This story starts on a fall morning sometime in 1958 in the kitchen of a farm house a few miles Northwest of Fennelton, PA.

I was 8 years old & I can still picture that slim "sprorterized" 1898 Krag in my Dad's hands. It sported a whittled down GI stock that had a slender forend with a schnable shaped tip. The GI buttplate with the trap was still there. It was adorned with ivory colored plastic wedge shapes with squared off tips inlayed into the walnut stock that was nearly black from the build up of aged linseed oil. The barrel had been cut back to 22". It was a handsome rifle that I found to be nimble in the hands when I took up deer hunting in the same neck of the woods 9 years later.

My Dad had just bought the rifle from his best friend "Fat" Miller. He paid $12 for it, more than he made in an 8 hour day at the "Fertilizer Works" in Butler. That year he shot a buck with that rifle, the 1st time he even got a crack at a deer after many years of tramping the woods in his Woolrich jacket & pants.

In my late teens I decided to "refinish" the stock, sanding away the wood to eliminate the plastic inlays some of which had cracked, fallen out & gotten lost. I butchered it! The metal was no longer flush with the wood surface & I had sanded into one of the voids in the butt stock.

In 1998 I moved to my present location in Northern NY State, just 13 mile from the Canadian border. Last year my son wanted to hunt with Poppy's (my Dad) rifle so I cooked up a few 30/40 hand loads with 165 grain bullets & took the old warhorse to the range. Wow, the GI rear sight leaves a LOT to be desired. Especially for 60 + year old eyes. I could hold about 3" groups @ 100 yds, but flyers were common. Forget about trying to hit something in the woods in low light. My 24 year old son couldn't do much better.

I decided to get a Williams FP receiver sight installed by Dennis Olsen since I didnt want to risk breaking a tap off in the case hardened receiver. (to be continued)

"Dads Krag", welcome to the KCA Forum.  Looking forward to seeing pictures of 'Old Lucky'.

I got the buttplate inletted a few days ago.

Yesterday I made a small .055" thick pad from a short section of a screw slot file. I soldered it to the bottom of the reciever so that the sear & the forward edge of the trigger rests on it. I had previously polished all of the bearing surfaces.  I now have a single stage trigger that breaks cleanly at a consistent 3#

Sear engagement is still ample. I tried slamming the bolt closed several times & also bumped the butt down smartly on a wood block to test for accidental striker release. No failures.

If you have an already "sporterized" Krag that is not a candidate for restoration this is an easy modification that can quickly be reversed if desired.

Looking ready for Bambii!

Good looking whitetails.  Krag 'em and bag 'em!  (In little white freezer paper packages).

madsenshooter wrote on Oct 16^th, 2014 at 3:56am:

I placed 2 aluminum wheel collars on my ramrod W/an 8-32 socket head screw/locknut that has the head ground flat screwed into the end.

I use a stiff spring just long enough to reach the neck of the case to push the bullet into the lands.

I check the barrel length to the bolt face, slide both collars against the muzzle & tighten the set screw of the 2nd collar. Then, I insert the case/spring/bullet into the chamber, close the bolt & measure again, slding the 1st collar to the muzzle & securing it. I measured 3.089" between the collars.

I had my dies set for 3.150" OAL for a 150 Nosler BT. By adding .075" shims under the locknut, I got 3.075" W/the 30395 160gr FTX. the nose is really stubby. The BC is only .330, but that still carries + or - 3 .5" way farther than I can hit anything W/iron sights anyway.

"Quick Target" plots 2500 fps, 1" LOS above bore axis striking 2" high @ 50yds to be + 3.5" from 110 to 130yds, zero @ 214yds & - 3.3" @ 250yds. 300 yds is 10.2" low & retains 1780 fps W/1126'# of energy.

It should get the job done on the biggest deer @ any range that a person is capable of putting it on target. W/open iron sights from a rest I can do it to 150+ yards. W/aprerature sights on a bright morning when the sun is at my back in the tri-pod, I think I could extend that range quite a bit more.