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Some time ago, my Dad gave me a nice 1898 Krag rifle that had been given to him as a young man by his Uncle. It's a very nice rifle and the bore is vg - and it shoots very well! The only downer was that the Uncle had "sportered" the stock which was very common at the time of course. This was a simple stock shortening job - cut the forestock off and discard along with the front barrel band. This has always bugged me and I've been wanting to right this "wrong" about as long as I've owned the rifle. I did find correct replacement stocks for sale but they were going for $400 - $600 and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that. So, I kept looking hoping to find parts or an old stock that I could use as a "doner" to replace the lost wood. Well a few weeks ago, while perusing gunbroker I found that there were a bunch of parts listed in for the 1898 Krag! I found the front band and then found a replacement forestock - dimensioned to slip under the rear band - perfect!
I'd mentioned this in an earlier thread here and somebody asked to see the process, so here it is...
Well I finally started working on this a couple of days ago and have reached completion of the fitting and assembly.
I forgot to shoot a pick immediately before starting... but here's the rifle right after I removed the rear barrel band and cut the stub of the original stock (you can see the stub sitting on the bench):
As you can see, I drilled three holes in the buttstock end to match the holes in the replacement piece - I found that a section of 45/70 brass worked perfect for the large hole as a reinforcement and a couple of cut nails worked for the smaller ones. I used some epoxy bedding compound to "glue" the two pieces together.
Last edited by O.S.O.K. on Sat Jul 04, 2009 6:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I also forgot to shoot a pic of the replacement wood "in the raw" - I used Pilkington's English Red spirit stain (available from Brownells) which when wet, is a very close match to the original color of the stock - but when it dries, the red fades and it goes brown... I tried several applications attempting to get the red to stay but it just wasn't to be...
The replacement wood just doesn't have the same "sheen" as the original - I think I need to compress the grain some and keep applying the BLO until it builds to a shine...
Overall though, I am very pleased. It all fit together well and I was able to drill the cross screw and pin holes correctly and accurately. In holding the now whole rifle, in retrospect, its kind of a mystery as to what people were thinking by chopping these up - they didn't look as nice and the weight "gain" was almost undetectible... but then, those were different times.
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Sorry for the multiple replies - but this is the only way the server would let me post all of this!
Hey OSOK, you looking for work? These pics explain your craftiness, You're liable to have people begging you to fix guns for them now Good job, I always wanted a 30-40 Krag, glad you have one that's close to your heart after the fix, and a gift from your dad too.
To hell with them fellas, buzzards gotta eat same as the worms.
Outlaw Josey Wales
I'm not to worried about that! I wouldn't hire me to do a restoation job!
I just got through putting another coat of BLO on the replacement wood - and also rubbed it down good with a piece of smooth wood - to help compress the grain a little. This is not something that sanding can do from what I can tell = perhaps I should have used something to fill the grain? That's what the oil will do eventually I guess - the grain of the new wood is actually very similar to the the original - just that the origianal has no "texture" - is all smooth - that's what I'm trying to match.
I'm no wood guru thats for sure. And just to be very clear - I bought that piece of replacement wood already done other than being unfinished. I had the idea of doing this for a long time before somebody put just the right piece of wood up for sale on gunbroker. I'm kinda surprised that it didn't sell immediately upon being posted there.
I enjoyed the project though and it only makes the rifle that much more special to me - and hopefully to one of my kids some day.
I do not want to hijack this thread but....does anyone know where I can get a replacement barrel for my Krag in rifle length? Mine is badly pitted and does not shoot well at all and I want to use it.
Good job, I always wanted a 30-40 Krag, glad you have one that's close to your heart after the fix, and a gift from your dad too.
