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

I imagine someone will recognize this rifle straight off. The owner is a lurker here and if nobody else tells us, I'll bet he'll have to respond. I have it in the shop for some minor adjustments. It is a blend of orginal parts and some contemporary custom work. The modern stuff includes new barrel, banded-ramp front sight, rear Rigby bolt peep, recoil pad, re-cut checkering, refinished stock, wonderfully hand-polished metalwork with professional rust, charcoal and nitre bluing with case color accents. The caliber is 6.5x55. I know my friend Steve Heilmann was responcible for the barrel and sight work, the rest?
What is it? I really couldn't tell you!

Beautiful workmanship. Is that stock as blond as it appears in the photos?

It is a beautiful rifle and beautiful workmanship, but an ugly stock and checkering pattern. If one is going to spend that much time and money on an old Krag, why not dress it nicer?
Is the stock a reworked military stock?

Overall very nice. Ole cowboy is a little strong. But what can you expect from someone who is into JD green tractors that is what you call ugly. Smile Smile Whitey

Well, let's see -- it's definitely a Norwegian Krag. The 6.5 X 55 caliber, receiver details near the loading door, and lack of a screw holding on the sideplate are indicators.

The stock looks like a Norwegian Model 51 Sporting Rifle (M51 Elgrifle) (see Brophy, The Krag Rifle, p 146) with the original "fishtail" checkering pattern. The wood is beech, but does not have the dark stain of the original M51 stock.

And unless I'm mistaken, that is a Norwegian match trigger we're looking at in the picture. Did Heilmann make matching/mated "V" cuts in the sear and trigger to precisely locate the Rigby bolt peep? (another picture of this detail SDH?)

Looks like a nice rifle to shoot and carry.

Yes, the stock is that blonde and I must confess I thought Kurt (KVN above, the owner, aka Montana Krag Loonie) was nuts to put that kind of work into that stock Krag. I have a very different opinion after the fact. I believe he imported the stock from Norway (no, I'm not kidding!) and maybe the trigger and other parts as well.

Some close-ups, first showing the bolt and cocking piece.

Then cropped parts of the same photo showing the V-shaped cocking piece sear, just to the right of the serial number (the angled cocking cam is to the right of that.).

And the matching V-notch in the trigger sear.

Which ensures that the sear and cocking piece, and therefore the cocking piece (Rigby style) sight aligns the same each time the rifle is cocked. This is probably the way all bolt-peep cocking pieces should be fit and I wonder if any of the originals we are seeing here are fit that way?
And here is the bolt out of the rifle to show how nicely it has been hand polished and colored.

The trigger pull is about 2 lbs. on my scale, but crisp and positive. the total weight of the rifle is 7 lbs. 10 oz.
A very cool rifle all around.

There is an original M51 elgrifle for sale on auctionarms.com, no. 9080214. Go to the main site and there is a space to insert the sale number. Good photos. Interesting to compare to this handsomely modified rifle. The original calibre on these was 8x57, so Steve's rifle must have been rebarreled. In Scandinavia, an "elg" is what we call a moose, so apparently the 6.5x55 on the military Krags was not thought sufficient. The guns were made at the government arsenal and were sold to Norwegian NRA members. There is an earlier M48 elgrifle, also 8x57, that is a little different, am too lazy to give all the details unless someone asks me. The 8x57 was a low powered special load, again from the arsenal, that I think used the original .318" bullet rather than the later .323". American factory 8mm Mauser loads which are loaded way down to be safe in 1888 Mausers ought to be OK, but don't take my word for it !! I have original M48 and M51s in my Krag sporter collection but have never fired them.

I believe I have seen that checkering pattern before on a rifle that some - almost certainly, Michael, has posted here. It was walnut though. Can't remember much else though.

BTW, does that bolt peep slam forward when the rifle is fired? And how stable is it? A peep like that looks as though it would tend to wiggle with the bolt or at least be unlikely to return perfectly to the same spot after every shot. Is it adjustable?

Brent

I've owned several and seen several more bolt rifles with cocking-piece peeps, and all used some sort of centering method to ensure return to zero. The British and European rifles used the vee-notch method already shown while the US-made 1903s used the 2-pin method. I'm sure that other rifles used other methods but those are the two that I've seen.
Regards, Joe

KVN, If I may ask, WHERE did you obtain the Norwegian Stock? I have a friend with a barreled action and NO stock, he has been unable to find one and could use the help. Thanks, Jack

Well now I have the Norwegian barreled action and need a stock. It's a 1912 Carbine, and I doubt very much if I will be able to find a military stock with hardware. Where can I get a sporter stock? That one in the picture is fantastic!!!