Have the opportunity to possibly obtain a 1896 Krag rifle and had some questions for the membership:

Rifle is a 1896 with appropriate SN497** and has the appropriate sights and hardware. 

Question 1: muzzle wear is approx. 4 I believe on a CMP gauge and bore has been exposed to corrosive ammo during its life but still has visible grooves/lands... thoughts?


Question 2: has correct '96 upper handguard but has a crack from rear of sight base to rear of guard - I know they are fixable with talent and time - are replacements available?
 
Overall the rifle is in good shape and has 100+yrs of service life as its Hx...

Any thoughts from the group would be appreciated...

You have some choices.
1. Handguards can be glued or look for a replacement on ebay as they do show up.
2. If you are buying to rifle for shooting the bore may contribute to the rifle being less accurate but if you aren't shooting it for accuracy it looks like fairly clean barrel.  I had an M1 Garand with a barrel over 4 ME (don't know ME) and it was all over the place at 100yards.

In summary, it depends on what you want and how you are going to use the rifle.  My opinion.

Good Luck

The cracked hand guard is something I would leave original. It is normal for these old Krags. It won't change how it shoots. I would prefer an original 120 year old matching cracked hand guard over a new replacement any day. I have done both, purchased new replacements to install on rifles with missing hand guards and kept cracked ones on some rifles. You are not going to be dismounting it very often.

Now about that barrel. If you just want a looker. Leave it as is and remember they are only original once. Look for a more common 1898 to work on. If you want to shoot it better, read on.

I don't care how bad it looks at first or what a CMP muzzle gauge says. First thing is clean it (A lot) and then shoot it off a bench with a solid rest. Take it home and get some bore cleaning paste with some abrasive like JB Bore Paste. Roll up your sleeves and lock the rifle in a good cleaning cradle and start pushing back and forth from the breech end with bore paste until you think your arm will fall off. Think several hundred strokes. Wipe clean and then go shoot it with the same ammo on the same rest with the same sight picture and the same size target with the same number of rounds. Compare progress. Lather, rinse and repeat! When you think it is clean, you are just getting started. Clean some more. You would be amazed how many 45-70 and 30-40 bores have been saved from the junk barrel when visual inspection looked grim.

If it still won't shoot the next trick is to have someone with a lathe, back bore the first inch of the muzzle end to get rid of the nasty condition up front. This was a common fix back in the day.

Try oversize lead bullets at lead bullet velocities.

If it still won't shoot well. Then decide to leave it as, hang it on the wall and enjoy looking at it or go with a new aftermarket barrel and start shooting for CMP Gold Medals.

I'll see you on the range!

Jeff the Caterpillar Man

Thank you both for the advice.....just got Mr. Mallory's book and Mr. Brophy's book is on its way....these are very interesting rifles and being <novice in knowing anything about these ...the memberships guidance is greatly appreciated!!!

your collection of books is not complete without the book by Joe Farmer. Samll investment for priceless information

Thank you all for the advice on the books....
1st one I got was Mr. Poyer's  [2nd edition revised] and just received Col Brophy's [1st edition BeinFeld] and Mr. Mallory's (2nd Edition SRS) in the mail - so sitting down to read them as I can...
I'm awaiting a reply from the seller of the rifle - & it would be a great addition to my Krag carbine...my concern was the barrel condition of the rifle....the measurements I posted are from the Carbine (which I haven't taken out to exercise yet) - just barely found some 'food' for it.

2nd addition as well and also updated the above information (book editions) in my post above.

regarding the   ME, don't bleed till you are cut. I bet you will be surprised at the precise shooting you will achieve. Shoot cast and you may very well be amazed at how well it shoots.