Mike Harvey wants a Krag.

[Drydock]

Go to 8:00.  This video was made in  June 2014.  Wonder how far along the project is, if its still moving at all.

[The Pathfinder]

Saw that too. Not sure if that ever went anywhere, an awful lot of old Krags still around. One was my first bolt action hunting rifle...still got it. Also picked up a nice 1898 model in full military configuration.  Just not sure if there is a market for a reproduction.

[Charles Isaac]

    Now That would be an expensive gun to reproduce! If they made it the way they used to, it would probably cost 4-5 grand! Of course, there's no way they'd make it that way!

[Advertising]

[Shamrock]

I'll take a left handed version.

[Bat 2919]

I just bounced my March 2014 post back to the top about Mike's company, Cimarron buying a 96 carbine out from under me at Winter Range 2014.

"I was at Winter Range last weekend and learned that Cimarron Arms bought an original Krag Carbine when they were there.  Spoke to the people in their tent and was told they intended to send it to Pedersoli to reverse engineer a reproduction.  Their best case scenario was three years before we see anything for sale."

[Abilene]

Things were kind of crazy at ShotShow (as usual) and I didn't think to ask Mike Harvey about the Krag project.  I'll see him in a few weeks at or before Winter Range and will try to remember to ask.  I do know that in the beginning he mentioned possibly having it built by Armscor or another Phillipine company.

[Abilene]

Okay, I asked Mike today, and there has been nothing done regarding a Krag repro at this point.  It remains a "would like to do it" project.  Of course we know how those things often go, but then Mike has followed through on quite a few so who knows, but don't hold your breath.

[Drydock]

Thank you!

[smoke]

Someone oughtta suggest this...buy up a bunch of sporterized Krags with good actions and good barrels.  They could repro stocks, bands etc.  Pull them apart, check everything over for safety and rebuild them.  Old/new carbines.  Seems like there would be a market for it since they oughta be cheaper than brand new.

[St. George]

How?

Once all that's done to them, their price will have to equal to, or higher, simply because of the associated costs in buying up original actions and all the necessary spares, because there's no fixed price on these things - plus, the necessary wood and correct rear sights for the Carbines and the hand-work involved in building them.

Ever 'look' at a Krag - really?

A 'lot' of work went into the originals, and the 'only' way the Government wasn't in sticker shock over what they'd've cost if purchased on the market, was because Springfield Armory built them.

Besides, some already do this - the results are called 'fakes', and they muddy the waters unnecessarily.

Scouts Out!

[Niederlander]

All depends on what's been done to them.  It could indeed be much less expensive than one built from scratch, depending on the degree of "sporterization".  It would still be expensive, and I don't know how big the market would be.  I can just about guarantee a built from scratch Krag wouldn't be as well done as the originals, as I've seen very few (like maybe one) reproduction of a U.S. Military firearm that matched the quality of the originals.  Springfield Armory built VERY high quality stuff.

[smoke]

How?

Once all that's done to them, their price will have to equal to, or higher, simply because of the associated costs in buying up original actions and all the necessary spares, because there's no fixed price on these things - plus, the necessary wood and correct rear sights for the Carbines and the hand-work involved in building them.

Ever 'look' at a Krag - really?

A 'lot' of work went into the originals, and the 'only' way the Government wasn't in sticker shock over what they'd've cost if purchased on the market, was because Springfield Armory built them.

Besides, some already do this - the results are called 'fakes', and they muddy the waters unnecessarily.

Scouts Out!

Compared to a totally new repro, it would be much cheaper.  Carbine stocks are already being made.  Every gun show and almost every pawn shop I hit has a few with good barrels and sometimes more metal parts.

Mark them with Cimmarron to avoid issues with real ones.

[pony express]

Problem is, there's no place you can buy big lots of Krags, there's not loads of them sitting in warehouses like Mosins, various Mausers etc. They would have to be bought up one at a time. I don't think there's any way you'll ever see "Mitchells Krags"

[St. George]

There never were a lot of Krags in the first place, and they were widely sold and converted to sporters once Uncle Sam was finished with them.

Those that stayed on got sold through the DCM as sporters fitted out with M1903 Springfield barrels.

Uncle got every dime out of them as he could, and many are 'still' doing yeoman service in Whitetail country today.

That said - no one's headed to the 'Krag Shoppe' to pick up needed weapons and spares - not even in Mitchell's dreams - because these were disseminated relatively quickly - not at all like that of Von Paulen's Sixth Army hoard rolled up when he surrendered to the Red Army and kept in storage until they needed an influx of cash and were released to the collecting world, all re-numbered and dip-blued.

Cimmarron always talked a good game when it came to introducing something 'later' - but they never did - and now that C&WAS is dying off (and has been doing so for the past ten or more years with subsequent dwindling sales) introducing 'anything' new (beyond the Italian Fantasy Series) isn't going to be worth expending R&D monies on purchasing, rebarrelling, restocking, fitting, polishing, remarking and refinishing overall for retail sales, and that's a 'lot' of work - especially if performed by American workers.

It's not like the Trapdoor assemblage that Turner Kirkland amassed under the radar, either - there were a 'lot' of available Trapdoors far exceeding any available Krags, and ol' Turner had been way more crafty than anyone ever expected...

Then, factor in human greed...

The 'second' anyone gets an inkling that a large firm is buying up available Krags - their prices will skyrocket beyond reason - making a pie-in-the-sky project founder quickly.

Turner dropped his purchasing as soon as folks found out, by the way, because Trapdoor prices doubled and tripled...

Scouts Out!

[Major 2]

There never were a lot of Krags in the first place, and they were widely sold and converted to sporters once Uncle Sam was finished with them.

Those that stayed on got sold through the DCM as sporters fitted out with M1903 Springfield barrels.

Uncle got every dime out of them as he could, and many are 'still' doing yeoman service in Whitetail country today.

That said - no one's headed to the 'Krag Shoppe' to pick up needed weapons and spares - not even in Mitchell's dreams - because these were disseminated relatively quickly - not at all like that of Von Paulen's Sixth Army hoard rolled up when he surrendered to the Red Army and kept in storage until they needed an influx of cash and were released to the collecting world, all re-numbered and dip-blued.

Cimmarron always talked a good game when it came to introducing something 'later' - but they never did - and now that C&WAS is dying off (and has been doing so for the past ten or more years with subsequent dwindling sales) introducing 'anything' new (beyond the Italian Fantasy Series) isn't going to be worth expending R&D monies on purchasing, rebarrelling, restocking, fitting, polishing, remarking and refinishing overall for retail sales, and that's a 'lot' of work - especially if performed by American workers.

It's not like the Trapdoor assemblage that Turner Kirkland amassed under the radar, either - there were a 'lot' of available Trapdoors far exceeding any available Krags, and ol' Turner had been way more crafty than anyone ever expected...

Then, factor in human greed...

The 'second' anyone gets an inkling that a large firm is buying up available Krags - their prices will skyrocket beyond reason - making a pie-in-the-sky project founder quickly.

Turner dropped his purchasing as soon as folks found out, by the way, because Trapdoor prices doubled and tripled...

Scouts Out!

Sounds like another sound investment for " duh ta duh DUH  "  Doug Donnelly