Hello to the forum:  I picked this krag up and have question about the stock. It has all the features of a nra, dcm carbine. But like the old family dog it has no papers lol. It has an issue with the stock. There are cracks in the stock by the trigger guard. Should I try to repair them or leave them as are. If so what would be the best approach? They do not seem to go through the stock. It does have a good shiny bore so I hope it's a good shooter.  Thanks, kc

---

Looks stable. I'd leave it alone. You can wipe down the stock with Boiled Linseed oil and that will add some moisture which helps keep it from drying and cracking more.

NRA Krags can only be known, as we have discussed before, by having a receipt with serial number for documentation. They did not mark their Krag firearms at all.

It appears some crude repair work has been done in the past - (pin or nail marks by the trigger-guard)?

IMHO - It would be worthwhile to clean up any bad inletting and strengthen old repairs with 'stock-bedding epoxy mixture.

(The rear of the side-plate and a small area of the magazine box seem to be pressing unevenly or in contact with wood [red arrows]. The receiver tang also seems to be 'standing proud' [black arrows]. A bad stock/action fit may have facilitated the cracks & splitting).

BTW - It appears a small area of wood was removed, between the magazine-gate and bolt handle, probably to clear the elevation-slide of a commercial 'peep' sight [black triangles].

As a matter of interest, your stock is a model 1899 carbine stock of Italian walnut. 'Acceptance Cartouche' stamp is "J.S.A. - 1900" - (Joseph Sumner Adams).

---

Thank you for your observations. A magnet detected three finishing nails used as support as you pointed out. I will try to stabilize the two cracks. The rifle came with a 1901 carbine sight, cleaning kit, oiler and sling. It has a 1903 Springfield front sight. It would be nice to know if it was an original nra, dcm carbine. Maybe someday someone will figure out a way to determine this. In the meantime I hope to enjoy my new piece of history.   
                 Thanks again, kc

---

Looks like you got a nice sporterized Krag carbine and extras! The extras add to the value of your purchase. 

Hopefully your carbine has good enough rifling to still be a good shooting Krag.

I'd only be real worried about making cracks look better if I had a valuable military Krag or if the crack was unstable and was going to get worse with handling or shooting. Yours looks stable enough to not have to fool with or worry about much.

Enjoy and thanks for sharing!

A model 1901 carbine rear-sight and a matching Italian walnut hand-guard are also a nice plus!

My WW1 vet Krag cracked in the same area.  I repaired it by pulling the crack open with wedges, cleaning out any oil with denatured alcohol, and forcing structural epoxy into the crack, and then clamping it for a few days.  The repair will probably last a couple hundred years!  You can find my repair in a thread here on KCA. 

  (You need to Login

King carp wrote on Jan 2^nd, 2020 at 4:58pm:

. . . It would be nice to know if it was an original nra, dcm carbine. Maybe someday someone will figure out a way to determine this. . .

The workmanship, finish, and odd shape of the front sight assembly are not what we normally expect in authentic "DCM carbine" conversions.

Thank you for the tutorial on the krag stock repair. That looks like a real good solid repair. Since joining this group I have learned volumes on these fine weapons. I would like to thank everyone for their help. I did not think this was a rare krag. I hope it will be a good shooter.  Paul, were you able to get the epoxy to flow through the small diameter needle? I thought it would be to thick to flow.
        Thanks again, kc

I tried and tried, and couldn't get it to flow with the medical syringe... but it didn't matter - the epoxy was thin enough to flow under pressure (from the epoxy injector) throughout the crack, and really filled it in!  I've shot it in at least a dozen matches since with no problems whatsoever.

Thanks for the advise. I will give it a try.

I fixed one similar to the way Paul did.  I used Accra Glas Gel.  I had a fairly large syringe, no needle.  I know what caused mine, overtightening the front triggerguard screw.  Someone had removed enough wood around the receiver ring that the front screw would bottom out in its hole.  I took a bit off the end of the screw and heard the crack as I tightened it down.  The crack ran all the way in to the trigger slot, as I had to clean some epoxy out of that area after pumping it in.  I imagine it will be good for another 100+ yrs.