Good morning to all,

Well, I done did it!! I got not just one, but TWO 1898's in one deal! One is a Bubba'd "sporterized" one, the other looks like it has a carbine length stock on a 30" bbl model.

A little about me: Navy veteran, currently a Police Officer and Paramedic out here in the Government controlled paradise that is the Democratic People's Republic of California(  ). Been reloading precision rifle stuff for many moons, so my Grafs brass is going to get a workout when it arrives. Now I just need to choose a bullet for one of my assortment of gunpowders which include Alliant Reloder 16, 17, and 23 as well as Hodgdon 4350, Retumbo as well as some surplus WC857 for my 7mm RemMag stuff.

Let the fun begin!!

Attached is a pic of the 30" barrel version, all identifying marks were Polished off when it was re-blued at some point in its life. It's got a 1901 rear sight.  That peep hole is small!!

Well, officer 1911, welcome to the KCA! You are among a group of avid Krag lovers and we can help answer questions and get you on track to enjoying the hobby of collecting and shooting Krags to your heart's delight!

You will find a wealth of information in the forums by looking back in each category and finding what you need about collecting and shooting and reloading. We can help answer questions you have along the way.

It would help to have some more detailed and close up pictures of different areas of your Krag rifle.

It does indeed have a cut down stock that appears to have been cut down from a rifle- not a carbine stock. But, the two pictures aren't enough to be more specific. That sure is some strong 200 proof alcohol! Just think of what is would do to yer innards!

But, the finish looks to have been exposed to some high heat or chemical that caused it to blister. You probably are best to remove all of the finish and start from scratch to refinish it yourself. You are not damaging anything because it is not an original condition stock and has no collector's value. We would need to see more pictures of the rifle to tell you more about it. It looks to have an unissued front sight but I can't see enough. If there are any markings on the stock on the left side below the receiver, get a picture and show us that, also.

Having said the above, these rifles can be great shooters even if they are not original as issued by Springfield Armory. They are fun to reload for and shoot and the Krags are extremely accurate at longer distances with open sights. (Even the, yes, small peep sight!)

So, show us more. We'd love to see what you have!

Stock behind rear action screw:

Rear sight:

I appreciate your kind words and there is definitely a TON of information on this site I am absorbing like a dry sponge. As far as collector value, yeah, these rifles are just for fun. They have been modified from their original state quite a bit and I am just going to shoot them and make them pretty. I'm resizing photos to get them up here for everyone to see.

One of my personal contributions I am going to do for everybody on here is to do a few rounds of load development with different powders and projectiles with assorted velocity statistical data, atmospheric condition data, and downrange performance in group size for posterity. I'm pretty meticulous when it comes to load development and data logging as a side effect of trying to make little bullets fly far and hit little things out there.


Take care and be safe!

'Clcustom1911' - Welcome to the KCA Forum.

Enjoy reloading .30-40 cartridges and shooting your Krag. Keep within the pressure limitations of the Krag. It is a grand and versatile cartridge. It should not be 'Hot-Rodded' into something it isn't.

Your front-sight is correct and your rear-sight is the model 1901 sight.

Your 'cut-down' stock appears to be one of the Italian walnut ones.

Your Krag would be a good candidate for restoration of the stock (length) by splicing a new forearm under the rear barrel-band.

How is the condition of the bore?

After doing just a basic cleaning of the bore which consists of pulling a .30 cal boresnake through a couple times to clean it the dust and such....  The bore actually looks pretty good with clean edge rifling and the throat looks good based on my naked eye. I used my micrometer to measure the bore diameter and they both measure out at .310".  Before I go buying bullets and whatnot I'm going do a real bore cleaning and slug the bore to see if that matches.

And reference "hot rodding" whilst reloading. Have no fear, I've  never been a believer in "faster is better".  In my precision shooting world, " consistent is better".  I tend to like my standard deviations to be under 10 fps and extreme spread to be under 30 if I can swing it with my assorted long range rifle loading.

My goal is to put a 10" steel plate at 200 yards, put my rear sight aperture at "2" and clean off a 5" center portion of that steel target. So, if that means I move a 220g round nose at 2000 FPS, cool. If that means I move a 175 Spitzer, which has a higher ballistic coefficient, at 1850 to get the same results, I'd prefer that because that would mean less recoil, less pressure (likely), and a longer time enjoying the rifle.

Aviation Support Equipment Technician, Second Class (AS2) 1980 to 1993 - After boot and A-School, NAS Meridian, USS Ranger CV-61, NASNI (North Island), and finally, NASU Christchurch, New Zealand (operation Deep Freeze in support of Antarctic Operations).