpful to clean rear-sight threads by putting some Hoppe's #9 in the tapped hole and let it soak awhile. I then feed and compress some .22 cal. cotton cleaning-patch into the hole, with a small screwdriver tip. Then, I 'unscrew' the cleaning patch, with the screwdriver. It cleans out gunk, wonderfully!
Q-tips and wood tooth-picks are also wonderful tools.

[cquickel]

You mind if I add your rifle to the KCA serial number database?

[Mike4MSU]

My serial number is listed in a previous post