Picking up my first Krag

I'm finally getting around to buying my first Krag. It has been on my "want" list for quite awhile. The one I'm getting, according to what I've been told, is a cut rifle in a saddle carbine stock. It's missing the hand guard and has a rubber butt pad. The saddle ring has been ground off and re-blued, but it's coming with an original one that I will put on. My intention is to replace the rubber butt pad with a steel butt plate, and eventually find a hand guard. I may also do something with the sling attachments. The serial number on the receiver places it as an 1898, but I'm not sure about the stock. The butt end is cut straight like an 1892, but it may have been straightened to fit the butt pad. I guess I'll figure that out when it arrives. I may need to fit a butt plate to what I have if the butt has been cut a bit.
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I'll bet you a dollar that butt was cut to straight so the pad would lay flat. Too bad too. If you look at the original buttplate you see how much is gone to leave that filler piece. Yes, it's a cut down rifle barrel with looks like an M1903 rifle sight, lots were done that way. Bore is likely perfect, thus the reason for this one.

That is a nice looking rifle. Too bad about the stock. Those rubber buttpads get really nasty with age. As a hunting rifle, you should lose the lanyard ring anyway - gets in the way of a one-hand carry and it makes nose. It's a shame what was done to that stock, though. If it were mine, I would put a nicer front sight on it, maybe a replica of the Krag sight, and get a new repro stock. Keep the sling swivels if you are going to hunt with it, or better yet, get the original rifle band with swivel and butt swivel - there were carbines in service that were set up to take a sling ... I don't know if it was done at the arsenal or in the field, but it is a real thing.

Good luck!

jn

It looks like an earlier rifle with the trough in place for the bolt handle.
Sometimes the digits on the serial numbers are hard to tell apart, the 6 looks like an 8 etc.
Anyway, looks like a nice rifle to me and it may not be too difficult to work a steel butt-plate back onto it
with a little care and fitting.

I agree with Doco about fitting an original buttplate. It should be pretty easy. Based on the filler piece (at the top of the butt) there is only about a 1/4 of an inch of wood missing. I've
had to do this a few times with 1903 stocks and they came out fine. Might as well try to save this stock. Salt Flat

From what I can see of the rear sight, it is either a 1898 or 1902. Both utilized the same hand guard.

That is an 1896 receiver. The "bolt handle support" was removed with the Model 1898. Model 1896s were produced into early 1898 before the model change. It would be interesting to know your serial number to see how close it is to the change over.

The Krag FINALLY came in the mail today. It's in, what I think is, an actual 1896 saddle ring carbine stock. The receiver has the serial number 80266, which from what I gather means it should be an 1898 rifle. BUT, the receiver is stamped Model 1896. The bore is bright and shiny with strong rifling and slugs at .308. The barrel measures roughly 22.25 inches and does not have a carbine front sight and tapers down to .608 inches at the muzzle end.

It has obviously been sporterized. I'm pretty sure it has been reblued, the stock has been sanded, so there are no markings and the bolt handle has been highly polished. Sling swivels were installed professionally. The only really bad things is the butt stock as had about .3 inches cut off to have a rubber recoil pad installed. It was a straight cut to remove the curve at the bottom. Interestingly enough, whoever did it cut off the top tab of the original steel plate where the screw attaches it to the stock and left that in the inlet where it belongs. I guess it was easier than filling it up. Because the butt was shortened, so is the little tab he left there. I think the only way to fix it will be to get the appropriate butt plate, cut off the tab and weld on the original tab which has been shortened. Then, put the curve back on the bottom of the butt stock. The only other thing I can think of is to buy a 5/16" recoil pad spacer and put it between a steel plate and the stock. I'm open to suggestions on this one. I ordered a steel butt plate from Numerich. It's "old style" and I think it's a flat one instead of one that curves at the bottom. That would make it easier.

Warpspasm, You could just find a piece of closely matching walnut to use as a spacer. Or I think if you had an original buttplate you could inlet the whole thing and toss that old top piece. You would have to reshape the heel of the buttplate a little due to the stock angle. You will barely notice the 5/16 loss of length. Option 3 is to leave it as. It really doesn't look bad and is finished nicely. Overall it is a good looking rifle.

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Originally Posted by Salt Flat

Warpspasm, You could just find a piece of closely matching walnut to use as a spacer. Or I think if you had an original buttplate you could inlet the whole thing and toss that old top piece. You would have to reshape the heel of the buttplate a little due to the stock angle. You will barely notice the 5/16 loss of length. Option 3 is to leave it as. It really doesn't look bad and is finished nicely. Overall it is a good looking rifle.

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I have a butt plate on order from Numerich. They only had one style available and I think it might be the flat plate that came on the 1892. I couldn't tell from the photo. Actually, I think it might be a Springfield 1903 butt plate. It came up as an "alternative - old style" when I tried to pick a Krag butt plate. Of course the Krag plates were sold out. BUT, it was cheap and if it really is the flat style that will make it easier to fit the stock. I would LOVE to put a hand guard on here, but being a real 1896 carbine stock having a 1902 rear sight none of the hand guards will fit. I wish I could get my hands on a beat up one to try some mods. I wouldn't want to experiment with an authentic one in good shape. I would consider trying it with a reproduction hand guard, but there are none of them around and they're pretty darn expensive.

M03 butt plate will be shorter- slightly narrower than one for a Krag, hopefully you get something you can work with.
Based on your pictures, I suppose a Krag will be the better of the two (Krag on right)
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Originally Posted by Doco overboard

M03 butt plate will be shorter- slightly narrower than one for a Krag, hopefully you get something you can work with.
Based on your pictures, I suppose a Krag will be the better of the two (Krag on right)
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The one that came in the mail today must have bee made for an M03 because it is a little shorter and a little narrower. I was really disappointed at first, but it only cost $25, so I decided to fool with it a bit. I lengthened the inlet on the top of the stock for the tab and I took the curve out of the bottom of the butt plate to give it a bit of length. The 1892 Krags had flat plates, so I don't feel so bad. Since my stock had been shortened .30 inches when they added the recoil pad, having the butt plate a little narrower and shorter was actually a good thing since the end of my stock was a little bit shorter and narrower from being cut. If I used a Krag plate I would probably have had to grind it down around the entire edge so it wouldn't stick out. The width of the one I got today is perfect but the walnut toe of the stock is a little proud to the plate and so is the top. I can sand that toe down a little bit of an angle to meet the plate. The stocks are normally curved at that point to allow for the butt plate. Here's a picture. I may still pick up a Krag plate as some point. I will be stripping and redoing the stock with BLO after I finish with it. My NEXT step will be to try and mod an aftermarket handguard made for a rifle to fit my carbine stock and fit it with a carbine barrel band. A friend of mine gave me a handguard to try it.

Wish the pics came up a bit bigger but the buttplate looks pretty good.

Warpspasm, I agree-- That buttplate will work out. Also I thought I would mention that making a Krag handgaurd from scratch is quite do-able. Here is one I made for a Krag rifle. It wasn't too hard to make. I also made the forearm which took a little more time but still do-able. Salt Flat

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

Wish the pics came up a bit bigger but the buttplate looks pretty good.

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Yeah, I made them too small. I was afraid they'd be larger than the size allowed by the forum. I may repost them.

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Originally Posted by Salt Flat

Warpspasm, I agree-- That buttplate will work out. Also I thought I would mention that making a Krag handgaurd from scratch is quite do-able. Here is one I made for a Krag rifle. It wasn't too hard to make. I also made the forearm which took a little more time but still do-able. Salt Flat

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Your handguard looks great. To make the one I have into a carbine guard I'll have to take wood off of both ends. The end that worries me is the end where I need to fit the rear of the guard over the top of the receiver. ALSO, the guard he gave me has no spring clips to hold it to the barrel. The front will slip under the barrel band, but I'll have to figure out a fabricate a spring clip (unless somebody sells them) and way to attach a spring clip to the guard behind the rear sight.

Warpspasm, Mark out where the cuts will be made using a super sharp pencil or very fine sharpie. Use a fine blade to cut. Mark out the area to be relieved where the handguard goes over the receiver. Use a rotary sanding drum to slowly remove material, checking fit over and over until its right. Or you could use a small gouge to remove the material. Go slow, check often. Really it will be easy. You can make the spring clips from steel tubing or I'm sure you can find some online. Rivets are avilable at most hardware stores. When in doubt make a practice piece for like the riveting so you don't split that hand guard. Salt Flat

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Originally Posted by Salt Flat

Warpspasm, Mark out where the cuts will be made using a super sharp pencil or very fine sharpie. Use a fine blade to cut. Mark out the area to be relieved where the handguard goes over the receiver. Use a rotary sanding drum to slowly remove material, checking fit over and over until its right. Or you could use a small gouge to remove the material. Go slow, check often. Really it will be easy. You can make the spring clips from steel tubing or I'm sure you can find some online. Rivets are avilable at most hardware stores. When in doubt make a practice piece for like the riveting so you don't split that hand guard. Salt Flat

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I've been looking online for the spring clips, but have had zero luck finding any. I wish I had a handguard that had one, so I can see what they're supposed to look like and how thick they are. I read somewhere that they don't have to be spring steel because they slide over the barrel as opposed to snapping on. I can't figure out how you can rivet them to the wood handguard without cracking it. I looked online for a video of someone doing something similar, but no luck there either. Gorilla Glue maybe??

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Originally Posted by Warpspasm

I read somewhere that they don't have to be spring steel

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Oh, they're springs alright.

The 1903 Springfield butt-plate looks a lot better than the rubber butt-plate that arrived on your Krag!

FWIW - Some Mauser hand-guards, like the Model 1909 - Argentine Mauser, have steel 'spring-clips' retained by small wood screws (on the underside).

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Originally Posted by butlersrangers

The 1903 Springfield butt-plate looks a lot better than the rubber butt-plate that arrived on your Krag!

FWIW - Some Mauser hand-guards, like the Model 1909 - Argentine Mauser, have steel 'spring-clips' retained by small wood screws (on the underside).

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I spent a couple of hours on Saturday modifying the repro 1898 handguard into a carbine handguard that will accept a 1902 rear sight. It's actually coming along better than I thought so far. I shortened the back end and used a Dremel and some cheap wood gouges to inlet the underside to fit over the receiver. LOTS of trial an error to get it to fit. And... man that walnut is hard as a rock. I still need to take out some wood where the big 1902 sight comes to rest on the top of the guard and shorten the front end and reduce it to fit under the front carbine band. I ordered the band last night. I didn't want to order it until saw if I could actually modify the handguard. At some point I need to decide what to do about those rivets, strip everything and refinish it with BLO. It's been enjoyable so far.

Sometimes you can find the small CU solid copper rivets at hardware/tack stores. 1/8"
There are the type that looks like a small tack and are pointed on the end and then there are a two part type with washer.
Some are even one piece with grooves cut into them that allow them to be set/ crushed easier.
Crushing them with a c-clamp is probably better than trying to dolly them together and holding the HG at the same time.
The parts-tools are easier to manage especially on something that's brittle or old