The black silhouette is from Lenz, showing where to cut a military stock to turn it into a rather classy sporter.

The Krag in the 2nd set is Terry Buffum's M-1898 Gallery Practice Rifle in .22 rimfire. This was originally a full-length infantry rifle. You can see that the magazine has been completely removed and the gap filled with a nearly matching piece of walnut. The barrel has been shortened to 25" and a 1903 Springfield front sight fitted.

The rear sight is a Pacific. It just screws into the place for the magazine cutoff. I had the elevator piece and the arm that held the aperture off the rifle when the photos were taken.

The first Krags converted to 22 rimfire were those fitted with Stevens-Pope barrels. Stevens sold a conversion kit. The original barrel was unscrewed and a Stevens-Pope barrel was installed. The barrel was bored eccentric to the line of the barrel, with the chamber high, at the 12:00 position, so that the issue bolt could be used. The soldier had to set his leaf sights at about 600 yards to get the bullet on target on an indoor range. The Stevens-Pope kits were apparently first sold about 1902. National Guard units in at least 4 states (PA, NJ, OH & WA) bought them and converted several of their rifles to full-time gallery trainers. If you have been in the military, you know that is not permitted. But the conversions produced results; soldiers who knew how to shoot. In 1905, the Army Chief of Ordnance ordered the Krags converted back to military rifles. The NG asked Springfield Armory to make Krags in 22 rimfire. Some 820 of them were produced in 1907 & 1908. Terry's rifle is one of the first, apparently chambered for 22 Extra Long RF. It has a .226" groove diameter and an 18" twist. Later rifles were given properly dimensioned barrels. Whether they were chambered for Long Rifles is unknown to me. Maybe they had Short chambers.

All the 22 rimfires were single shots. The empty cases fall into the space that used to be the magazine. To get rid of the empty cases, you open the bolt and turn the rifle upside down and then shake the rifle like a piggy bank.

The Springfield-made 22 rimfires have the eccentric chamber at the 6:00 position, so that the sights can be used in a more normal setting. The original bolt is used, but the extractor operates an auxiliary extractor much like the extractor on a Winchester Single Shot in 22 RF.

Terry loaned me this rifle last spring and I have been trying to get it to shoot accurately ever since. It is a frustrating process, made worse because the barrel looks OK, with only 2 pits and a bit of frosting. The best results so far are with hypervelocity ammo. I am now resizing loaded 22 LR ammo to .226, but those tests are not complete. I have also obtained some primed empty cases and I intend to cast some oversize bullets and breech-seat them.

Last edited by waterman; 02/23/11 12:50 PM.