Krag- who has one, who shoots it?

Bfh_auto said:

I have an unmodified 94 rifle and a modified 96 carbine. The rifle is inaccurate.

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Never mind the inaccuracy. The unmodified '94 rifle is one of the "holy grails" of U.S. martial collecting. (That's the one with the full-length cleaning rod and the flat, thin buttplate.) I was lucky enough to find one years ago. Paid $1,200 for it, which was a lot of money back then.

This is also known as the 1892 model, but they were all dated 1894. Almost all of them were updated to the 1896 specs, which makes unmodified ones so rare.

Krag 22 lr gallery guns are really accurate

indy1919a4 said:

Krag 22 lr gallery guns are really accurate

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I often considered having a few cartridge adapters made so i could shoot .30 carbine out of mine......

NIGHTLORD40K said:

I often considered having a few cartridge adapters made so i could shoot .30 carbine out of mine......

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hmm now that sounds interesting.. Always like those adaptors for the Henry Martinis but accuracy always seems to suffer.. Do you know, do they make such a thing??? anyone with some experience on such a creature??

On the topic of Krags, I saw this on Gunbroker.. a 308 Krag conversion...

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/874823113

Anyone heard of these before, was this a commercial conversion from a company or someones one off.
I do like the caliber.. The price kinda makes you set up..

FL-NC said:

Is that actually a doable thing?

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Yup, there was a guy in alaska years ago who would make them to order. Not sure if hes still doin it.

Something like this-
http://www.thegunmag.com/auxiliary-cartridges-by-any-other-name-still-twice-the-fun/

FL-NC said:

Is that actually a doable thing?

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They had a real weird 22 adaptor round for the Krag called a Zip adaptor

http://www.thegunmag.com/auxiliary-cartridges-by-any-other-name-still-twice-the-fun/

NIGHTLORD40K said:

Yup, there was a guy in alaska years ago who would make them to order. Not sure if hes still doin it.

Something like this-
http://www.thegunmag.com/auxiliary-cartridges-by-any-other-name-still-twice-the-fun/
View attachment 932302

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ha ha ha ha I missed by this much.

Ive been tempted to get a sporterized one.
LGS had one, nicely done....but it was a little overpriced ( consignment ).

That and the owner i dont care for.
Prefer no bad ju ju.

indy1919a4 said:

hmm now that sounds interesting.. Always like those adaptors for the Henry Martinis but accuracy always seems to suffer.. Do you know, do they make such a thing??? anyone with some experience on such a creature??

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I experimented with one that allowed you to shoot 32ACP out of a 30-30. There are two main styles of adapter, ones where you load the smaller cartridge in the base and the firing pin strikes the primer directly and ones where the smaller cartridge is at the tip of the adapter and there's a secondary firing pin built into the adapter to transmit the firing pin's blow to the cartridge.

The cartridge in the base type has a problem in that there is a LOT of freebore, in the case of 32 ACP in 30-30 so much that there was not enough resistance to build up enough pressure to burn all the powder, even given the tiny 32ACP case. There was a good deal of unburned powder lying around. Velocity seemed very low.

The cartridge in the tip type are only available in a few combinations, are expensive and have to be disassembled every shot. I've never had a chance to try one.

Long ago I recall that many of the fellows in deer camp carried Krags. If a deer showed up, they got it. I think it would be great fun to take one hunting and get a deer with it.

natman said:

I

The cartridge in the tip type are only available in a few combinations, are expensive and have to be disassembled every shot. I've never had a chance to try one.

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The French/Vichy Mas 36 22 lr trainer has a special round like that.. It is a pain to take apart and put together..



And it is one hell of alot of work to make one, Just as in Nightlord40k example, there was a guy on Gunbroker making these special.. But
he wanted like 45 each but had no track record or feedback. So was in this chicken and egg wait to order any from him.. Now that guy is no longer there. So I have no clue if his worked or not.. Original rounds are rare as hens teeth and the training rifle will not work with out one. The neat thing about the adapter it is like loading a 7.5 round in the magazine and in the chamber with the bolt.

I would imagine that would be hell on the firing pin tip.

AlexanderA said:

Never mind the inaccuracy. The unmodified '94 rifle is one of the "holy grails" of U.S. martial collecting. (That's the one with the full-length cleaning rod and the flat, thin buttplate.) I was lucky enough to find one years ago. Paid $1,200 for it, which was a lot of money back then.

This is also known as the 1892 model, but they were all dated 1894. Almost all of them were updated to the 1896 specs, which makes unmodified ones so rare.

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We have two in the museum. Both second patterns.

They are the two with cleaning rods just below the Colt Lightning, tags # 6736 and 6737. The second pattern employed an all steel cleaning rod, the first pattern had a brass tipped rod. Also, the first pattern had a solid front band while the second had the open top band. The first pattern guns are EXTREMELY rare, whereas the second pattern is more common. By common, I mean only a few hundred left, if that. BTW that 1895 Lee-Navy almost out of the pic at the top is un-fired. As in unissued, brand new...

My apologies for the glare from the lights. It is hard to get a good picture from the floor side of the weapons wall.

someguy2800 said:

I would imagine that would be hell on the firing pin tip.

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You know your comment really kept me up last night.. What you said made sense.. But surely the designers anticipated this.. Right???..

Well who know's but here is what I found..

It looks like the firing pin on the Tri Mas 36 22 trainer and a regular Mas 36 are the same, I could see no real difference and they are interchangable.

Now here is the rub.. the firing pin tip on the 22 trainer does look a little beat down on the tip.. (The top firing pin is from the 22 trainer)





But how much of that is just from pure honest use.. The 7.5mm MAS 36 was very very clean and lightly used

And maybe a little more attention needs to be paid to the firing assembly on those adaptors. They did put some thought in them to absorb
the firing pin force.




And you can see the firing pin has left a mark in the brass.. Or is that the way they designed it??

indy1919a4 said:

You know your comment really kept me up last night.. What you said make sense.. But surely the designers anticipated this.. Right???..

Well who know's but here is what I found..

It looks like the firing pin on the Tri Mas 36 22 trainer and a regular Mas 36 are the same, I could see no real difference and they are interchangable.

Now here is the rub.. the firing pin tip on the 22 trainer does look a little beat down on the tip.. (The top firing pin is from the 22 trainer)

View attachment 932524

View attachment 932525

But how much of that is just from pure honest use.. The 7.5mm MAS 36 was very very clean and lightly used

And maybe a little more attention needs to be paid to the firing assembly on those adaptors. They did put some thought in them to absorb
the firing pin force.

View attachment 932527


And you can see the firing pin has left a mark in the brass.. Or is that they way they designed it??

View attachment 932526

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I was wondering if they made the secondary firing pin out of a softer metal such as brass so as to not beat up the firing pin but I figured if it was made out of brass that it would get beat up to the point that it would either have a raised crater around the impact point or it would pound a divot into it till eventually the firing pin was no longer hitting it hard enough. I wonder if that brass piece is maybe sacrificial and needs to be replaced after a certain number of rounds?

someguy2800 said:

I was wondering if they made the secondary firing pin out of a softer metal such as brass so as to not beat up the firing pin but I figured if it was made out of brass that it would get beat up to the point that it would either have a raised crater around the impact point or it would pound a divot into it till eventually the firing pin was no longer hitting it hard enough. I wonder if that brass piece is maybe sacrificial and needs to be replaced after a certain number of rounds?

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Because of the ease it was to strip down this adaptor, I am leaning towards your observation that parts of this adaptor are meant to be replaced. I.E the spring and the extended firing pin both look really breakable.. Especially with these adapters being ejected and kicked around in the dirt and dust.

Now because I do not have an Uncle Petain to make spare parts for me, I was thinking that if the the brass striker gets to beat up one could fill it in the indent with a little solder. Yeah it would be temporary.. But hey we are all temporary.

My Krag is cut down (Bubbaized about 100 years ago) and has a peep sight on the cocking piece. It shoots very well, and likes 200 grain cast bullets.

tark said:

Here's a Krag for ya'all. This is an 1892 Krag carbine. The Army made two of these, as prototypes, and lost one. This one is the only surviving example. Jeff, you will find this gun on page 60. It currently resides in the Rock Island Arsenal Museum and that is where I am holding it. The receiver is stamped 1894, serial# 1015. Why is it called an 1892 carbine? Beats me....

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The Krag was adopted in 1892, but not produced until 1894. Hence the early versions are called 1892s.

Vern Humphrey said:

The Krag was adopted in 1892, but not produced until 1894. Hence the early versions are called 1892s.

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Gotcha, Vern. I learned something. I'm a little short on Krag Knowledge. Thank you!

I wouldn’t consider chambering a Springfield 30-40 Krag to 308! The Krag action can’t take the racket, way too much pressure!

I doubt if a .308 would pass through the Krag's magazine. But anyone who would rechamber a Krag would steal sheep!!

Re-barreling to 308 is a horrible idea. Commercial ammo would beat the locking recess in the receiver to death and would be asking for a case head separation. Yes you could down load it to a safe pressure using quickload, but if your going to handload anyway why not just load 30-40 which has a higher case capacity and will produce less pressure for the same performance?

I have considered re-barreling mine and if I did so I might do a 30-40 ackely improved to reduce the bolt thrust and lower pressures.