First Krag - 1898 Ceremonial Rifle

[mtoms]

Being rather frugal, and on a pretty tight self imposed vintage rifle budget, I find myself acquiring rifles that are, shall we say, less appealing to most collectors - and often in need of work or restoration.

Always wanted a US Krag but have not been willing to pony up the going rate for a nice one and I really don't want a sporter - too many folks chasing too few parts to restore them.

So when this homely example appeared for sale on another forum for 1/4 the going rate for nice ones I couldn't resist.

Seller described the bore as rough but with strong rifling so I had hopes it would be a decent shooter. He even went so far as to strip the black and yellow paint coats from the stock prior to shipping. Safety was missing but everything else was there including the acceptance cartouche and firing proof.

I slugged the muzzle this last weekend and measured a .310 bore so I loaded up some .311 Sierra 180 gr pro hunters that have performed well in my enfields and Finnish Mosins. After some experimentation I found a mild 33.5 gr charge of 4064 in reformed 303 HXP brass matched the sight curve pretty well. Bore is indeed heavily frosted (pitted) from one end to the other but with strong rifling - appears to have digested more corrosive blanks in it's history without proper cleaning than ball cartridges.

Have only fired a couple of dozen rounds so far but since I was not expecting great groups I've been quite please with the initial groups.

100 yds



200 yds




I have found a guy experienced in deplating and refinishing these ceremonial rifles but I'm still torn on whether to leave it in it's current state or restore the finish. There was no question in my mind regarding stripping the ugly paint from the nice walnut stock but the metal refinishing is a harder decision. If I do restore the metal I would have about $575 in it. I would welcome opinions on whether or not to restore the metal.

Regards
Marty

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