I pieced this rifle together about a year ago and had it out today with warmer temps. Someone in the past had drilled and tapped the receiver but had actually done a good job of it.
Not being able to stomach the holes I sourced a one piece mount and an older weaver, spliced a new tip to a cut down stock, scraped it and fit a ducks head for a little extra purchase to the bottom of the wrist. I picked the barrel up on the net and put it all together for a retro hunting rifle as sorts. The barrel in the pictures below is not the one married to this rifle. It is just an example of another and how I blue/brown them in my garage.
Rifle shoots good with the exception of the low stock comb and actually did better with the rear ladder. The scope however will be a better option when the sun starts to get low and it will come off easily and is relatively repeatable.
It would be nice to find a Buehler safety to get a full purchase in that regard, I just cannot bring myself to grind the one that's on there unless I find a spare and do some mods myself. I'm using 4064 and a 180 soft point spitzer for a tad better than minute of deer accuracy, scope and truck is to high I think.

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I had it out last fall but didn't shoot any with it yet. (deer)The little lump of wood on the wrist just helps to keep it from rolling left or right and gives a little extra purchase.

It's odd looking but works, and was easier do than checkering at the moment. At least I thought so at the time but not that much because of the extra fitting.

If I wasn't in such a hurry I was going to fashion something from a piece of pipe, similar to a trap door, just to see if I could do it. I just called it a ducks head because it reminded me of decoy carving.

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Mark Lee Express blue/brown
Polish bright then cook everything in boiling water with lye, don't touch with bare hands, remove from hot water and use a clothes pin dipped in the solution. Swab, It will dry as it evaporates, you should see some rust like reaction, dunk in rolling boil and repeat, then in hot clean water.

When your done, neutralize with cool clear water and baking soda mixed in with it. It looks like iodine or or beta-dyne. I just pour boiling water in a pvc tube for the barrel. I  do the small parts in the house when nobody is around but don't get it on the countertop.
It will wipe up but you have to be quick. Rolling boil is the key and good polish. Its easy to do and looks pretty decent. Pretty durable too. It will not do hi-force 44 to well so you have to sweat/ solder to a very clean line.

Doco, what is the story on the chamber side of the barrel? Was it that way when you acquired the barrel? We have had discussions about Krag barrels being at least somewhat interchangeable and the sights and extractor cuts lining up when changed. The punch marks appear to be an attempt to tighten up a barrel that was not quite tight enough.

We were pretty sure that the Krags were done this way from past discussions. I wonder how long it took them to get that perfected? It would be interesting to what year marked their success, and what percentage had to be fudged by over tightening or dimpling. Also was Doco's example done at the arsenal or was that a repair for one that worked loose or did not "feel" right after a rebuild.
I may post the question over at PM and see if any rifle in recent history is clocked like the Krags. BR, any objection to me copying and pasting your AM info over there?

FredC wrote on Apr 9^th, 2019 at 1:19pm:


The punch marks were there when the the barrel came through. I think they were done to increase draw at some point. The barrel would thread hand tight to about .085 and then smoothly turned right to the index marks. I would estimate about 35-45 ft lbs of hand torque to get them to meet. I'm not going to say you wouldn't have to look but the barrel stopped dead in its tracks and you could tell it would have been a little more of an effort to over-draw. The chamber was free of pits and the lands and grooves are defined relatively bright but a little worn in the leade. That concerned me a little bit but it shoots just fine with a little more than a starting load of 4064 and a flat base bullet.