Who out there has experience with mounting a Criterion barrel (avail thru CMP) on a Krag rifle?  Since the barrel comes timed with holes drilled and tapped for the rear sight and a dovetail for the front sight, I'm particularly interested in how to mount the front sight.  Am I supposed to take the front sight off the original and mill it to fit?  Thanks.

You do have to un-solder the front sight base from your old barrel and re-solder it onto the Criterion (or buy a new one from S&S Firearms). The flat spot for that is milled identically to the issue barrel. The rest is easy-peasy, but note the thread differences in the rear sight holes as stated above.

I used Stainless Steel Hex Socket Screwsavailable at the hardware store. Put one in my drill and filed the sides down to fit the front socket of the 1901 sight. Quite handsome - I am not trying to fool anybody that I have an all-original piece. Used a small MAPP-Oxygen torch to solder an original front sight base on using silver solder and a jig from Brownells and following their simple instructions (layer of solder on barrel, layer of solder on base, cool, put together and heat) - it took every bit of skill I had and I have been fiddling with that torch for 25 years. As far as melting the armory solder - good luck - I think the steel would melt first! I sacrificed the donor barrel's tip and cut underneath the base and filed the solder off (the barrel was a drilled-out mess). Good luck!

I wonder if that was SOP throughout the production life of the Krag. Two sight bases I had cause to remove over the years were simply soft soldered on and popped right off with heat from a propane torch. Also, they weren't dovetails, but rather a simple flat milled into the barrel on which the sight base sits square. The original carbine barrel I have sitting in front of me right now is like that, and it's one I popped the sight base off of a couple weeks ago with propane, the remaining solder is definitely lead based- it scrapes off with a dull pocket knife. (It's going onto my Krag sporter I'm building.) I have no reason to believe it had ever been messed with.

I just received the rifle barrel I ordered from Numrich Gun Parts.  It comes blued with the front sight base and blade installed, and two screws already fit for the rear sight base.  Appears to be very nicely made.  Front sight height exactly the same as on my gun.  Sending it to my gunsmith to be installed.  Will give you a full range report as soon as I get it back.
Keith

David Sams is my gunsmith and meticulous doesn't even begin to describe his approach.  If there are any problems he won't proceed with the work.  I slugged the barrel and it came out .310" - .311, so I'll still have to use 303 British bullets.  But since I'm loading 303 and 7.65 Argentine as well, logistically it's not an issue.  The bore is nice and straight, the blue is deep and even and the front sight is very nicely installed.  And the rear sight holes are aligned with the front sight and the extractor cut.  Now, if the barrel times properly when tight, it should produce good accuracy, assuming of course the chamber is properly cut.  Lots to think about, but that's why I want Sams to do the work.  He has already rebarreled his own Krag so this is familiar to him.  Finally, I still have the Criterion barrel on order from CMP and will have David set that one up for installation as well.  That way if the Numrich barrel doesn't perform as expected, the Criterion can be used.

Keith Herrington wrote on Mar 29^th, 2013 at 11:39pm:

Statements like this (which also appears on the Criterion website) always make me wonder exactly how one produces a "short chambered" Krag barrel since the breech end is flat (except the extractor mortise) and the cartridge is a rimmed design. Can someone please explain precisely which dimension is "short" on these barrels?
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Since the Criterion barrel is at hand but not yet installed, the issue of the short chamber could be tested. Just try to put a functioning dummy cartridge into the barrel.  If it enters all the way to the rim, the barrel is not short chambered.

I understand the technical reasons for producing short-chambered barrels. But, in our society, short chambering is probably the equivalent of putting a 2-foot long cord on an electrical appliance.