30-40 Krag handed down from father, need info

[reincarnated]

To me, there are several classes of altered Krags and the values increase substantially. Maybe we can rank them from 0 to 10 and use decimal points for special efforts.

The bottom of the barrel are those that my Dad said were "hacked on by the idiot son of the village blacksmith in the dark of the moon". Those aren't worth much. Call them Class 0.

Next, I would put the Bannerman jobs put together from parts, and maybe not parts from Krags. Class 1, at best, with those points given for imagination.

Then there are the basic alterations; shortened barrel but properly cut & crowned. Front sight from an 03 or an aftermarket band sight, shortened stock. Issue sights left on. I'd give them a 2. A No-Drill receiver sight would add 1 point to the ranking. Drilling the receiver for a scope mount takes away a point, maybe more.

Next I would put those with simple aftermarket stocks that were well done. Add a point for a 1920s-era barrel band inside the stock, maybe attached to the front sling swivel. I would put those in the 2 to 3 category.

Then there are the alterations that added a higher comb and a pistol grip to the military stock. To me, those are in a class by themselves. Some are awful, but some are marvels of woodworking skill. I tend to give the really good jobs 3 to 4 points.

Then there were sporters built with aftermarket stocks of high-end wood, like the Peerless stocks sold by Stoeger. Those were drop-in stocks, but a world away from a Bishop or Fajen. If a bare-bones Bishop gets a 3. a Peerless gets a 5 or 6.

After that, to me, come the altered Krags that were done by very skilled craftsmen, both known and unknown. What's the value of one marked "Griffin & Howe" or "Hoffman Arms Co."? 9?

The last 4 Amoskeag auctions have had 50 or more really high-end Krags, those worked over by masters, all in the 7 to 10 class. Most of them came from Mark Beneson's estate. Most sold for $800 to $1500 and all were bargains.

[reincarnated]

In my rant about altered Krags, I ran out of characters. Where do "varmint" Krags fit in the valuation scale? Hornets and Zippers and .22 Savage High Powers? They are different from the alterations to .25/35. I saw one altered to .30/30. Why?

Another class, all by itself, are what I call "bear rifles". I have seen 4 of them, all in either .35 WCF or .405 WCF. All 4 had some work done on the magazine to make sure they would feed factory cartridges properly. All 4 had special sights. I would give the least of them a 7.

While I'm ranting about altered Krags, what about school rifles and sorta-school rifles by Bannerman & Sedgely? Where do they fit in?

I'm one of those who consider the NRA carbines to be a military conversion.

[savagebrother]

The man I got mine from said he had had it for 20 years and that the man he bought it from from was 94 years old told him that this rifle was done by a very well known smith from back in the1920's
And from every thing I've looked at on my rifle he was telling me the truth. My trigger is sweet but it's the original krag trigger.
It was worth to me what I paid for it.
This was a great response for all the different krag said one could run into. Thanks for a great thread.
SB

[psteinmayer]

The bottom line is: you have a Krag that you love... one with some history and stories, and one that shoots well and is beautiful to look at. There is nothing bad there! ALL Krags are good, and the value lies ultimately in the person who owns and loves it!

Take her out and bang away!!!