Answer to question #1 is: Get a new stock, remove military sight & shorten the barrel. Sedgeley (sp?) reworked a lot of them. Did G&H make any alterations? I have what I think is a Bannerman alteration with a WW1 surplus Springfield barrel & Marble's receiver sight. In Muzzle Flashes, Lenz shows a Harvey Rogers Krag sporter on p. 582. That is supposed to be an extreme modification of the military stock.
#2: I have seen classic sporters in .35 WCF and .405 WCF. Both required some work on the magazine to handle the slightly longer cartridges. The man who owned both sporters said the alteration involved grinding away the front part of the magazine well to accommodate the longer cartridges. I have seen minimal alterations of the Krag to 25/35 WCF. I have never shot one but I am told the magazine works & feeds properly. Krags have been made into 22 Hornets, 219 Zippers and 22 Savage High Powers, but I think all were single loaders and were made simply because the actions were cheap and available.
Since June, I have been playing with a minimal sporterization of a Model 1898 Krag Gallery Practice Rifle owned by Terry Buffum. I think the rifle is chambered for 22 Extra Long rimfire. The conversion to rimfire works very well, but the rifle has a .226" groove diameter and an 18" twist. Regular 22 LR ammo does not shoot too well, but I am sure the rifle will shoot well with the proper bullet. I now have bump dies, 4 22 caliber bullet moulds and 5,000 empty primed Long Rifle cases. All I need is some ambition.
MP has suggested sticking to loads published in the loading manuals. Beware of some of the maximum loads in old Lyman manuals. I cracked a bolt with one of them.
Last edited by waterman; 12/28/10 04:22 AM.
