Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Krag redux

I just finished re-doing a Krag sporter. It's stock was a very clunky 60's vintage Bishop aftermarket stock, with the obligatory Monte Carlo cheek piece and enough wood left in the forearm to heat my house in December. I slimmed it down, re-worked the cheek piece into a flat pancake style, removed the cheesy black plastic forearm tip and replaced it with ebony, ditto the grip cap. It's still a work in process - the metal will be rust blued and the Redfield No-Drill receiver sight replaced with a new old stock Lyman 48K I've been hoarding. (Weird in that the wood was cut out for the Lyman sight but they never d/t'ed the receiver for the Lyman sight and used the Redfield instead.)

Original barrel and chamber with beautiful crisp bore. Weight is now 8 pounds even, down from 8 pounds 9 ounces. Over half pound of wood removed in the slimming process!

That's 11 coats glossy spar varnish, blocked out between coats, final coat rubbed out and waxed for a soft luster. Lost the side checkering panels on the forearm in the process, but saved the big diamond pattern on the bottom - debating whether to leave it alone or re-create the side panels. Most likely leave it alone.