New upper band for the parked Krag

[madsenshooter]

I managed a buy it now on an unslotted upper band that had been parkerized. Good deal at $45, in today's market. Its a very good fit to the wood of my 1895 dated stock. The bands above the barrel had been worked on, as suggested by Whelen. There was only the slightest of barrel contact by the topmost band, only at the 10 o'clock position looking down from the muzzle. It puts just the slightest bit of pressure on the barrel, just enough to keep it down in the channel. Guess I'll chime in again once I get a chance to shoot a few rounds and see how it works.

[jon_norstog]

Madsen,

I've had pretty good luck setting up barrel-banded rifles. My own thought is that the American preference for "free-floating" barrels and nothing but is kinda misguided. I like to have a bit of contact at the bands, enough so that it interrupts the vibrating frequency of the barrel. Not enough to hang the barrel as it expands. Over the years I've used paper shims, bondo, silly putty, you name it to set of the contact on the stock side, and wet-or-dry to polish the inside of bands. Lot of times I grease under the barrel band, or use paper shims there, too.

Sounds like you are on the right track there, anyway. Good luck.

jn

[psteinmayer]

Bob, if you need any parts parkerized for your Krag... I know a guy here who does that. He works mostly on Garands, but I know he'll parkerize anything you need.

[madsenshooter]

I found that tight was not the way to go. I got better groups with the slotted band left a bit loose.