Hello all,

First off let me say ow much I have enjoyed poking around the site off and on for a few years.  (Thanks Madsenshooter)

I have a problem that I'm sure has been encountered before, but I am unable to find anything by search.

I bought my sporter from an out of state friend a few months ago.  At the time I didn't have time to really play with it, it went in the case, drove home after the visit, and in the safe it went.

Pulled it out today to start prepping for reloading and encountered problems raising the bolt handle.  Flipped the safety all the way to the right  then back to the left and no go, as if the safety was in the right hand locked position.

Eventually I put a bit more pressure trying to raise the bolt and ended up with the safety pooped out in my hand.  Hmmmmm,,,,.

Took the bolt apart and reinserted the safety.  Upon trying to reassemble the bolt the bolt handle would not rotate  the bolt to finish assembly.

Long story short, after futzing with it for a bit it became clear the the safety appears to incorrect as the half moon shaft of the safety is incorrectly timed to allow the bolt handle to rotate the bolt with the safety in the "Off" position.

To rotate the half moon shaft of the safety to allow the bolt handle to rotate, the safety must be set halfway between the "Off" position and "Up" (cocker locked) at approximately a 45* angle.

To open the rifle the safety is put in the "Off" position, the cocking piece is pulled, the safety is rotated 45*, and then you can lift the bolt handle.  To fire, close the bolt, rotate the safety down to the left to "Off", and then you may pull the trigger.

As I say, it appears to be an incorrect safety due to the timing of the position of the cutout on the shaft.

Anyone have a clue?  (I think I may have time to take a couple pics tomorrow afternoon)

Rich

My apologies, serial number 38669X,  unsure if '96 or '98.

I've seen Krag rifles with different safeties.  I even paid Numrich over $20 for one once, they sent something else.  It would go in the right place, but the buddy that I got it for quickly found out it didn't put the rifle on safe.  I finally got him a correct one, not from Numrich.  Don't buy from them!  They're darned liberal with their "substitutes"!

'Hamish' - Wow!

1. Somebody must have taken your Safety-Lever apart and reassembled it incorrectly.

Or:

2. Somebody put tremendous force on the lever and stripped the corners off the 'pentagon' shaped end of the shaft. (Unlikely)

As you can see, the lever was fitted on to a 'pentagon' shaped shaft, the shaft-end was 'peened' to lock the parts together, and the parts were 'dressed' to hide the connection.

This sub-assembly (Safety-Lever) was not intended to be taken apart.

(p.s. - You can shoot your Krag at the Range without the Safety. I would advise simply replacing your 'messed up' Safety. The part shows up on ebay or you can try the vendors in the KCA 'Classifieds').

What I started with:

The shaft was spun in the safety and it didn't take much to rotate it back around ,,,,,,

I have (crudely) "staked" and peened it back in place.  I may have it tig welded if it doesn't hold.  Part of the "problem" is that the ball detention stops have enough slop in them that care must be taken to actuate the safety when it is in in correct position.  (Not a "problem" as I see it, the poor thing is well over a century old and has been done dirty by the bad, bad, man)

I now have a fully functional rifle that I now know quite a bit better.  Thanks very much butlersrangers (br?), Fred, and Mad for your input!

'Hamish' - I have a hunch that 'bubba', or his little brother, tried to alter the function of your Safety-Lever.

If a Rifle-Scope is mounted on a Krag, the scope 'Eye-Piece Housing' interferes with the function and movement of the Safety-Lever.

Some commercial Safety-Levers were made by companies like Buehler and Paul Jaeger, (I think), that changed the Safety's rotation and had a Lever shaped to clear the Scope's eye-piece.

Changes to your Safety-Lever and Striker-Rod suggest to me, that is what was being attempted, with your parts.

I would suggest you keep an eye open for another Striker-Rod, as well as, a Safety-Lever. I have edited and marked two of your photos to show where your parts have been altered.

FWIW- Sometimes an entire Striker/Bolt-Collar/Extractor/Safety-Assembly will show up on ebay and sell for less money than you might pay for just a Safety-Lever

madsenshooter wrote on Nov 12^th, 2017 at 1:53pm:


Thanks Bob.  I need to do a show and tell, pretty sure I've got a Frankenrifle,,,,,,,,,