Krag Collectors Association Forum

A cracked hand-guard has been listed on eBay for about a year, as an "experimental Krag hand guard".

Although of similar construction to a U.S. Krag hand-guard, the listed item is actually a hand-guard for the Winchester model 1895 (lever-action) musket.

I have contacted the Seller and hopefully he relists his Winchester part correctly and probably more to his advantage.

It is good for Krag enthusiasts to be aware of this similar and desirable Winchester part to avoid a possible unintentional purchase.

Interesting. Some of the more creative members here have created hand guards from table legs. If there was a surplus of material on the Winchester unit, could it be converted to fit? When adapting metal parts from one purpose to another it is easier to take material off than to put it on. I would assume the same is true with a wood part.

FWIW - The Winchester hand-guard is more rare than the various Krag hand-guards.

It would be a mistake to alter a Winchester hand-guard to improvise one for a Krag rifle or carbine.

Is the Winchester pretty rare — I mean, if I had a line on a Winchester 1895 Carbine chambered in 30-40 Krag in military configuration with US property stamp at around 80% condition or perhaps a little better, would that be worth investing in? And what would you value such a rifle at?

IIRC, the musket is considerably rarer than the military carbine. But the carbine has more appeal. If I had a table at a well-advertised show, I'd put a $3700 tag on on the carbine. If I had a musket, particularly an original NRA musket, I'd leave it at home.

Yup, I was thinking a similar amount.

I was going to ask Br if anyone even wanted a Winchester hand guard. I think the question got answered without me even asking. Wowsers!

I wish I had a model 1895 Winchester in .30-40, even a recently produced sporter with a tang safety.

A few years back, the local gun shop had three of the new military carbines for a reasonable price, but they were in .30-06 and the leaf of the rear-sight was made of plastic or nylon.
Still, they were kind of neat and I was tempted.

A couple of months back, I was toying with buying a new model 1895 Winchester sporter in .405 Winchester, (big medicine gun)!
The current unavailability of ammo and an ugly front-sight turned me off. (Whew, it's gone now)!

It is not easy to sell me a new gun, unless it is in .30-40!

(p.s. The hand-guard owner sent me an email, thanking me for informing him about the listing error).

Br, as easy as it is to swap and get creative with Krag sights how hard would it have been to adapt a Krag sight to one of them Winchesters?

Edit:
Isn't that 405 Winchester the one Teddy Roosevelt hunted elephants with? There is your Krag connection. How close is the Winchester 405 to a 30/40 necked up to 405?

A new Winchester rifle and having to improvise makeshift ammo to shoot it?

Where's the fun?

I don't think so!