Post by butlersrangers on Dec 7th, 2017 at 4:09pm
Ed Green - Welcome to the KCA Forum.
Over the years, there were several methods devised to make the military Krag into a thinner action for sporting use.
One method was to remove the Magazine Gate & Follower Arm, remove part of the right-side of the Receiver, and cover the new opening with a hinged Flat Door with a substitute Follower Spring. A clever Catch was required to hold the door closed.
A different approach was to dispense with the 'Door' entirely. The Door was replace with a Fixed Plate & Spring or simply covered by the Stock with a captured Spring. This approach required the cartridges to be 'Backed Into' the cartridge opening on the interior of the left receiver wall.
Your description sounds like your father used the Fixed Plate approach. Rather than, "pushed in from the top", the cartridges should be "slid in from the front", rimmed end first.
The projectile (bullet) may possibly have to be inserted part way into the Chamber to allow the base to be backed into the opening in the left wall.
Another issue could be caused by the presence or absence of the Magazine Cut-off Switch.
If the Cut-off was simply removed, it leaves a machined groove exposed in the cartridge-feed opening. The cartridge rim can hang-up a bit on this groove.
If the Cut-off switch or lever is still on your Krag, it could be in the wrong position. It could be blocking the cartridge-feed path and preventing cartridges from being fully inserted or 'backed in'.
If you have a Cut-off lever, on most Krags, the 'Up' position allows free movement of cartridges.
If your Krag is a model 1892 or model 1896 action, you could have an earlier type of Magazine Cut-off, which had to be 'Down' to allow the flow of cartridges.
(The attached photo shows the Krag Cut-off lever in the 'Down' position. On most U.S. Krags, this would Block the magazine feed and cause problems loading. The lever should be 'Up'. However, early Cut-offs were the reverse).
krag_cut-off_blocked_position.jpg ( 61 KB | 1
Download )
Over the years, there were several methods devised to make the military Krag into a thinner action for sporting use.
One method was to remove the Magazine Gate & Follower Arm, remove part of the right-side of the Receiver, and cover the new opening with a hinged Flat Door with a substitute Follower Spring. A clever Catch was required to hold the door closed.
A different approach was to dispense with the 'Door' entirely. The Door was replace with a Fixed Plate & Spring or simply covered by the Stock with a captured Spring. This approach required the cartridges to be 'Backed Into' the cartridge opening on the interior of the left receiver wall.
Your description sounds like your father used the Fixed Plate approach. Rather than, "pushed in from the top", the cartridges should be "slid in from the front", rimmed end first.
The projectile (bullet) may possibly have to be inserted part way into the Chamber to allow the base to be backed into the opening in the left wall.
Another issue could be caused by the presence or absence of the Magazine Cut-off Switch.
If the Cut-off was simply removed, it leaves a machined groove exposed in the cartridge-feed opening. The cartridge rim can hang-up a bit on this groove.
If the Cut-off switch or lever is still on your Krag, it could be in the wrong position. It could be blocking the cartridge-feed path and preventing cartridges from being fully inserted or 'backed in'.
If you have a Cut-off lever, on most Krags, the 'Up' position allows free movement of cartridges.
If your Krag is a model 1892 or model 1896 action, you could have an earlier type of Magazine Cut-off, which had to be 'Down' to allow the flow of cartridges.
(The attached photo shows the Krag Cut-off lever in the 'Down' position. On most U.S. Krags, this would Block the magazine feed and cause problems loading. The lever should be 'Up'. However, early Cut-offs were the reverse).
krag_cut-off_blocked_position.jpg ( 61 KB | 1
Download )