Krag Rifle Forearm?

[bruce]

Oh the joy of the hunt! Over the last several months have found two ... both beyond my money! One went for a little over $300 and ...yesterday evening ... someone went all the way up to $485 for a cracked 1902 hand guard.

So ... I got myself an idea. If I could find a drawing or some good pictures / photographs ... maybe even dimensions ... possibly I could take my time and make a hand guard. Given the difficulty of finding a specimen and given the price when found, making one looks to be a very workable solution. It would allow a placeholder until the genuine article could be located/purchased.

What do you all think? Pipe dream? Anyone know of a source for such information?

Sitting here on the coast of Georgia ... with my Krag rifle ... and just needing that little bit of pretty wood!

Sincerely. bruce.

[butlersrangers]

Which rear-sight do you have?

Krag hand-guard 'sight openings' are sight specific.

[Parashooter]

KragHandguard.jpg
Image shows Krag handguard (for 1901 sight) made "from scratch" in home workshop. Not a simple project only because of spring clips and rivets.

Dimensions are provided by the rifle itself.
Length = rear of receiver ring to lower band.
Width = to match forearm width.
Thickness = constant radius exterior, based on width at edges. (Interior to just clear receiver and barrel.)
Sight opening = to match selected sight.
Clip locations = indicated by relief cuts inside forearm. (Interior of HG must be relieved for clips and rivets, exterior drilled and counterbored for rivet heads.)
Rivet location = centered on clips, at approx. 10:30 and 2:30 o'clock.

Wood is black walnut (Juglans nigra) heartwood, dyed to match hue of stock.
Clips are cut from steel packing bands; rivets are shortened common nails.

Sketch below shows method for peening rivets -

KragHandguardSketch.jpg

[Dick Hosmer]

That came out looking really nice! Are you going to go into business?

[bruce]

My rifle is fitted with the 1902 rear sight. From all appearances, this appears to be original to the rifle. The receiver number is common to carbines. I have no explanation for this discrepancy. It has a full length infantry rifle barrel in perfect condition. The entire rifle is in very nice condition ... no rust ... no corrosion, etc. Just very nice. Given the difficulty of locating a decent hand guard for this apparently late rifle, I figured it would not hurt to try to carefully work at making a hand guard. This would not be to mislead anyone. It would only be till I might be able to find a genuine replacement. Sincerely. bruce.

[bruce]

I apologize. I have been running pretty hard at the church. We have a 125th Anniversary coming up Sunday and there are a lot of moving parts that have to be coordinated.

I have mistakenly said "forend" when I should have stated "hand guard."

What I need is the hand guard. The rifle is fitted with a 1902 rear sight.

Very sorry to have messed up and confused everyone.

Sincerely.

Bruce

[Parashooter]

That came out looking really nice! Are you going to go into business?

Thank you for the compliment, Dick. My woodwork days are done - too old to cut the walnut anymore!

[butlersrangers]

I hope these pictures are of some help: A model 1899 carbine with the 1902 (carbine) sight and the original hand-guard that was used on rifles and carbines with model 1902 and model 1898 rear-sights.


carb7.jpgcarb10b.jpg

[Kragrifle]

Keep looking for that 1898/1902 handguard as they do come up from time to time at more reasonable prices. There are newer reproductions out there, but none are very good. Only Ben Rice could make Krag hand guards that could fool the experts (there is one way to tell it?s a Ben Rice piece, but I?ll never tell) and his do show up on EBay.

[bruce]

I hope these pictures are of some help: A model 1899 carbine with the 1902 (carbine) sight and the original hand-guard that was used on rifles and carbines with model 1902 and model 1898 rear-sights.


carb7.jpgcarb10b.jpg

The above rear sight is exactly what is on my rifle! Thank you for the excellent picture.
Sincerely. bruce.