My 2nd Krag

[ssgross]

Some progress pics. Trigger inletting before and after.
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You can also see the notch for the bolt hand was originally square. It measured 40 thous. narrower on the new stock vs. my original, but it lined up perfectly on the front edge with the receiver, so I had to open it up on the rear side. I used a file to get it where I wanted, being careful not to touch the bottom, then a freshly sharpened chisel to square it all up. It's depth came quite a bit deeper than an original stock, about 1/8+ below the receiver. On an original stock, the bottom of the slot for the bolt handle is on ~45deg. downward slope (measured from the outside of the stock), matching bolt angle when closed, and the upper part of the slope is just a fingernail width below flush with the receiver. So, I took a freshly sharpened chisel, held at ~45 degrees, and tapped it down the corner, then scraped it out from the middle until my corner cut was no longer visible, repeating half a dozen times until the bolt closed with no contact to the wood. You can see the flat part at the top caused by how low the slot was initially cut by the maker.

On to the butt...here is where it started.
Attachment 120194
First I made a pass with a coping saw to remove most of the excess. Then I used chisel and mallet to get all but the very last bit, being careful to leave a bit so I can use perimeter as a reference later.
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So, here is what I'm up against if I want to duplicate the original design.
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I'm tempted to just cut out the middle part so the door opens...but I like to hide letters to my kids inside the butts of all the rifles I do for them to discover when I'm long gone.
The cleaning rod holes are deep...they go all the way to the bottom of the wrist, just below the front edge of the comb. I'm thinking the best way to duplicate the original is to carefully square the butt, then use the plunging base on my router with an appropriate sized bit to start all the holes nice and square, then finish the that gives the "channel" at the bottom of the top hole, then the cleaning rod holes, then use spade bit to finish drilling the two large holes...and lastly of course cut in the space between bottom channel of the top whole. Unless someone has an easier way to do it right...I'll need to disassemble my router out of its table, and find its plunge base in a box somewhere in the attic I think.