In the thread about looking for a home for a set of 250 Savage dies I mentioned Larry Koller in his classic "Shots at Whitetails" was a proponent of the 250-3000 for deer hunting. But long before and after using that cartridge his favorite was the 30-40 shot from the Krag sporter he built when he was 19 and hunted with until his death in 1967 at 54.

For those familiar with Koller's book which was first published in 1948 this is old news. But for those not familiar with it there were additional versions that came along in 1970 and 1975 initiated by his wife Alma after his death and the final version in 2000 brought to us by Krause Publications in their Deer and Deer Hunting Classics Series along with his son Paul who as the last surviving member of the family held the copyright.

This last version was different than the others in that it was printed in a larger format and in addition to the original text had stories and pictures documenting the group hunting camp Larry belonged to in the Catskills of NY, it members and their relationship with him, and of his beloved Krag. There are no specific details or pictures of the camp, the members, or the Krag in the original versions although he included a chapter on modifying surplus military rifles which as we know was popular back then and centerpieces Krags in general.

Here is a link to a more recent article by Patrick Durkin who was responsible for getting the last version of the book published and does a much better job of describing the influence Koller and this book has had on so many sportsmen. He was invited back to the Catskills to hunt with some family members of the original hunting camp group. Surprisingly, he doesn't mention publication of the 2000 version of the book but all that he refers to in this article is the basis of the additional storyline added to the original text brought out in that last printing.

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The latest version of this book also pays tribute to Larry's Krag by adding an imprint of it at the end of each chapter.

I have taken the concept of a Krag sporter carbine and "Shots at Whitetails" to heart with the final configuration of my sporter SN 456713 being cut to 20" barrel (as it was before rebarrel) with standard dovetail front sight added...just wish I'd get a few more shots at them....