While I love my Constabulary Krag I'm not impressed with my ersatz NRA Krag. I would never drill up the receiver to mount a scope even on this carbine but lately I've been thinking about scout rifles. The Kraghaus 6 inch scout scope mount looks very interesting. Just one extra hole which would be hidden under the upper handguard if you removed the mount and put the handguard back. Neat idea. Has anyone on the forum used one? Are they a good compromise?

Neat and interesting idea!... Wonder if you can get by with just using two holes instead of three?  Would make for an easy install unless it wouldn't be secure enough or cause some kinda scientific, harmonic, way above my comprehension, accuracy issue?... Blah! blah! blah!

Link to Kraghaus:

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Whether or not you can get away with two depends on some factors.  Weight of the scope, how much red locktite you use, how hot you get the barrel during a shooting session.  I've successfully used the short mount without modification when using a 1901 handguard, but had to take a bit off the bottom to get it to fit an 1896 handguard.  Can't recall if I've tried it with a 98 or 02 handguard, probably have. The screws only came loose on me once after the barrel got warm enough to soften the Loctite.

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How do you like it? Do you hunt with the rifle as a scout rifle? As slick as a Krag naturally is I would think it would be a fast woods gun. And with a low power or red dot scope would be even slicker.

I use the scope more for load development work.  They're 3x7 intermediate eye relief, cheap enough to be disposable.  One sometimes encounters problems with them, but the ebay seller is good at accepting returns.  The eye relief of most pistol scopes is set to be way out there, but these scopes are about right.  I found old Bushnell rings that got me lower and further forward than what's shown, this was when I first got the mount.  It seems to me like a red dot would be just fine for hunting.  I have another of the short mounts, a red dot, and a variety of short rifles I could try it on, but they've not gotten together yet!  Oh, the reticle on these scopes is further to the rear, closer to the ocular lens, than most scope designs.  Any flex in the ocular bell moves the poi!  The bell and lock ring have to be tight.

My plan is to use my Nikon 2X EER scope. I originally bought the scope to use on a model 41 .22 but the scope is actually more of an intermediate eye relief scope and was no good at arms length. I think that it will work for a scout rifle project.

Baltimoreed wrote on Jan 24^th, 2018 at 8:00pm:

How do you like it? Do you hunt with the rifle as a scout rifle? As slick as a Krag naturally is I would think it would be a fast woods gun. And with a low power or red dot scope would be even slicker.

A red dot reflex sight mounted on a KragHaus 2 screw mount would indeed be a happy combination. With no alterations needed to the rifle or carbine would make it fast easy and restoration to original would be very easy 5 minute project.
I think I have attached 2 images, the first is a shop made Weaver mount with a Doctor reflex sight adapter and a Burris Fastfire3  manual. The other foto is a Doctor sight on a custom mount on a Ruger SA 45Colt. I killed 2 pigs that were running while I was chasing them with the Ruger, a 3rd pig was chasing me and died less than 5 paces from my feet. The reflex sight on a pistol is a little slow getting the red dot lined up. On a rifle there will be nothing faster.
I still have not fired the 35/40 with the red dot reflex sight in anger, I have heard pigs at night on the neighboring places but still have had none on my place since finishing the rifle.
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Here's a couple pictures of my sporterized "Bench Rest" rig sporting the Kraghaus Long rail and an LER scope.  Works great and I can almost plug the same hole twice at 200 yards with the right load.  I had to add the third hole near the receiver, but there was no collector value with this cutoff barrel, so I didn't mind doing it.

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psteinmayer wrote on Jan 25^th, 2018 at 10:09pm:

Here's a couple pictures of my sporterized "Bench Rest" rig sporting the Kraghaus Long rail and an LER scope.  Works great and I can almost plug the same hole twice at 200 yards with the right load.  I had to add the third hole near the receiver, but there was no collector value with this cutoff barrel, so I didn't mind doing it.

Whats not to like here, beautiful practical rifle for load development, you could use it for hunting or even varmint control. You did not ruin a collectors piece. Nice!

Thanks for posting psteinmayer. Your rifle looks good. I think that is what I'm going to do to mine. I was going to mess with a sporterized 03 Springfield build but this is a simpler pseudoscout conversion. I do enjoy shooting my Krags.

My Kraghaus mount came yesterday so I started trying to get it on my carbine today. It's was a tad long butting up against the action enough that the screws wouldn't align with the sight mount holes. I removed a little material from the receiver end of the mount to get the holes true. The other thing thing is that the holes in the mount were too small for my screws so I drilled them out a little. Eventually I managed to get it and my Nikon 2x eer on the gun. I'm not satisfied that I have enough screw thread into the bbl so I ordered some long repro Krag sight screws from s&s today. I don't plan on shooting it until I can get long screws that almost bottom out in the bbl sight holes and a third mounting screw. I will post photos tomorrow. I like the way it looks.

My first guess was the mount was slightly over long on purpose to take the recoil, but it is in the wrong direction. Next guess is the SA did not hold the front of the receiver close since nothing butts up against it. Mine was a little out of square and I faced it off on the lathe to true it up.

Good guess.  I've put a few flanged barrels on Krags and found out the receiver is not square at the front.  I think Peter left the holes a bit undersized on purpose, so we could drill them out for whatever we're using.  At one time Criterion was using 6x32 screws, for example.

Here's some photos.

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Looks pretty good.  I used the standard Krag sight screws in the sight holes, and then drilled for an 8-32 for the far rear hole.  As I recall, I also had to drill the forward holes in the rail to lower the shoulder so the screws would seat deeper in the barrel.  I'm sure your Krag will be a tack driver!!!

I'm wondering if it will eject without the case hitting your scope, looks close.  The scope on mine is further forward and allows it to, so I could do rapid fire.  I want to shoot one of my full lengths scoped against the AR shooters at least once this year! 

I have seen Bubba'd Krags with a sheet metal deflector to keep empties from hitting then scope & jamming up the action.

If ejection is an issue it looks like the scope could be pushed forward 3/4 of an inch or more if the mounts are moved. Getting the scope forward is the goal on a scout rifle anyway if the eye relief is OK.
On one of the older Rugers, they supplied a leather wrap for scopes to prevent damage to the scope's finish. Not just a bubba thing. :-)

The high QD rings in the first photo are too high to work with my carbine stock, the comb is too low. I had a set of low junky rings which work well with the carbine stock but I have to position the scope a little over the action to clear the scope base. I have a set of medium and low QD rings on order. With the low rings shown in the photo it will eject mtys fine. When my new rings come in next week I'll have to experiment and see what works best.

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Received my Krag Haus 3 inch rail yesterday and couldn't wait to mount it on my Model 1899 carbine.

First I mounted the Krag Haus rail using two screws normally used for attaching the rear portion of the 1896 rear sight.  The rail screw holes come already matched to the existing screw holes used for Krag rear sights.

Next I removed a Browning Red Dot sight from my Ruger 10/22 rifle and attached it to the rail.

After mounting the sight, I raised the rifle to my cheek and thought to myself "man the sight seems to be sitting high."  Than I realized that I had mounted the rail backwards.  The rail is designed to compensate for the taper of the barrel so one end is higher than the other.  The red dot sight sat lower after correcting my mistake,  but not low enough to get a good cheek weld. Still functional but the sight could be a tad bit lower.

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Next up,

I purchased a Vortex Crossfire II Scout 2-7x32 scope and Vortex Hunter, Medium Mount Riflescope Rings.

Installed the scope.

Laser bore sighted.

Next I'm off to the range... Unfortunately, that won't be till my next time off. :-[

The scope still sits a little too high but I think I can correct the problem by purchasing low mount scope rings.

I'm usually more of traditional kinda guy... but what the heck! It's all for the "Dedicated study, collection and preservation of the Krag rifle."

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Lots of room on that one!  I think you'll be very pleased with your results!

Neat & practical rig that does no harm.

I could make that red dot sit lower with my milling machine, but if you have another gun that one fits, you might look at the Doctor or Burris Fast Fire III, both would sit lower with standard adapters. Probably a lot of cheaper copies available by now also.
Does Kraghaus sell a shorter mount? If Kraghaus is interested I could make drawings for the Doctor or Burris adapters that could be mounted directly on the barrel for a height that would match the iron sights. The Doctor and Burris sights are interchangeable I think except the Doctor uses metric and the Burris uses standard US unified screws. Locating pins on both are 3mm.

Not caring for the 03 front sight, my plan was to cut and recrown the bbl but I went on line last night and saw how easy it was to remove so I took it off today. Surprise. There was only the cross pin holding it on, no spline or key, not even a step. A little bit of cold blue and that part is done.

Baltimoreed,

Always nice when a task turns out easier than originally anticipated.

FredC,

Thanks for offering to mill my red dot sight but I think I'll put it back on the Ruger 10/22.

I will look into using other red dots like the Doctor or Burris.

As far as I can tell... KragHaus only sells the 3 and 6 inch rails.

You can reach their website at Kraghaus.com

Weaver mounts can be made any height you want. A couple of ends off custom ones I made. The short steel went on a 1917 Enfield, the taller aluminum went on a Savage 25 with a night vision scope. I just went back to the KraghHaus site and only 2 lengths are offered no variation in height is mentioned. So I wonder if they are even making these themselves. I will email and see if they are interested in Doctor/Burris mounts. In case any out there want to make or modify Weaver mounts, do not buy a blank made from cold rolled steel, the first cut you make on it to fit make it fit will cause it to warp all over. If you buy a piece of steel try to get hot rolled it will start out ugly but it will be stay straight as you work on it.

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Krags with those rails are sure UGLY!

UGLY is sort of in the eyes of the beholder. All of us like Krags here but you have to admit that there are nicer looking rifles around. We get past that because the Krag has other qualities that function, durability smoothness of operation that make them desirable in our eyes.
Have not handled Kraghaus rails to know their fit and finish, but they can help us old guys with old eyes shoot better without ruining a Krag barrel or action. A lot to be said for that, the more you think about that the better they look.

I'll agree with you that a nice pair of scope blocks on a boltgun's bbl are a lot classier look but they limit you to the one sized scope and shooter that they're fitted for. A long picatinny allows any sized glass or dot at any location. Hopefully my Krag will get a sporter stock before I'm done with it.

[quote author=0A3E29280F2D202725223F4C0
Have not handled Kraghaus rails to know their fit and finish, but they can help us old guys with old eyes shoot better without ruining a Krag barrel or action. A lot to be said for that, the more you think about that the better they look.[/quote]

I agree with that comment very much Fred. and I think this KRAG looks real pretty with  the red/green dot  sight sitting on a small Kraghaus rail. Weather permitting I am off to the range tomorrow to see how she shoots.

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In reality we don't own any of this antique military stuff that we hold so dear. It might be in our posession and we bought it but we don't really own it. How many others have 'owned' these artifacts?I would never drill holes in pieces of history just to mount a scope. The Kraghaus mount is a great compromise. No holes in the Krag recvr but you can have a scope. There are plenty of bubba'ed up rifles in the world.

I bet Atticus wished the Sheriff had sprung for a Kraghaus mount and high tech optics!

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Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder... and I do BE HOLDIN' some beautiful Krags!!!

While the Kraghaus rail (along with what ever optics you decide to attach) may make the Krag ugly to some, that's not really the point!  I attached my Kraghaus and LER scope on my beat up sporter for a purpose - to create a Cast Bullet Bench Rest rig for CB matches.  To that end, it works like a charm and I love it!!!

As for beautiful, I personally think AR-15s and their variants are cold, ugly and very impersonal weapons, and I have zero use for them!  Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder!

It's like Lipstick on a Pig. You gotta really love Pigs to think it's attractive!

Doesn't everybody love bacon!

Hmmm  Lipstick on Bacon?  Maybe eggs and toast flavor lipstick!  LOL

Even Pigs love Bacon!

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LOL I should have expected that one coming Chuck!

Dropped off my Krag bbled action at a semi local gun shop to have the third Kraghaus mount hole done. 3 week turnaround. Haven't decided on the bbl cut yet. I plan on seeing how well it shoots with my scope and go from there. At 22 1/4 inch it's been cut before so I can't hurt it. Hopefully the bits and pieces will be here by then and I can assemble it and shoot.

Got my rifle together and shot enough today to sight it in at 35 yds. I'm going to like this build. I want to shorten the bbl to 20 inches and refinish the stock. Need to work on an accurate load now that I've got a scoped Krag. I'll post better photos when I've got some targets to show.

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Here's a 30 yd target with some holes pretty close together. The 1898 seems to like heavier bullets. Both loads are 9.7 gr Tin Star. I don't know anything about the pointed .311 gc bullet but they group good, the fp bullet is a .311 193 gr Hunters Supply that come without gc so I put them on myself using my lubrisizer. And yes I'm using .303 brass. There is enough chamber/headspace difference between my 1899 Constabulary and the Pscout that I can't use the same loads for both without fl sizing every reloading. But I can neck size and seperate the brass. However I'm going to try to use .303 exclusively in the pscout for awhile. If I come up with a tack driver load then I'll try it in some .30-40 brass. I don't know why this is distorting my pix.

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My 1899 carbine had fun being the guinea pig for this KragHaus scope adapter experiment... but the ole girl wanted to go back to being a regular carbine again because she thought she wasn't attractive anymore and people called her ugly. :-*

Wanting to continue on with the experiment, I purchased a cut-down Krag for $150 bucks and old aftermarket stock (for way too much).

Prior to receiving the parts I had all these grandiose plans about what I was going to do... but of course, cost started quickly adding up!

However, I kinda like the raw rugged look after putting the cut-down Krag/stock together.  So I decided to go for a new/old look like a RAT ROD or in this case a RAT ROD RIFLE.

Yes, you could say I'm too lazy to finish the rifle properly... and you'd probably be right!  But it's my gun so there!!! :P

The experiment was to come up with a Krag style Scout Rifle and here's my interpretation.

Only meets a few of the requirements for it to qualify as a true Scout Rifle... However, it shoots surprisingly well for a 100+ year old gun... even with my poor marksmanship ability's.

BTW: BAG stands for Big A_ _ Gun like the one used by the guy next to me at the range who took his shot just before I took mine.  Did I mention he had a muzzle brake.  OK, I'm making excuses but I swear he had artillery crew helping him load each round!!! ::)

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Almost looks like a Steampunk prop!

Google Rat Rod or Steampunk if your not sure of what I'm referring to.

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Nice looking sporter, the scope is about as low as possible, forward like a scout rifle. If it line up good when you have your face up against that cheek piece, you should be pretty fast on target.
I walked up on a pack of dogs tearing up a coon just below the house. The pit bull was only a couple of feet from cover when I took him out. Seconds are too long sometimes.

I just cut and faced my krag/scout bbl down to 19 inches. My first attempt on a ctr fire rifle bbl. Have done 22s and sg bbls. Also put my first coat of Truoil on the brown stock, drank it right up. Let's see what it looks like when it dries. Need to blue the cut muzzle too.
With two coats of Truoil the stock is looking alot better. I'll keep coating and 000 steel wooling until it's done.
Two more coats done. Blued the muzzle. Looks good.
Not satisfied with the stock just yet though.

Other than a sling I'm done, now I need to build some ammo and dial it in. I really like the cheek rest, it's very comfortable and puts my eye right in line with the scope.

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