Krag Collectors Association Forum

I've often thought that I would like a Krag or two made with modern steel & metallurgy. If the original Norwegian ones were 6.5x55, could a newly made one become a 7.62x51 (.308) or variants? And how about one in .223 or its military equivalent? Or could a real Krag, one that survived Bubba, be altered to .223?
I know the .223 is a high pressure cartridge, but the case is smaller in diameter, allowing more steel in the barrel and (maybe?) reduced overall thrust against the bolt face and the single locking lug. What say you?

Sounds like it could be doable. I would imagine any caliber not in the hot rod ranges under .30-40 might work. By that I am thinking .22 hornet, .222 Rem, 223/5.56, possibly up the .30-30 range. But what do I know. I want a belt fed Krag.

Didn't someone make catridge adapters? I think I have seen ads in The Backwoodsman magaazine for them.

Interesting as 6.5 and 308 have near same pressures listed with 6.5x55 listing 51000 and SAAMI says 45000 for 7.62 but winchester says 50000 for theirs.

Now i am curious could you refit a norwegian to 308..... hmmm

maybe a 30 40 accelerator round? a 223 projectile in a 30 cal sabot???

https://store-9j3z4j4d5n.mybigcommerce. ... adData.pdf

^^^^^^^^^^^38500 psi at 3700 fps 55 grain bullet ^^^^^^^^^^^^ sabot round data for 30 40 krag

waterman wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2023 10:19 pm I've often thought that I would like a Krag or two made with modern steel & metallurgy. If the original Norwegian ones were 6.5x55, could a newly made one become a 7.62x51 (.308) or variants? And how about one in .223 or its military equivalent? Or could a real Krag, one that survived Bubba, be altered to .223?
I know the .223 is a high pressure cartridge, but the case is smaller in diameter, allowing more steel in the barrel and (maybe?) reduced overall thrust against the bolt face and the single locking lug. What say you?

Or you could research which of the 6.5s had the best metallurgy and get one and have it bored and rifled to 7.62mm. Many years ago boring 30/40 Krags with shot out barrels to 35 caliber was supposed to be a thing. Seems like we should be running into these if it was a widespread practice, I have yet to see one. Whether it happened much back then or not need not stop you from doing it to a 6.5 with a shot out barrel.

I've never seen a shot out Krag bored out to .35, but in 1988, I encountered two really high end hunting rifle conversions. One was a .35 Winchester and the other was a .405 Winchester. Factory ammo for both was just a smidge too long for a standard Krag magazine. These rifles had their magazines lengthened somehow. I think the rear of the box was ground or machined away & polished out just enough to make the slightly longer cartridges work. I was told (by the man who had the rifles built) that the work was done by a man (then recently deceased) in Ferndale, CA. The gunsmith had an Italian or Portuguese name, but I no longer remember it. The owners of the rifles (husband and wife) were serious big game hunters, big bears, even polar bears in the far north, 3 safaris to Africa. Stuffed critters & hides all over their house. Took the Krags on their trips. The man said the .405 with handloads was his "wet weather" bear gun, really handy if you were riding a horse in the rain. His wife said she liked the .35 Winchester for Africa, said she killed an elephant with it, a heart shot from the side. The Krag actions were great because the bolt worked fast from the shoulder if you needed a backup shot or two.

When I was a teenager in the 1950s, I saw Krags in .22 Hornet, single shot conversions that put the fired cases in the magazine box. With that modification, you could put a scope right over the barrel. I saw one in .219 Zipper, probably OK with factory ammo. Conversions into .25/35 and .30/30 were relatively common. I think the cartridges worked through the magazines without modification. Back then, the .30/40 cartridge was thought to be "too powerful" for deer.

Hunza thanks for sharing the sabot information! It would be an interesting study to pursue.

I've got a couple packs of those sabots somewhere. I've had them 13-14yrs and haven't done anything with them yet!

A modern made Krag would probably cost $3000 with all that steel and machine work in it. Tooling up for it would also be super expensive adding to the cost.