US Springfield Armory 1896 30-40 Krag Headspace & Barrel ?'s

[BDX]

Hi guys, This was my great uncle's weapon in Cuba. It's been fired periodically by various member of the family for years but unfortunately not kept in the cleanest of conditions. I've "rescued" it (i.e. stole it from my lazy ass brother ) and am cleaning it up and doing basic safety checks. I have a couple of questions that are pretty straight forward. Appreciate any and all responses.

I just checked headspace with a field gauge and the bolt almost, but doesnt, complete battery. Should I check it with another length gauge just for safety's sake?

The overall exterior condition of the weapon its pretty sweet. There is some surface rust I'm sure that something like Kroil will clean up without jeopardizing the original finish, but the bore is another matter

Its appears to be pretty dirty and/or (c)rusty. I've read a number of threads here about cleaning up old barrels but would like some confirmation of my intended approach. First a long soaking with Kroil and a metallic brush and swab cleaning, that to be followed by a metal solvent and cleaning, and finally a good old regular cleanup with a product to displace any of the previous cleaning solvents and final oiling with a rust preventative. I dont expect magic and I suspect that there will be some pitting that simply cant be fixed.

I'd appreciate product recommendations if the age of the weapon has any bearing on which products to use and also ask if anyone has used the Brownell Stainless Steel Sponge on tough deposits.

Whoa, I just realised this rifle is 114 years old...
Geo

Speaking of age now I'll have to go pull out my Remington RB .43 Spanish I bought at Ye Olde Hunter (Interarms) in Alxandria Va back in 1968 for 25 bucks. It was still wrapped in cosmoline at the time of purchase. Now that bore is as shiny as the day it was made and the finish is still immaculate

 

[mapsjanhere]

I would start out the barrel cleaning with hot water, just in case you got salts from corrosive ammo in there. Followed by one of the modern foaming bore cleaners. Before I go anything more aggressive than a brass brush after that I'd send a couple boxes of ammo through it followed by normal cleaning.

 

[F. Guffey]

BDX, The Krag has one locking lug, not the best of arrangements but at the time the Krag was the first repeating rifle Springfield designed, two lugs was a challenge, it took them 10 years to go from single shot rifles to two locking lugs and another 14 years + to figure out how to heat treat one.

A field gage would indicate the rifles has .014 thousands head space, some think this is OK if shooting new ammo only, if reloading for this rifle is a consideration avoid full length sizing the fired cases, once the case is fired and the shoulder has moved out, leave it out, the 30/40 Krag head spaces on the rim with total disregard as to the length of the chamber from the face of the bolt to the shoulder of the chamber, then as now it is easier to form brass cases with large tapers, 375 H&H, 303 British, 30/40 Krag and the 30/30 Winchester. As has been said the best thing that ever happened to the long tapered case is P. O. Ackley and his improved chamber.

Rescued? I have never rescued anything, for the most part some body hung in in a barn, stored it in an attic or just refused to get rid of 'it'. If it had not been saved it would not have been around to be rescued.

Rescued! I take that back, I went to the dump, came back with more than I took, 6 desk top computers, all of them jammed up and not able to run, the trip was worth it for the parts, I repaired all 6, had I made them to believe I was doing them a favor by recycling the parts it may have lasted longer.

F. Guffey