30-40 krag bolt

For the right price, yes. And that is totally up to you and your sensibilities. Getting the headspace correct may involve pulling the barrel and setting the shoulder back as a starting point. Depends on the current chamber dimensions and how the new bolt fits up.

Bfh_auto said:

I was given a 1896 Krag-Jorgenson rifle. It's missing the bolt. The barrel is in good condition. Stock is decent. Finish is nearly non-existent.
Would it be a worthwhile project to buy a bolt and set the headspace?
There is no sentimental value and I would need to buy dies and brass. I think it would be a cool cast bullet rifle.

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Try calling Dupage Trading. They often have Krag parts in stock, even if they are not listed on their website. Very reasonable prices, very, ummm, casual shipping, lol. Nice guys, but be prepared to wait a couple weeks.

Bfh_auto said:

It headspaces off the rim. I'm finding them for about $175 on eBay.

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Incidentally, these are great rifles, very smooth actions and soft shooting. Always an attention getter at therange. Plus the sideways magazine is super neato!

When you look at the amount of machining that went into a Krag it's amazing that it was intended as a military rifle to be issued to troops. Labor was cheap in those days and back then they wouldn't consider making a rifle any other way.

If you do find another bolt, take it to an automotive speed shop and have it magnafluxed. This will detect any cracks on the one lug. If you reload, do so with discretion. This is not a particularly strong design and they are all over 100 years old.

Bfh_auto said:

It headspaces off the rim.

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Indeed. I didn't pay attention to that part of your post. Shame on me.

Bfh_auto said:

I was given a 1896 Krag-Jorgenson rifle. It's missing the bolt. The barrel is in good condition. Stock is decent. Finish is nearly non-existent.
Would it be a worthwhile project to buy a bolt and set the headspace?
There is no sentimental value and I would need to buy dies and brass. I think it would be a cool cast bullet rifle.

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Be aware that some bolts have cracked lugs from an ill-advised "hotter" military issue load during the latter part of the Krag's use as a military firearm. But, that also means that there are some new "old stock" bolts floating around that have never been in a rifle. There is a guy on ebay "movieman630" that also goes by grandpa's gun parts still has some of these https://www.granpasgunparts.com/
Dealt with the guy before on restorations both on ebay and through his website and his stuff was as he said it was. There are slight variations among the different models of Krag bolts (1892, 1896, and 1898) but all should work. A long time firm, S and S Firearms also is good on Krag stuff but pricey http://www.ssfirearms.com/

Sarco is mostly out of the Krag business and Numrich is hit or miss on them. Dupage Trading mentioned above are also good folks whose stuff is as they say it is but call them as their website is limited in what it presents as stock. I would recommend paying the freight for a new old stock bolt because some old-timers lapped bolt lugs until the Krag's bolt handle (the safety lug) was bearing--paying the price usually by having more headspace-on a used bolt, you won't know if that is the case until you get it and try it in your rifle with a headspace gage.

You might also find in your search some WWI era parkerized Krag bolts (Krags were used to guard railways among other places during WWI along with other obsolete rifles to free up m1917 and 1903's for the war effort). I believe that they used new bolts to parkerize but not sure about that.

Krags like many other rifles from that era headspace on the cartridge rim--not the shoulder. Most U.S. headspace gages are dual purposed with .303 as British .303 Enfield gages and technically a coin type gage is fine. For a used barrel, using neck sizing on the brass, if it passed the field gage test without going into battery, then it is probably ok on that standpoint. Go gages are usually used for setting headspace on new barrels which Criterion makes. Krags do vary a bit on bore diameter so slugging the barrel will be key for reloading cast boolits to establish size needed.

Go to castboolits forum for loads or older reloading manuals as the Krag is par excellence with cast bullets of the long heavy type and the lesser pressure on your old rifle won't hurt either. Grafs and sons have the brass https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/search?keywords=krag and Remington used to do seasonal runs of Krag brass around hunting season. Every major reloading company makes Krag dies. Only downside on reloading is that Krags are hit and miss with feeding spire point bullets due to the magazine design so long round headed bullets are the norm. Good luck with your Krag. They are fun rifles to shoot.

Bfh_auto said:

Thanks for the info. I will see what I can come up with. I was kind of leery of buying an eBay one because of the age of the parts. Numrich was out of stock on complete bolts.[/QUOTE

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One possibility is to buy an cheap old Krag complete bolt and then use a new bolt body with the bolt parts from the old bolt if it is not up to snuff. Just don't pay too much. Apart from the extractor, Krag bolts are pretty straightforward to taking down into components and then reassembling them. One time, I have bought a complete Krag bolt just for the parts for around $50--turned out the bolt was better than pictured (camera pix made it look like the bolt face was pitted but it was just dirt) and perfectly fine for a restoration. One problematic thing about Krag extractors that is usually riveted to the bolt sleeve piece although I seem to recall some retrofitted it to screws (https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/1092210)

FWIW, on Krag bolt removal http://armscollectors.com/kragboltremoval.htm

You might also try the Krag Collector Forum as some of the members might have parts to sell. Pretty nice guys and nice forum.

Mine was an RKO pictures movie prop gun adapted to fire blanks. Looks like it was run over by a train, was missing the sights, and the bore is a sewer pipe but it actually shoots pretty good. 3" at 50yd or so with factory loads. I got lucky and stocked up on Remington 220gr just before the Great Obama Ammo Panic. I'm just about out of it, but Ive got a healthy supply of cases, dies, and a huge bucket of 150gr. Fmj pulled from surplus M2 ball rounds. I'm thinking load em up to 12-1500 fps for casual, low pressure plinking.

Bfh_auto said:

There are actually 2 without bolts. Carbine is rough on the outside but has a clean bore.

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Wow, I did not mention the other hazard of Krags--they tend to proliferate and you start wanting all of the variations. Good luck, several THR posters around here have Krags and the Krag Collector Forum guys are great about answering questions from the general to the specific.

NIGHTLORD40K said:

Mine was an RKO pictures movie prop gun adapted to fire blanks. Looks like it was run over by a train, was missing the sights, and the bore is a sewer pipe but it actually shoots pretty good. 3" at 50yd or so with factory loads. I got lucky and stocked up on Remington 220gr just before the Great Obama Ammo Panic. I'm just about out of it, but Ive got a healthy supply of cases, dies, and a huge bucket of 150gr. Fmj pulled from surplus M2 ball rounds. I'm thinking load em up to 12-1500 fps for casual, low pressure plinking.

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I guess that you need to start watching old RKO movies to spot your firearm then--that is a unique way to establish providence. I suspect it made many a movie.

boom boom said:

I guess that you need to start watching old RKO movies to spot your firearm then--that is a unique way to establish providence. I suspect it made many a movie.

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There is a very good chance it was used in the filming of "Gunga Din."

NIGHTLORD40K said:

There is a very good chance it was used in the filming of "Gunga Din."

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Way cool. One of my favorites when it comes on--classic story with talented actors. Hopefully Cary Grant left a note in the buttstock cavity for you to find or carved his initials somewhere. Did yours come from DuPage Trading perhaps as I saw they had some advertised as ex movie props a few years ago?

Already had some Krags so did not pay a lot of attention at the time. One of my favorites is a 92 receiver made in 1894 nearest that I can tell and uses a 1896 bolt. A gunsmith sometime in the past put an altered 1903 barrel in an original 92 stock (no butt cavity and plain buttplate) that had been sportered but the barrel was tapped for the Krag issued 1896 sights. Thought about restoring it but left it as is as it shoots casts just fine (about 1.5-2" @50 yds using m1896 open sights and tired eyes). I have a spare 1902 sight that uses the flip up aperture sight which has an incredibly fine hole for shooting that I might put on it sometime. Never shot factory or fmj in it.

Got to get back to posting on my projects--one is stymied (the Long Lee) as the trigger guard, trigger group, that I had to get from NZ etc. for the Long Lee Enfield don't fit my receiver nor do No. 1, Mk. 3 parts which is not supposed to happen, so I either have to alter the receiver or the parts--believe that I will alter the No. 1 rifle parts. This one is being converted to .22 LR single shot. The second, is the Mauser 71/84--waiting on a bolt--and waiting, and waiting and my No. 1, Mk. III circa 1915 or so is now rebarrelled with a new old stock barrel that clocked nearly perfectly.

I have two Krags, an all original well worn 1898 and what appears to be an NRA Carbine, which was originally an 1896 rifle. The bolts freely interchange and headspace just fine. You may get lucky.

But definitely have the bolt checked for cracks.

The carbine has a pristine bore and the 98 has one of the worst bores I have ever seen. It will shoot 2" at 75 yards with 150 gr factory loads!

boom boom said:

Way cool. One of my favorites when it comes on--classic story with talented actors. Hopefully Cary Grant left a note in the buttstock cavity for you to find or carved his initials somewhere. Did yours come from DuPage Trading perhaps as I saw they had some advertised as ex movie props a few years ago?

Already had some Krags so did not pay a lot of attention at the time. One of my favorites is a 92 receiver made in 1894 nearest that I can tell and uses a 1896 bolt. A gunsmith sometime in the past put an altered 1903 barrel in an original 92 stock (no butt cavity and plain buttplate) that had been sportered but the barrel was tapped for the Krag issued 1896 sights. Thought about restoring it but left it as is as it shoots casts just fine (about 1.5-2" @50 yds using m1896 open sights and tired eyes). I have a spare 1902 sight that uses the flip up aperture sight which has an incredibly fine hole for shooting that I might put on it sometime. Never shot factory or fmj in it.

Got to get back to posting on my projects--one is stymied (the Long Lee) as the trigger guard, trigger group, that I had to get from NZ etc. for the Long Lee Enfield don't fit my receiver nor do No. 1, Mk. 3 parts which is not supposed to happen, so I either have to alter the receiver or the parts--believe that I will alter the No. 1 rifle parts. This one is being converted to .22 LR single shot. The second, is the Mauser 71/84--waiting on a bolt--and waiting, and waiting and my No. 1, Mk. III circa 1915 or so is now rebarrelled with a new old stock barrel that clocked nearly perfectly.

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I did get mine from Dupage couple years back, think I paid $250 for it. I wish I could prove Carey grant handled it, but I couldn't find any distinguishing marks to prove it from screen shots, lol.
It was originally an 1898 rifle, which was modified at Benincia Arsenal to a "US Carbine, 1898, for Sling and Bayonet." In this form they were practically identical to the Philippine Constabulary Carbines. I modified and pinned on a M1903 band front sight and my buddy gave me a 1902 rear sight that was missing the windage screw. A few minutes with my Dremel took care of that. It was also missing the stock wood ahead of the lower band, so I cut the front nubbin off a scrap M1 Carbine stock and joined it beneath the band. I drilled out the aperture in the flip-up peep a bit as it was ridiculously small before.
Ive been toying with the idea of doing a full Constabulary repro job to it, but I'm kinda enjoying the incredulous looks I get at the range like: "You're actually going to shoot that THING?!!"

Didn't turn out too bad for, I think. That's a surplus G3 sling, BTW.....

NIGHTLORD40K said:

View attachment 773716 View attachment 773717 Didn't turn out too bad for, I think. That's a surplus G3 sling, BTW.....

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Very nice picture and thanks for posting. I had a Kerr replica sling on an Arisaka for awhile. Worldwar supply used to sell a Krag replica leather sling (narrower version of the 1907) for not much money. I also think that there was a canvas sling approved for use in the PI and tropics. Thanks for the pictures. The 1903 front sight is a tad more usable than that thin Krag blade on these I've found. I'll try to dig out my 1892 for a beauty shot--the stock is a beautiful dark fine grained walnut and it is a shame that they cut it.

Bfh_auto said:

I think my rear sight is backwards on the rifle. It reversed from my Mauser.
The carbine only has 1 hole and a dovetail machined into the barrel.

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The front sight on the Krag was dovetailed and soldered--very distinctive with a narrow sharp blade insert with an incredibly tiny pin retaining it. The Krag rifle rear sights as issued on them are picture below and carbines had shorter length slides and ladders but don't remember whether carbines got all five versions. The earliest sight is the 92 sight which had to be replaced due sighting errors attributed to abnormal cold weather when testing Krag Ammo for POI. Consequently, it is the most common sight on auction websites and cheapest.

The slides operate similar to Mauser tangent sight ladders. With the slide all the way to the rear (breech side) and the ladder down was for combat/close range/fast shooting. The 98 sights and 02 sights were more like British No. 1, Mk. 3 rifles (due to a different chief of ordnance) and the 1901 sights are similar to the later Springfield 03 sights.