I have always had a strong attraction for the Krag.
Of course it's a system from another time but its design and the quality of its construction caught my attention.
It represents for me the transition between two eras, that of the end of the 19th century that privileged the quality of execution whatever the difficulties of machining and that of the beginning of the 20th that favored efficiency above all other considerations.
We marvel at the ingenuity of a Schöenauer spool magazine without wondering about the slowness of the percussion of an already outdated system.
In the same way I appreciate the remarkable softness of the Krag system…promising myself to correct some faults.
The advantage of becoming an old man is not to go blindly for one type of rifle action, but to consider each one at its best.
I always had in mind to build a sporter rifle with a US Krag action and it's when I saw the photos of one of this kind made by Westley-Richards before WW1 that I seized the opportunity for this challenge.
We started with a superb Springfield made US 1898 Krag action manufactured circa 1903, stripped of a carbine made from a badly weathered rifle.
After the traditional blue printing, the first challenge was to replace the original trigger system with a Springfield 1903 Canjar trigger that we greatly modified without any alteration to the original Krag receiver.
The bolt handle was then forged in a more elegant way and a Lyman n°1 bolt peep sight found its place on the cocking piece.
For the barrel we opted for a Lothar-Walther .308" 10" twist match grade blank that was turned according to our classic profile in 620mm length and chambered for the original 30-40 US cartridge.
The barrel bears a three leaves rear express sight and the hand made front sight sports a fine silver bead combined with a moon-sight.
Then a well-seasoned French walnut blank allowed us to dress this mechanism in our own style.
The rifle is now completed in the white and even though the express sight leaves are not yet filed, it has been regulated with a test rear sight at the range where it has delivered excellent accuracy and showed how comfortable and pleasant it's when shooting.

Regards to all.

DORLEAC
www.dorleac-dorleac.com