FredC wrote on Apr 9^th, 2019 at 1:19pm:

Doco, what is the story on the chamber side of the barrel? Was it that way when you acquired the barrel? We have had discussions about Krag barrels being at least somewhat interchangeable and the sights and extractor cuts lining up when changed. The punch marks appear to be an attempt to tighten up a barrel that was not quite tight enough.

The punch marks were there when the the barrel came through. I think they were done to increase draw at some point. The barrel would thread hand tight to about .085 and then smoothly turned right to the index marks. I would estimate about 35-45 ft lbs of hand torque to get them to meet. I'm not going to say you wouldn't have to look but the barrel stopped dead in its tracks and you could tell it would have been a little more of an effort to over-draw. The chamber was free of pits and the lands and grooves are defined relatively bright but a little worn in the leade. That concerned me a little bit but it shoots just fine with a little more than a starting load of 4064 and a flat base bullet.