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Three years ago, I sold a bunch of guns for a Niece by marriage that she inherited from her Grandfather's estate. She told me I could keep any one I wanted and I latched on to that old Krag sporter. It has belonged to her Grandfathers older brother who took it to Alaska several times before WWII.

There is an old repair on the left side of the stock and some gouges from a close encounter with a bear or so the story goes.

The whole rifle was pretty cruddy and I did a quick restoration of the wood and metal. Scraped lots of rust off the metal, but thanks to an original rust blue finish, it came out well. Just another layer of rust to be carded off. The stock has a definite German flair and is a one of a kind, although the stockmaker did keep the original Krag butt plate. The barrel is cut to 25 inches and has a very old Pacific front sight. I added the Redfield receiver sight which I had in my sight box. I tend to collect Krag stuff around here. The rifle looks a little awkward but really does balance and handle quite well.

It is a 1898 rifle and the barrel is still bright and shiny. All in all, it is a good old Krag sporter with an interesting history. I wish I knew who made the stock, but there are no trails to follow.