Unfortunately that thread I had going with pictures of different Krags got lost. There was some really good advice in there from some of you that I kept coming back to review as I looked at different Krags. Now I've come down to deciding between two Krags; an 1898 Rifle and 1899 Carbine. Neither is perfect but that's why they fall into my price range; either can be had in the $600-700 range.

Rifle: Swollen stock, bore isn't great, some rust on the barrel. Otherwise original and in good condition. What will it take to clean this up, and what is it worth?

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Carbine: Finish on barrel/receiver was removed, bore is 60%, rear sight is slightly bent, front sight is filed down, slight cut near muzzle. Stock is original carbine, hasn't been cut down, and is verified to shoot by the seller.

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So what's the general consensus? I have more pics but ran out of text.

Decisions, decisions!  What do you intend to do with your new-to-you Krag?  Go hunting?  Hang it on the wall?  Put it in the gun safe?  Shoot jacketed ammunition, commercial or reloads?  Shoot cast bullets?  Undertake a restoration project?

Before you decide, try the trigger pull on both.  That may be a deciding factor.

For hunting or for a shooter, especially with cast bullets, I would favor the carbine.  If you intend to shoot jacketed bullets, maybe in some sort of "old warhorses" organization, the rifle might be best.

Butlerrangers
I don't know what 60% bore means either  , that's what the seller told me at which point I requested those pictures. I assume it means 60% is left of what was there when it was 100% brand new.

I know it is hard to tell from some of those pictures, but where are you seeing rust on the Carbine? This could well be ignorance on my part, but I thought that "coloring" on the barrel of the carbine was lack of finish and dirt. Obviously on the other hand the rifle has rust on the barrel and presumably the bore, no argument there, but I was wondering if that is correctable. Again I have no experience with older guns needing a serious cleanup so I'm sorry if this is well known stuff.

I did a lot of calling around and looking on about 5 different auction sites as well as local listings. There are Krags up here in the Northeast but nearly all are sporterized, and even then the prices are high $600 and up. I did come across originals, but those were $900 and up, heck most were over $1000. Maybe the market for Krags has changed, I dunno, but I'm just not seeing current (or even past sold) Krags that go for what I can afford to swing right now. Even if I had $1000 to throw into this, I couldn't justify spending that on a Krag despite the fact I think they are really neat guns. I gotta draw the line somewhere, ya know.

I do like that rifle, but that rust makes me really nervous. The dealer has been straightforward and provided many pictures but I'm still concerned that it may not function or something could turn out wrong. Meanwhile the Carbine has some finish removed and other minor issue's but otherwise it isn't cut down (barrel or stock) and I was assured by the seller that it shoots well.

Maybe someone started to file it to step-down the muzzle to take a bayonet and create a fake Constabulary Carbine?  It might be possible to have that blemish filled with a low temperature weld in a re-finish of the barrel (or machine a step in the barrel and silver-solder a collar over the step and restore the original contour.

waterman wrote on Jan 30^th, 2012 at 12:04am:


Gotcha, so I want to compensate for the worn bore by using bullets sized a little larger. I will start looking for some online. How do Krags handle lead, I know some rifles (like AR's) don't like lead.

The other concern I had with the carbine is what the seller said about the sight, here is what he said verbatim;



I keep thinking I should go for the rifle, but that carbine keeps pulling me in  

Never slugged a bore before; is that done by pushing an oversized lead bullet down the barrel with a wooden dowel and then measuring the diameter of the bullet with a caliper?

I spoke with the seller of the carbine for a good 20 minutes. The rifling is the weakest near the chamber and gets stronger out to the muzzle. I feel pretty good about buying from him, he even stated that if I'm not happy with the carbine he will take it back, and judging by his reputation on that forum I have a feeling he'd stand by that statement. As several people have said, that rifle with the iffy bore is a risk, maybe more risk than I am willing to take. So I'll sleep on it and make my decision tomorrow.

Either way, thank you all very much for your help, can't wait to get a Krag to the range and see why you guys are so obsessed with them 

butlersrangers wrote on Jan 30^th, 2012 at 3:36am:


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That's all I have, Is that what patina is? Kind of looks like what my Steyr has (see the last pic), mostly though it's just worn finish but not a spot of rust. If I get the Carbine and I'm not happy with the finish I'd be willing to do a little refinishing project, although it would be a first for me. What grit of steel wool would you recommend, and would that remove the insignia and serial number printed on the receiver? Could I just get the dirt/rust/crud off with steel wool and then hold off with the refinishing?

I've always been a long gun over carbines, but the inside of that barrel on the rifle would scare me away, certainly so for 700 smackers. I don't know what your criteria for a krag is, but there is cleaner options out there for a couple hundred more. 

I found this fella with a quick search, he has 3 krags for sell starting at 850.00

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I spent $800 on the krag 98 rifle I bought a few weeks ago at a show in Connecticut, you can see it from link in my post in this forum, I wanted a clean condition shooter and no wasn't concern about a rifle being all original.