New to me 1898 cut down "Short Rifle"

[Jason60chev]

Hello Krag Friends,

I recently purchased this 1898 "Short Rifle" and thought I would post it here for viewing and comments.

The seller said that he had acquired several of these that appeared to have been cut down by Vet organization to same length as an '03 Springfield (Perhaps for uniformity?????) Seller said that he had these re-crowned and that the barrels are decent, serviceable and the the rifle functions as it should. I don;t think he fired any of them.

I have a long rifle and liked the short rifle (Being an '03 collector), the price was decent, so I purchased it.

It is an 1898 with serial 472932. www.Oldguns.net gives a year of manufacture as 1903, which seems to match the cartouche.

It is at my dealer, waiting for me to return home Next October.
Barrel length is 23". It is my intention to have it sent to my gunsmith to have a correct front sight installed (S&S) and also have the sharp edge rounded off......If anyone objects, please chime in and include reason.

It has the 1902 Rear sight. My dealer tells me that the rifling is "good". His words. Won;t be until October when I can actually inspect.

Anyway....here is is.....

[Jason60chev]

Some more pics.

I would like to be able to install a bayonet on this rifle. I would machine out the inside of a cheap, but decent bayonet ring to fit over the barrel. But I think that the measurement from the front edge of the upper band to the muzzle is too short, even though the barrel is 23" long. Which only tells me that the OAL length of this stock is more than the 38" of the PC/Short Rifle. Am waiting on measurement from my dealer. If true, if i have a correct front sight installed back the correct distance from the muzzle, I "could" file back the nose of the stock, reshape and reinstall the upper band so a bayonet would properly attach. How often would I need or use a bayonet....probably never....but I would like for it to attach.

Thoughts....opinions, suggestions?

[Jason60chev]

Additional...

Am waiting for my dealer to provide some measurements that I asked for.

[Jason60chev]

Measurement from muzzle to edge of upper band

[Culpeper]

Goodness. Please don't ruin a bayonet just to fit this Krag. The bayonet will be around longer than you and will be sold after you tire of it or after your demise to some dude who will buy it from a picture on the 'net and find out it does not fit his rifle. At any rate the gun and bayonet will become seperated in the future.

Send the gun to the CMP and have a new one spun on to it and do a wood restoration. Or you can have the muzzle turned down since it is already buggered. You can get a replacement forearm piece and splice it in if the stock has been cut back.

Just my opinion but I try to live by the hippotomus oath when it comes to Krags or any mil rifle for that matter. Doctor do no harm.

[Whig]

I think you will have a nice shooting rifle when you are done with your gun smithing for this poor cut-down Krag. It will have no collector value as a cut down sporterixed rifle but you should, hopefully, get lots of fun shooting it!

Maybe, if you get hooked on the 30-40 platform and enjoy your Krag, you will catch the fever and look for and invest in a military correct Krag that will be the envy of all of your shooting buddies.

I would actually have the muzzle re-crowned to look more like a real Springfield Armory crown. That crown job makes me shiver.

Hopefully the bore will turn out to be nice like promised. Good luck!

[Whig]

I also agree with Culpeper that the muzzle should be altered to fit the bayonet if you must. Don't ruin the harmless bayonet. It never did anything to you! Keep it intact for the next Krag enthusiast.

[Ned Butts]

He is already hooked as he states he has a long rifle!!! This looks like a fun shooter project and no damage is done to an original so have a "blast" (pun intended) I tend to agree though about altering the bayonet though. One draw back would be that after you are gone and your good intentions forgotten some one could pass this off or mistake it for a bayo for the 26" Krag and gouge or over pay for it.

[FredC]

Just working on the outside of that crown will make it a lot better. The only book I read on gunsmithing told how to cut and crown a barrel without a lathe. Forty years ago so I forgot some of the details. Cant even remember the name or author.
On the inside portion of the crown he would chamfer the bore with a 45 degree bit then use some brass ball shaped laps in a brace (Before power drills were common) to work it out. On the OD I think the procedure was to file then sand it to shape.

A couple of quick questions, when the CMP was handing out all those Krags in the thirties, they did not come with the bayonets did they? How did a person get them?

[Dick Hosmer]

To me, the answer is simple and totally obvious. Replicate a "school gun". The 23" barrel is like nothing else - cut it to 22" with a proper crown, and reduce the area ahead of the front sight base to take a standard bayonet. You have harmed nothing but will end up with something believable. Stock work should not be difficult, though you might have to plug the lightening groove - but that would be "correct" for that length barrel. Totally "win-win".