wildcat junkie

Nothing works as good as this. No scrubbing either.

Lee Marvin carried a sporterized Krag in "Death Hunt"!

Some pictures of Dennis Olsen's Handywork. Here are 2 M98K actions. Both have M98/29 barrels. The top has been cut & crowned to 26" but it is still the military profile after the rear sight sleeve has been removed. The bottom action has the same barrel contoured to my specifications. Here is a before & after comparison of the bottom metal. Except for some shaping I did on the trigger bow & a "straddle" floorplate, the one on the left as as issued W/the locking screw arrangement. The one on the right has had the lock screw holes filled and finished as well as some nice contour work on the trigger guard bow. Same treatment to the front action screw. Some more pictures of the bottom metal. I had Dennis stamp the camber W/the cartridge. (notice the eagle and swastika on the front portion of the receiver ring at the top right corner of the picture) Finally, a closeup shot of the muzzle crown.

For the last few days I have been farting around with some details & doing some preliminary load development. Unlike my 8X57IS Oberndorf Classic Mauser that has a very short throat in the chamber, this rifle ended up with a very long throat. While the short COAL (3.32") required for the 8X57 works most efficiently with 200gr bullets, the relatively longer COAL (4.20") required to even get anywhere near the land of the rifling with the bullet ogive, lends itself to the longer pointed boattail 180gr .323 Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets. I can't get enough Norma MRP into the case to get to 60K chamber pressure W/the 200gr .323 Speer Hotcore bullets. Mv plateaued at around 2900 fps. The 180gr .323 Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets allow the use of Alliant RL17 to fill the case to a lightly compressed load and chamber pressures are in the 64K+ range. The sharp shoulder angles & minimal taper of the case (not unlike today's WSM cartridges) will withstand high pressures better than the parent cartridge geometry. I was able to easily top 3100 fps W/the 180gr BTs W/O flattening the primers, but I think I will shoot for just under 3100 fps which is plenty enough snot churning out over 3800 ft# of muzzle energy with a maxium + - 3" point blank range of 300 yds. Back to the build: I promised to show how easy the Silly Putty is to work with. My old method of using modeling clay to control the bedding compound left a mess in the stock that was hard to clean out. The Silly Putty does not stick tenaciously to anything except itself making removal easier. A few minutes of picking out the bits of glass and the Silly Putty is ready for another project. Once the action was bedded I went to work on the barrel channel. After filling in the black nose cap section with some black Accraglas, I scraped the military profile barrel channel to allow at least .040" clearance of the new barrel profile from just in front of the chamber to the fore-end tip which was filled to .030" clearance previously. An application of the release agent was made to the action bedding and the fore-end tip filling to prevent unwanted squeeze-out from bonding to these areas. I then wrapped .030" thick pattern maker's wax on the barrel from a point 3" in front of the receiver ring. The wax was then covered with packing tape to prevent the heat of the epoxy cure from making a bond to the wax. This was followed with the release agent application and after it dried the barrel channel had bedding compound applied sparingly and the barrelelled action was placed into the stock and the action screws firmly tightened.. The "squeeze-out" was (again) just about perfect. When the compound had set to a firm, but not hard consistency, I trimmed the excess & separated the barreled action from the stock. After the compound set up over night, I sanded the top of the stock flush with the wood. Now the fore-end is completely sealed from the elements and has a fiberglass "spine" to help prevent warping. Look closely & you can see the .030" "free-float" gap between the stock and the barrel starting 3" in front of the receiver ring. Here is what the progress looks like to this point. The rifle can be fired and could even be hunted with as long as I didn't get caught in the rain. As you see it, the rifle weighs 8# 6oz. Not bad for a 26" barreled rifle with a full sized 3-9 scope that will achieve ballistics equal to or greater than a .300 Win Mag. Thats' enough for this post. I will follow up with some PIX of Dennis Olsen's excellent gunsmithing talents.

Yes, after necking it up to .323. If the "Ackley Improved" chamber is cut properly, (mine is) the "parent case" shoulder will still head-space. Many 30-06 A.I chambers are cut W/O setting the barrel back resulting in a long chamber that requires a lot of farting around to keep from stretching the case at the web when it is fireformed. On the other hand, I must not screw my 8mm-06 A.I. down all the way when necking up or it will bump the shoulder back with similar results. The A.I chamber has the same "datum line" as the parent cartridge. In everyday terms, there is a certain location on the shoulder that is the same as far as head-space for both cartridges.

Here ya go Pygmy 219# dressed. Over 46" around his chest. For some perspective, I'm about 285# on the hoof in that picture which would have been about the same live weight for that buck.

There's no risk buying a "used" Leupold scope. They will warranty is it no matter how or where you bought it. Rugar also has a similar warranty on their firearms.

If you get decent sights you should be able to get around 2"- 3" groups at 100 yds if the bore & crown are decent. Even if the bore is worn, there is a trick to get more accuracy when the bore is worn. Some guys reload with .311 bullets made for the 303 British. Those bullets are .003" oversize & made for the lower MVs. I've been told that in a worn bore they will work just fine W/O spiking pressure. Makes sense to me. I sight mine in so a 6 o'clock hold on a 6" bull hits center. That makes it about 2" high at 50 yds. To be honest, that's about as far down as I can adjust the sights.

Here are some of the Pacific sights that don't have the micrometer adjustments. IMO these would be better than the Redfield. http://www.kragcollectorsassociation.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1472212618 You might want to register on that site if you would like to learn some more about your Krag. These sights slide into the magazine cut-off hole. I have the K-2 micrometer version on mine.

Double post. Administrators can delete if wanted.

Here ya go, a Redfield receiver sight that uses the side-plate screw to mount. No drilling. It can be R&R'ed W/O losing zero. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Redfield-Steel-Receiver-Peep-Sight-102K-No-Drill-Part-for-a-Krag-/282193778944?hash=item41b40f5900:g:ToQAAOSw8w1X6FGU The rear military sight can be removed & the Reciever sight installed for hunting, then switch back after season.

Kind of curious how the old Krag did at the range.

One of your biggest challenges is going to be the horrid military rear sight. If you have really good eyes you'll be OK but it is more attuned to shooting on the rifle range rather than in the woods. Keep your eyes peeled for either e Redfield or Pacific receiver sight. Either can be installed W/O altering the receiver. I got lucky when a Pacific K-2 sight turned up on e-bay just as I was looking for options. Your Krag has ample energy to kill a deer at any range that you can reliably hit with tron sights.

I'd bet I'm the only one on here with a Krag in my avatar! I have the same picture as my wallpaper on my lapiop.

OK. after Wifey & I slit a couple of pitchers of Labatt Blue & a belly full of chicken wings & "loaded fries, (smothered in bacon & cheese) I'll try to get a few more PIX posted with some text. If you've ever glass bedded an action, you can understand the mild anxiety attack that occurs every time you pour in the bedding compound & set the metal in place. Will it release? Will I end up with a permanently bonded action/stock? 1st of all, for those of you unfamiliar with Acraglas. Acraglas is a 4-part compound that consists of an epoxy resin, hardener, fiberglas "floc" and dye. It has very specific mix ratios (4:1 by volume) and mixing procedures There is a newer, more convenient "gel" compound that is simpler to use, but I feel that the original formula is stronger, especially when I add extra glass floc as I do...The gel doesn't seem to take on the dye as well either. Since I only need e a shallow fill, I buttered up the metal and the stock recess with a thin layer of compound, said a little prayer, set the action on place and lightly snugged down the action screws. The resulting "squeeze out" of compound was just about right. Q-tips & paper towels soaked in rubbing alcohol were employed to clean up the excess. Now this is not the time to go to bed, work or any activity that will occupy your time for more than an hour or so. It is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. You must release the metal from the stock, or at least trim away the excess while the bedding is solid. yet pliable. A few hours later,after removing the action screw & replacing them with headless action inletting studs, I trimmed the excess compound from the edges, then took a hard plastic mallet & gradually drove the action loose from the bedding. This is what it looked like when it was separated. After trimming the thin layer that squeezed between the metal & Silly Putty with a hook blade Exacto knife, as wel as pulling the Silly Putty from the wood, this is what I ended up with. A solid, skin tight fit between the stock, front receiver ring/recoil lug & the rear bridge/tang W/O any pressure on portions that don't need it. More to follow.

Try for a shoulder shot as a double lung hit with the 180 gr bullets will likely result in a dead animal that will run several hundred yards. The bullets loaded are the same bullets that would be loaded in a 30-06. The Mv of the Krag will be several hundred FPS slower resulting in less expansion & over penetration. The Krag has plenty of energy. The problem is getting that energy dissipated within the animal. The factory loads are more akin to what you would want in an elk round, not a lightly constructed whitetail. Try to break some bones. Aim right at the shoulder.

It's been a long time since I've posted. I had planned on working on a couple of rifle projects while I was recovering from foot surgery that was performed in March. Alas, while the initial surgery went well, the recovery did not. A week after the surgery, on my way back into the house after the 1st follow-up with the Dr, my crutches sank into the soft ground & I went for a tumble breaking the screwed together bones in my foot. A surgery was scheduled a few days after this was discovered but a skin infection around the incision set in & the Dr decided to not perform surgery & adopted a wait & see approach. To make a long story short, by the time I was able to sit at a workbench, summer was setting in & other projects took priority over the rifles. In the mean time, my barreled action came back from Dennis Olsen and earlier this week I found some time to work on the 8mm-06 Ackley Improved project. This particular project posed some unique challenges as the stock had previously been on an action and this time around I wanted to correct some errors. This required a lot of filling with Acra Glass to shift the receiver upwards in the stock where it should be. I had previously done some filling to get the proper seating of the receiver but it still needed some final filling/bedding. The 1st order of business was to fill the voids around the action with Silly Putty. I used to use modeling clay for this, but Silly Putty is much easier to clean up as you will see. Here is the action area of the stock with the bottom metal in place. The area around the magazine box & the trigger well have been filled with Silly Putty. Next, the side rails on the receiver between the front ring & rear bridge are wrapped in packing tape. 3 layers build up to .005". This will result in clearance in those ares to keep the stock free of contact between the receiver ring & bridge. The same treatment is done to the front & bottom sides only of the recoil lug. This allows the lug to pull down into the bedding to assure intimate contact with the rear & convex shaped sided of the lug. I used sandpaper on a block to sand over the round nipple on the bottom of the lug to allow the tape to clear in order to contact the bottom of the lug W/O wrinkles.. Next, any metal that is anywhere near the bedding will be covered with 2 coats of polyvinyl alcohol release agent. Have to get ready to pick up Wifey. I'l return with more.

What part of this don't you understand? It sends notification for totally unrelated posts. There is a problem, it's not about "settings"!

Been there, done that. Read and understand this. I am getting notifications to posts I have never even seen before. I am NIT "following" them. The site seems to randomly pick posts to "notify" me of. Right now it seems that my only option will be to shut of all notifications & I want to be notified of PMs & PMs only.

Now that you guys have "improved" the site, I get E-mails notifying me of posts that I have never even replied to or seen before. Do I have to completely turn off the E-mail to stop this? I like having notification of PMs (like the old software) but I don't want my inbox clogged up with notifications to threads/post that I probably have little interest in.

Occasional moose sightings have been common up here for several years. Usually young bulls on the prowl for new breeding territory in the fall. A few years back we had a cow take up residence in a bottom land pasture about 4 miles South of me. She hung around for quite a while during late spring/early summer. People started going to the area to watch. They said there was a calf, but we never saw it.

Having both eyes open (if you are same dominant eye as you are "handed") Is important for shooting moving targets such as W/a shotgun. For stationary targets, not so much. I am left dominant/right handed so I have to close the left eye except when using a scope. The optics allow the weak right eye to "dominate" the sight picture.

It was hit by a friend of my wife. She posted the picture on Facebook. For the last several years I have been finding bear scat on trails several miles to the South while riding my mountain bike. seems like they are edging farther North.That's a wide shoulder, close to 8'. It's wide enough to park a car & leave room from the edge of the lane W/O going off the edge of the pavement. It looks like a pretty big bear to me. I wish I had seen it last fall in my woods.

One of my "neighbors" got run over by a car less than 2 miles from the house on the road (SR 420) immediately to the West of my property. . Weight estimated at 250#. This is the 2nd one in the last 2 years hit on SR 420. The other about 2 miles further North. Our area was just opened to bear hunting last year.

Yes Remington signed the death warrant for the 5mm RFM when they kept it to themselves. I did the conversion before the reappearance of 5mm rimfire ammo, but the performance of the CF far outpaces that of rf ammo. Not to mention the cost savings. The popularity of the .204 Rugar brought a wide selection of 5mm bullets to the market and that was a big help.