A few weeks ago I inherited a 1918 krag carbine. It was my great grandfathers. From what I was told he bought it in the 60s and the only thing he did was put a recoil pad on it so otherwise it seems to all be there (but not matching). I really want to shoot it (just a few times)but I keep hearing about the 6.5x55 swed rounds being to powerful for the gun and was just wanted to get opinions from people who actually deal with krag rifles. Also if there is anything I should know please tell me. I'm glad to have found this forum and thanks in advanced :p.

EDIT: Wanted to add that the bore is in mildy shiny shape with basically no pitting. The stock is in nice shape seeing as it spent 50 years in a closet but he must have pulled it out to oil and do general maintenance. I'm hoping the butt stock is just covering up the original. I still haven't checked yet.

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Any ammunition appropriate for the Swedish military Mausers is fine for the M1912 Norwegian Krag. Working pressure is the same. I use the same loads, including Swedish military ammo, in both and have no problems. Rarely, one might encounter ammo loaded for "modern" sporting arms at higher pressure - never seen any myself.

There are a number of folks posting on various firearms sites who seem to take pleasure in making doomsday warnings about this and other normal practices - often with no basis beyond hearsay or faulty logic.

sgtheindl:  Welcome to the Krag Collectors Association forum.  You have the very desireable Norwegian Model 1912 Carbine (Karabin M1912).  Your Carbine, #20,832(?), was built in 1918 at the Kongsberg Vappenfabrikk in Norway.  'Parashooter' gives advice I would certainly follow.  I have fired Norma, Privi, and Korean factory loads in my Swedish Mausers and in a sporterized Model 1912.  Once I had a 'brass base', I reloaded with 'starting' loads that also were considered 'accuracy loads'.  Hopefully, you still have the metal butt-plate under the rubber recoil pad.  6.5X55mm is a sweet shooting round without much recoil.  In your photo, it appears the small 'headless' screw is missing, that should project through the hole in the rear hand-guard, just in front of the sight.  This serves as a pillar or rest for the rear sight leaf.  The leaf can be flipped forward and the back blade is notched to serve as a 'battle sight'.

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Thanks for all the information, I knew I came to the right place :). This krag will continue to be passed down when I have kids and hopefully so on and so forth. I have enough rifles to shoot and sell anyways ;P.

I'll update when I shoot it and also check under that buttpad.

If your gun is in good shape Privi 139 gr loads should be fine to build up a quantity of good quality brass for reloading.  Start with opening loads in new/ modern loadbooks like Lyman and Hornady and work up until you get a good load.  Don't go too hot but I would not worry about shooting Privi loads out of your Krag part of the time at least.  139 gr to 160 gr bullets should work the best.