Krag Jorgensen Rifles

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HoosierQ

HoosierQ

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I've started either seeing or noticing Krag Jorgensen rifles at gun shows. Nice ones that have been moderately sporterized. No fancy stocks, seldom scopes. Saw one recently that was the original wood cut down rather well and the stock changed with the classic red rubber recoil pad. Looked very vintage.

Rounds and brass can be found easily enough. I know that the pressure needs to be low because of the single lug lockup. These appeal to me as having some of the old time character that one sees with vintage lever guns but without the price of those antique pieces.

What sort of gotchas or problems do these old guns have to watch out for? Are they viable today as shooters? Obviously they were between the wars but that's been a while.
 
Watch carefully for cracks or excessive wear on the locking lug. Otherwise shoot the heck out of these wonderful old rifles
 
Heat your oven to about 200 degrees F, and soak the bolt head in penetrating oil. Let it sit and drain a while, then put it in the oven. If you have a cracked lug, you will see the penetrating oil oozing out the crack.
 
It's always wise to err on the side of caution with old firearms.
That said, Krags are much tougher than people seem to think. (Some research on Ackley's tests is warranted.)

I have nine of these fine old rifles (7 Americans; 2 Norwegians), shoot them frequently, and no issues to report.

Note: although there is only one traditional locking lug, the guide rib and bolt handle also provide some locking support when the bolt is closed.
 
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I bought on on Gunbroker that was an NRA special. Cut down with the 1903 front sight. Barrel wasn't quite as described. Eventually found an extra barrel of the same type. Its a good shooter now.
 
My 2 favorite rifles are Krags. Both cut down rifles to carbine length. They are great cast bullet guns. The only other Krag issue, besides lug cracks, is the bore sizes are anywhere from .308 to like .317 or so. Mine are .310 and .311. Size a cast bullet to fit and accuracy can be surprising. Great fun to shoot, old school craftsmanship and very tolerable recoil.

PS, You will want to clean any "new" Krag with a copper solvent like Sweets 762 if someone has been bouncing undersized factory (.308) bullets through the bore.
 
God I want one of these so badly in my safe...

Every time I watch Lee Marvin shooting his in Death Hunt I am reminded of that Krag and the Savage 99 I DON'T have. :(
 
Just get one then, or 2! They have the slickest operating bolts you have ever fondled.
But remember, these are all made in the corrosive ammunition time span so bore condition is always the deciding factor.
 
My dealer's had the same poor old butchered....ah, sporterized Krag in a rack in his shop for several years now.

I think it's lost all hope.

Thinking of offering him $100 for it, having him cut the barrel back to 16 inches, work out some sort of front sight to match the rear, and running it as a plinker with cast lead around 1200 FPS.

Betcha nobody else in town'd have one quite like it. :)
Denis
 
I have a Model 1898 that had been an old parade rifle, used by some local veterans organization many years ago. It had been bright chromed plated and had a heavy coat of varnish on the wood. Receiver, bolt, and barrel were all in great shape, probably because they were well preserved from the elements by the chrome plating. I carefully sanded the wood, refinished the stock, and deplated all of the chromed metal parts. I had it reblued and all in all I think it turned out very well.

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God I want one of these so badly in my safe...

Every time I watch Lee Marvin shooting his in Death Hunt I am reminded of that Krag and the Savage 99 I DON'T have.
Click to expand...
I have both. My Krag is a cut-down M1898 with a cocking piece rear sight -- a little peep that screws onto the mushroom cocking piece. My 99 is in .308 Winchester.
 
Death Hunt was a good movie. I liked the Krag and the Colt New Service in that movie.

Since taking this first picture I have removed the scope & mount and put the Redfield receiver sight back on (2nd pic). Just could never warm up to the side mount scope even though it did work well.

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Have three, workmanship and the glass smoothness of heat treated carbon steel gives the Krag one of the smoothest actions around.

As noted above, Krags do well with cast bullets especially 220gr heavies at moderate speeds.

Not all Krags will feed spitzer bullet profiles as it was designed before them for roundnose bullets, it seems to be a hit or miss issue, and if you are doing barrel work, it is wise to get a wrench that fully supports the odd shaped receiver (numrich has them among others).

Krag ammo is produced seasonally so brass is a bit harder to come by depending on where you are. Remington seems to produce it mainly in the fall during hunting season. Haven't seen any unfired brass online for sale recently during the last three years or so.
 
My camera is on the fritz. Imagine a post about a half inch long and a horizontal dovetail that screws onto the end of the cocking piece. When you pull the trigger, the sight moves forward as the striker releases.
 
I'm coming in a little late to the party here, but as the owner of a model 1898 rifle in gloriously original condition, I feel compelled to throw in my $0.02. My Krag was a gift from the family of a close friend who died six years ago; he got it in a pawnshop in Denver sometime around 1973 or so. It's no museum piece by any means, but when I'm 113 years old I hope I look as good as it does.

I use my Krag only for casual plinking at the local range. It's a very delightful rifle to shoot--light recoil, ultra-smooth action, good balance. The only downside to a Krag is that the ammunition is hard to find and often blood-curdlingly expensive when you can get it.
 
FWIW, the U.S. Krag has one locking lug, with the rib acting as a safety lug, contacting the receiver only if the locking lug fails.

The Norwegian Krag is set up so both the front lug and the rib bear so that the rifle has two locking lugs, though asymmetrical. That makes for a much stronger action.

Jim
 
The metallurgy of the time period prevents pushing a bullet in a Krag very fast. These actions were made out of plain carbon steels and the steels of the era were very weak.

Rolling Block strenght

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?52526-Rolling-Block-strenght/page2

"The Remington catalog of 1875 is the first that lists barrels of decarbonized steel for rifle barrels. This is what we call mild steel today. This steel is soft like Damascus, but more ductile. You'll see a lot more repairable dents or gouges in these steels than in a more modern steel. The barrels were rolled from solid metal , without weld or seam. They were rolled to size bored out, then turned and ground proved with a heavy charge of powder and a solid slug of lead. "

"The April 1897 Remington Arms Co. catalogue introduced “Remington steel” barrels on the Remington Hammerless Doubles. Prior to that date shotguns were only offered with Damascus barrels of varying qualities by grade. Two types of steel barrels were introduced at that time: “Remington Steel” and “Ordnance Steel”"

"Remington Steel was the lower grade and was sold for the same price as the ordinary Damascus barrels on A-grade shotguns. It was made “in-house” at the Remington factory."

""Ordnance Steel" is a higher grade, and was especially recommended for heavy charges of nitro powder. The tensile strength of this steel is 110,000 lbs., and elastic limit 60,000 lbs., this being greatly in excess of any strain to which barrels are subjected with reasonable loads of nitro powders. It was available in some rifles and shotguns."


I did not know this until I looked as a response to your post. However, I have worked with Steel my entire professional career. I was the head of a Testing Lab in a steel manufacturing facility for 4+ years. During that time, I was provided a ferrule from a WW1 fighter airplane for testing. It was made from what was labeled "high strength steel" (the label was from WW1). I tested it and found that it was lower strength than the lowest strength steel that can be bought today. In addition, it had a lot more impurities than would be allowed today, particularly sulfer. (PS. "today" means from about 1975 to 1980). I know that steel has continued to increase since then in strength, ductility, and all the other desireable characteristics we use without thinking about it.

The early Remington rolling blocks were made from iron.
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A modern made 30-40 can take pressures that would cause a vintage American Krag to blow up. The American Krag is made from period materials and the lock up is not as strong as two lug systems. I have a CMP Krag, it is a fun rifle, shoots cast bullets very well. I also bought a Krag action years ago with the idea of making a sporter. I have given that up. Krag rifles while slick and smooth are limited in their pressures, difficult to find aftermarket accessories and are troublesome to scope. It would cost $1000 + to build a nice Krag sporter and then, I could not push the bullet near its potential. The 30-40 makes a great cast bullet cartridge but I don't think, even in a modern action, that you can push a jacketed as fast as a 308.
 
Here is my Krag. 100% original right down to the horribly rusted and pitted bore. The target speaks for itself. The first three were into a half dollar. Don't give up on a bad looking bore.
 

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Here's a Krag for you. 99+% unissued, unfired after proof. Owned by a friend, Not sure what model but I think it was a 1896 carbine. Wish I had more pics. Worth several thousand I am sure.
 

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My "bubba'd " Krag was sported a while back , the stock is a Bishop and all I can say is whoever did the ' Bubbering" did a great job, ofcourse I wish it was still original but I like it anyway.
Shoots great ..:evil:

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