Picked up my M1898 Krag made in 1899. No pics today due to rain. Been looking on and off for a nice Krag since I lost mine in a 2007 house fire.
Lots of blue present. It’s been back to an armory for a M1901 sight upgrade and replacement stock, probably around 1901-early 1902. Proper stock inspection mark, but no P proof mark, as re-proofing would not be done unless barrel or bolt was replaced back then.
Although I’d seen pics of the bore, there’s nothing like looking in person. To my Mark One eyes, a chamber mirror, and a magnifying glass, bore is bright, smooth, and shiny with no evidence of pitting. From the chamber side, I can see that there is some roundness to the edges of the lands and going forward an inch or so before the edges are sharp. Lands are not worn away. To me, I’d call the bore very good. If no roundness on the edge of the lands, it would have been excellent.
In theory the bore should be .300 with a groove diameter of .308”. But Krag bores are known to vary and often be oversized...things weren’t so uniformly made back in the day. Since I’ll be shooting cast bullets, slugging the bore was needed. First quick test insert a bullet with front half diameter of .300...ut oh, it wobbles, so bore is more than .300”. So, take bigger bullet and tap in the bore. Bore is .303 and groove diameter is .313”. That’s like the 303 British, so I loaded up test loads with my 303 Brit cast bullets and seated out the bullets as long as would fit and feed from the magazine. They chambered and fed fine. Hoping for some dry weather tomorrow to shoot my first test loads.
Lots of blue present. It’s been back to an armory for a M1901 sight upgrade and replacement stock, probably around 1901-early 1902. Proper stock inspection mark, but no P proof mark, as re-proofing would not be done unless barrel or bolt was replaced back then.
Although I’d seen pics of the bore, there’s nothing like looking in person. To my Mark One eyes, a chamber mirror, and a magnifying glass, bore is bright, smooth, and shiny with no evidence of pitting. From the chamber side, I can see that there is some roundness to the edges of the lands and going forward an inch or so before the edges are sharp. Lands are not worn away. To me, I’d call the bore very good. If no roundness on the edge of the lands, it would have been excellent.
In theory the bore should be .300 with a groove diameter of .308”. But Krag bores are known to vary and often be oversized...things weren’t so uniformly made back in the day. Since I’ll be shooting cast bullets, slugging the bore was needed. First quick test insert a bullet with front half diameter of .300...ut oh, it wobbles, so bore is more than .300”. So, take bigger bullet and tap in the bore. Bore is .303 and groove diameter is .313”. That’s like the 303 British, so I loaded up test loads with my 303 Brit cast bullets and seated out the bullets as long as would fit and feed from the magazine. They chambered and fed fine. Hoping for some dry weather tomorrow to shoot my first test loads.