Greetings:  I finally had a chance to spend some quality time at the range today with my Krag Rifle and an issue came up that I would like some help with.  Several months ago I installed a new Criterion barrel on my rifle and the project turned out pretty good.  While not a Doug Turnbull restoration, it looks really nice.  So far I have only shot Hornady 168/155 Amax bullets in this rifle as they work well through the action.  I was only shooting for a group today at 100 yards and the rifle did quite well with one exception.  I was getting a primary group of just about 1.5 inches, however every 2nd or 3rd shot would impact slightly high and to the left by about 2 inches.  This was a repeatable issue every time I fired a new group.  This was with the 155 Amax loads.  The rifle doesn't seem to like the 168 Amax bullets very much as they grouped about 2.5" give or take.

I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue and if so what did you do to correct it?  I am leaning towards opening up the front barrel band a bit to see if that helps.  The front band has the barrel pretty well trapped and there isn't any give that I can feel.  Or could this be an issue with the rear barrel band being too tight?  I am open to suggestions.  Thanks for any help.

Rick H.

Sorry, but the picture I attached is rotated to the left for some reason, but you will see where the bullets hit.

Trigger guard screw tension or torque may be the issue on some Krags.

With barrel-bands in place, the front guard screw should be tightened first and quite tight. The rear guard screw should then be installed and just made snug. If the rear screw is too tight, it levers the barrel upward off the bottom of the stock's barrel channel.

Thanks for the replies gentlemen.  I have worked on a number of 03's and 03A3's but they are vastly different in regards to barrel pressure etc.  Can I assume that I should have just a slight amount of vertical barrel movement when all is tight?  I am contemplating taking the front band off and leaving the rear band in place, then shooting the rifle to see what the results will be before I do anything else.  I clearance the front barrel bands on 03 and 03A3's that I work on so I can just see light around the barrel and I have pretty good results with those so I am leaning towards doing the same with the Krag.  I must say the suggestion to tighten the action screws a specific way is interesting also.  Thanks again for the ideas!

Rick H.

I've seen another way those cracks are made BR.  On the 92/96 I have that is free floated, even the receiver ring is free floated.  Since there's a little space there, getting on the front guard screw with my honking big screwdriver that I use spread out the area behind the magazine resulting in the cracks.  Got those stabilized, and my receiver ring floating like someone planned it a long time ago. Rear screw first, really tight, front screw a bit less tight, on this one.

Thanks for all the replies.  I have found, at least with the US Krag chassis, that there seems to be no steadfast rules on how to fit the stock.  I have a cut down rifle that someone converted many years ago to a carbine and I actually really like the shorter length.  It's a very comfortable and handy length.  I put a new Criterion barrel on that and played with screw pressure and barrel/stock pressure etc., but have found that it shoots best if it is pretty much locked down in the stock.  The one "trick" if you will that really seemed to help it out was to place a piece of brass shim stock on top of the forearm tip under the barrel and another piece of brass shim stock under the front barrel band exerting downward pressure on the barrel.  Don't ask for a scientific explanation, but those two pieces of shim stock took that carbine from shooting sporadic 3" groups with flyers at 100 yards to around 1.5" groups with nary a flyer.  Hard to believe, but that little Krag make believe carbine has become a favorite of mine even though it is not correct in almost any respect, but it's a gas to shoot and draws a lot of attention at the range. 

My Krag rifle remains a source of frustration.  I would have thought a new Criterion barrel and good install would have resulted in a very nice shooting rifle, but that hasn't happened yet. 

Rick H.