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Firearms >> Other Firearms >> Krag 30/40
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Message started by Redskin962 on Nov 19th, 2017 at 12:28am

Title: Krag 30/40
Post by Redskin962 on Nov 19th, 2017 at 12:28am
Can anyone ID this? Thanks
IMG_0571.JPG ( 418 KB | 13 Downloads )

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Ned Butts on Nov 19th, 2017 at 12:55am
Not a Krag, Mosin Nagant of some kind

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Redskin962 on Nov 19th, 2017 at 2:29am
Even though It has krag 30/40 engraved in it?

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Parashooter on Nov 19th, 2017 at 5:40am
Well, it does appear that the barrel has been shortened at the breech enough to re-chamber for .30-40. Can't imagine why - except that during the cold war 7.62x54R was sometimes hard to obtain in the U.S.A. (Remington stopped producing the cartridge in the late 1950's.)

The pictured rifle, a Mosin 91/30, features the added wire sling "swivel" characteristic of Spanish civil war provenance. Spain was one of the few sources exporting this model to the U.S. market during the cold war. For more info on the "SCW Mosin", see   (You need to Login

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by madsenshooter on Nov 19th, 2017 at 5:48am
I hope who ever did it had enough sense to slug the barrel first.  My Mosin has a .316 groove diameter.  Many are better, especially the Finnish rifles.

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by butlersrangers on Nov 19th, 2017 at 4:26pm
"Parashooter" - Thanks for the Link on Spanish C.W. Mosin-Nagant rifles.

Back in the late 1960's, I had a $13 Mosin rifle that may well have been a SCW rifle. I was unaware of the possible SCW connection and took off the clumsy wire 'sling-swivels' . It was in 7.62 X 54mm caliber and accuracy with WW2 surplus Russian ammo was horrible! (I don't know if the problem was the rifle or the ammo). I was glad to get rid of the rifle, little appreciating its history.

Back in that era, there was a little gun import company called "Fenwick's Gun Annex". They had very unusual items that were inexpensive and well used. Fenwick's advertised in the "Shot Gun News" and seemed to come up with 'Extreme Orphan Arms of the World', (and not the usual fare of Hunters Lodge and Century Arms).

Three items I got from them, pre-1968, were: A Charger-Loading Lee-Enfield ('Long-Lee') rifle, an unusual variant of a model 1910 Ross Rifle, and a 7mm, (Boer) model 1896 Mauser, with British proofs. (Two items I could not afford were .450 cal. Adams Revolvers and 1882 Enfield .476 cal. Revolvers, marked "New South Wales - Gaol" for around $30).

I later found out, the Ross Rifle was a likely SCW gun.

I traded and sold off these rifles expecting to get more pristine specimens. Funny how that usually turns out!

Sometimes with guns, the dregs are dripping the most history.

p.s. - I have not run across a Mosin altered for .30-40 before.

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Redskin962 on Nov 19th, 2017 at 5:39pm
Thanks everyone. It does have characteristics of scw mosin. I had no clue what it was, just new it was old. It was my grandfathers who got it from ? while he was in ww2. Grandmother says he had it made into hunting rifle thus maybe that's where caliber changed. I thought it was a krag because of this in pic. Thanks again!
IMG_0577.JPG ( 319 KB | 2 Downloads )

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by psteinmayer on Nov 20th, 2017 at 1:04am
I could see a 7.62x54 being rechambered for 30-40.  Lower case and rim dimensions are not that dissimilar. 

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Hamish on Nov 20th, 2017 at 3:59pm
That pic is pretty definitive,,,,,,,,.

Would definitely recommend a cerrosafe chamber cast.  Looks to be a very cool but if history. ;)

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Redskin962 on Nov 20th, 2017 at 5:40pm
Hamish could you explain your post? I have limited knowledge on firearms but would like to know what your recommendation means and reason why you recommend. Thanks in advance

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Hamish on Nov 20th, 2017 at 11:38pm
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If your not 100% sure it's chambered for 30-40 and you're not comfortable doing a chamber cast, I'm sure a local gunsmith would do it for a nominal fee. 

Just because a barrel is marked one thing doesn't guaretee that it hasn't been improved or completely rechambered to a case size larger than what is marked. 

I own a very nice sporterized Mauser that was tagged as 8mm on the gun sore rack that turned out to be 30-06.  Over the decades I've read many times of folks finding surprises, sometimes the hard way at the range, sometimes with nasty results.

I'm a Mosin fan myself, and your Granfathers rifle is a very interesting piece of history!

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Parashooter on Nov 21st, 2017 at 3:15am

Hamish wrote on Nov 20th, 2017 at 3:59pm:
. . . a very cool but if history. ;)

I reckon he meant to type "bit of history" but didn't quite align fingers with keyboard. (Note U, I, and O are adjacent in QUERTY layout.) Proof reading seems a much-neglected task on this interweb thing.


Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Hamish on Nov 21st, 2017 at 6:08am
I am disgraced.

I shall commit seppuku by bashing my brains in with a collegiate editions of Websters.

Please forgive my affrontery for putting spelling mistakes in front of your eyes.

Goodbye cruel world,,,,,,,,

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Culpeper on Nov 21st, 2017 at 9:50pm
I poof read for my spelling errors, too, but letters still seem to disappear in to thin air after I hit the enter key. :(

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Parashooter on Nov 21st, 2017 at 11:12pm

Hamish wrote on Nov 21st, 2017 at 6:08am:
. . . spelling mistakes in front of your eyes. . .

Seems to me "but if" is spelled correctly - it just appears to have been carelessly typed if "bit of" was intended, leading to confused readers. (I wondered perhaps "but if history" is a new scholarly pursuit, as in - ". . . but if the U.S. had adopted the Mosin . . .")

Errant spelling is often a product of the educational system and hence not the writer's fault. Proofing text for typing errors is a heap easier than spelling.

Poof indeed, deacon!  ;)

Title: Re: Krag 30/40
Post by Ned Butts on Nov 22nd, 2017 at 2:42am
Time to settle down fellas!!

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