doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Krag Sporter

Does this look like a Stoeger stock? It has been twice refinished, most recently by me. The checkerer was not great (though I have seen much worse). I was able to fix it up quite a bit.

Will Stuart

Will, Welcome to the forum, good to see you over here. I can't tell the Stoeger Krag stock by sight, hopefully Mark will be along. The majority of the Stoeger 1903 stocks I have seen all have a smooth metal buttplate.

Thanks Michael and thanks for the invite - great stuff on here. This one does have the smooth metal butplate. And the lines looked quite similar to Stoeger pictures I have seen posted.

Will Stuart

IMO not Stoeger, no cheekpiece. Of my two Stoeger Krags, both have cps, one has smooth steel buttplate, the other a Winchester checkered steel plate.

A shot in the dark. Thanks!

Throwback, prewar Stoeger catalogs also show cheekpiece, additionally, I would suggest that most customers sophisticated enough to restock would also fit an aperture sight. No doubt you have already looked in the barrel channel and under the buttplate, also the underside of the barrel, for markings, signature, initials. A lot of prewar conversions were left unmarked, which exasperates us today. In any case a good looking rifle, well shaped stock, pretty wood.

Yes, these things are perplexing. The sights and barrel band were an anathema to me also, especially contrasted with such nice wood. I have been searching for the right aperture sight for this rifle but other things have been more pressing.

This action and barrel is not original nor do I have any idea if the action that was in the stock when I got it was itself original. I will take another look at that action but I do not recall any markings anywhere.

Two years ago a friend of mine was surprised with a divorce and put in a bad spot. I bought all his guns from him and this was the lone keeper. He had bought it some time ago from an old man who had two Krags. I wonder now what the other one looked like and if their actions had been switched.

The "original" barrel's rifling was pretty bad with pits like bead blasting. Although the original stock work was nice someone had refinished it. The but plate and grip cap were left proud and the checkering was somewhat obscured. The finish had drips in it.

The checkering (original?) was decidely amateurish in its layout with wandering borders etc. I trued it up quite a bit and re-cut it and I brought the metal back down to the wood surface. Though as you can see I haven't done anything to finish them yet.

The action that was on the rifle when I got it has a turned down bolt (no idea why this seemed to be a good idea)with a flat-bottom knob. Somebody attempted to check the flat with a bastard file. The cocking knob was nixed and the bolt was polished.

So, absent any other knowledge I am left to conclude that the rifle is a product of two citizens, one of limited skill, who knew his limitations and a later "butcher" who really messed things up. I think that the stock must have been purchased because it does not match the skill of the "gunsmiths". And as you point out the quality of sights does not match the quality of the wood.

None of the rifle's attributes makes much sense. That said, the current action has a perfect bore and if I can catch Rollie Frasier on a good day I will have the right period sight for it.

- Will