Krag Collectors Association Forum

1915 M94. The fellow I got it from said he had had it 50 years and never fired it, and I tend to believe him. Had all sorts of grease on the bolt and in the barrel, and I am slowly but surely cleaning it out. I think this piece has never been refinished, as in normal light you can see the striations in the steel where the receiver was machined. Front to back in the section where the fillet is, and round and round on the receiver ring. I have seen quite a few with the 'crease' you see in the one pic, and the receiver changes radius right there. Had the thing completely apart and examined carefully under strong light and 4x magnification. I am a Navy AO and before that I was a GMG, and have a few 'tricks' to find defects. Just had to brag for a few. Hopefully I will get all the crud out of the bore before my pending recall to active duty next month. I think there's a decent bore under all the gunk.

Plain Old Dave: That's a handsome looking Krag from Norge. I hope the bore is fine and everything matches.

Thanks for sharing, and especially, Thank You for your service!

Great find Dave... From one former sailor to another (former AS2 here)! Bring her out and give her a dance!

Been cleaning on this Krag today and learned a few things.

1. Norwegian Krags are as averse to grease on the bolt parts as US Krags are. A light oil like Rem Oil is much better in general, with a light coat of grease on the bolt cam.

2. The Magazine Cutoff works opposite the one in my US 1896 Krag. Down turns the magazine on.

I'm curious about the bore. Many of the imports were advertised as "salt & pepper bores; where the salt did not pit the bore, the pepper did".

Which way does the cutoff work on Danish Krags?

Waterman (once upon a time a MN3)

The bore is very strong. I have seen a number of NKs with atrocious bores, and this one has very well defined lands with what we now call light frosting. That might just be crud that hasn't come off the steel yet, though.

That is a fine example! Congratulations on the find. I really like my US Krags but my Norwegians are my favorite! IMHO the top of the Krag line!
And thank you for your service!!!!

Not trying to restart an old debate. Read pretty thoroughly on this topic, and it really looks like shooting standard 6.5x55 through an NK is like shooting .38-44 High Velocity (basically a modest .357 Magnum in .38 Special cases)through a prewar Smith and Wesson Military and Police .38 Special or the old .32-20 Winchester High Velocity "rifle only" loads through a .32-20 of similar vintage. Sure you might be able to get away with it, but it will eventually cause something to fail. The 1894 non-Steyr long rifles are known to develop stress fractures at 2 points on the reciever under extended exposure to Mauser-intensity pressures, @40k psi is the commonly accepted maximum to avoid this.

So, a question for the Norwegians: What are some of your "go-to" loads for 6.5x55 that won't overstress a Krag? By "go-to" load, I mean one that shooters just use and doesn't require much if any load development; in US National Match shooting, 46 grains of IMR4895 in a .30-'06 behind a 168-170gr bullet was the standard M1 Garand load when people still shot the M1 competitively.

IMHO - I really think this gets over thought. I think the greatest danger is 'under loads' that risk Detonation.

I would use 'starting' loads, for 6.5X55 Swede, from an up-to-date manual, like Hornady's and use medium burning powders like IMR-3031, 4895, or 4064. A good way to lower pressures and not have bullets strip is to use 140 grain bullets.

I once had a Greek Mannlicher-Schoenauer, in 6.5X54mm, that had a very rough bore. 160 grain bullet loads would tumble and 'keyhole', but, with 139 grain spitzer bullet reloads, the rifle was a 'tack-driver'.

bump for new guy