An Unlikely Sedgley Krag

A look at, and a few shots through, a particularly humble example of the work of one of the 20th Century's preeminent custom riflemakers.

[@maxjenkins5771]

Benecia Arsenal is what you were thinking about. I have one of those carbines - identical to the originally built carbines from Springfield Armory, but detectable by serial number and model number. Mine and most of those attributed to Benecia (which is still an Army weapons center) were 1898s. It is a classically smooth and beautifully made rifle. Feeds flawlessly with 200 gr round nose bullets, and nearly flawlessly with the 180 gr spitzer that is (was) commercially available from Remington - the first round in a fully loaded magazine can tend a bit to dip and snag the feed ramp. Anyway, mild recoil, a solid performer on any North American game - what's not to love? More info on your rifle, and a shooting demo for accuracy would be of great interest.

[@SuburbanRifleman]

Exactly right! Thank you for the clarification! There seems to be enough interest to make a follow-up video worthwhile. I’ll start working on it. Thanks for your insightful feedback!

[@stevemccarty6384]

I lived within a few miles of Benicia for 20 years. The military rifle works are long gone. I bought a Benecia Krag carbine at a gun show there. Has '03 Springfield front sights. Neat little rifle.

[@debi5292]

My bet is it is a rifle rebarreled with a Springfield barrel because the barrels were shot out. These were then made available to NRA clubs and members as surplus. I have one with a carbine stock and saddle ring. It fooled me until I brought it home. Someone on the net told this NRA rifle story, and I think it just may hold water.

[@guaporeturns9472]

Hell yeah I would love to see it on the bench.. with a close up of loading the cool magazine.

[@SuburbanRifleman]

Okay. I can make it happen.

[@johnroberts5070]

Great video. I own a Springfield Sedgley, bought it in a pawn shop in Anchorage, Alaska about 40 years ago.

[@SuburbanRifleman]

Thank you! I’ve always had my eye open for Sedgley products and I didn’t know I already had one.

[@MainePredator]

You most certainly did not pay too much for that rifle ! I'm sure if you had to buy a rifle of that quality these days you would have to throw a grand for it easily . These rifles have the smoothest bolt action of all and they make an excellent hunting rifle . I've heard people say they are clumsy to load but having hunted with one for thirty plus years I can say they are not . Maybe in the heat of battle but not in a hunting situation. So even the sporterized Krags are in my opinion well worth $250 and more , I would think nothing of dropping $400 on one in decent shape !

[@firefuzz1]

The rear sight on your rifle is the 1902 variant. The 1901 was a vernier type ladder sight with the windage adjustment lock at the front.

[@SuburbanRifleman]

Thank you!

[@guaporeturns9472]

Absolutely LOVE the 98 Krag Jorgensen. HAD a pretty nice cavalry carbine😭. Oh well. Love that mechanism.. the magazine system is fascinating.

[@SuburbanRifleman]

Yeah that capsule mag is pretty amazing; dump in a fistful of cartridges and close the door and the mag does the rest. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced rim lock with the Krag.

[@guaporeturns9472]

@@SuburbanRifleman Yeah exactly..really quite an ingenious design.. even if a bit fragile and susceptible to FOD .. love it.

[@tanykolina9921]

💗💗💗👍👍👍👏👏👏

[@guaporeturns9472]

On the subject of Krag , are you familiar with the Savage models 325 and 340? A late 40s sporting bolt action with a similar bolt to a Krag , but with a removable magazine and in 30-30. Rumor was that they used surplus .30 cal machine gun barrels. I have a 340 and had a 325. Pretty neat little carbines.

[@SuburbanRifleman]

Oh yes. I had a 340 for a while. It was a cool little number. I bought it, thinking that its box magazine would make it a good platform for loading spitzer bullets in the .30-30. I wanted to do some ballistic experimentation in an effort to flatten the cartridge’s trajectory. Unfortunately, the box mag was designed for flat-nosed bullets also. IIRC I couldn’t load anything heavier than ~130 grains and, even then, I had to seat the bullets quite deep to fit in the mag. In the end, I decided it was just as well to single-load pointy bullets in my Marlin. I know it’s a practice that is frowned upon but I’ve done it and survived: one in the chamber and one in the mag. Honestly, I think most of the handwringing over tube mags and spitzer bullets is a bit hyperbolic.

[@SuburbanRifleman]

On the other hand, there’s really no good reason to try to improve the .30-30’s ballistics.

[@guaporeturns9472]

@@SuburbanRifleman I don’t reload but factory 150s and 170s fit in the mag fine. Yeah hard to beat factory 30-30 ammo. My 325 had nice wood and a butter knife bolt handle like some expensive European rifle but the bolt was sticky and always binding. Yeah you have to hit a primer pretty darn hard to get it to detonate. Didn’t someone do an experiment with that before? Can’t remember

[@SuburbanRifleman]

@@guaporeturns9472 yup. I seem to remember that also though I don’t remember who. A writer for one of the gun rags, I think. Probably should have held onto that 340. It was a neat little gun. I think I’ve still got a brand new magazine for it somewhere, still in a Brownell’s wrapper.

[@MainePredator]

I have a nice old model 325 C and that thing is a tack driver , cool old rifle !

[@5USgRWFH]

They roar, don't they?

[@SuburbanRifleman]

They kinda do. I’ve got to take it out and shoot it for real to get the full effect.