doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Krag Single Shot

Yesterday, at a PA auction, I didn't buy a great Krag single shot in "25-20 Remington". I have non buyer's remorse and would like to hear from the person who bought this interesting little small game rifle. It has target blocks, nice stocking, nice horn furniture, and probably weighs nine pounds. No maker's marking. I looked closely for Griffin and Howe stamps, but none were visible.

Have to ask. What is a .25-20 Remington? Familiar with .25-20 WCF and .25-20 SS but not Remington.
Thanks, Chuck

Don't know. That is what was stamped on the gun. The possibility that it was a 25-20 single shot kept me out of the higher bidding. If I can't buy metallic cartridges by the box, I'm not interested. My loading room is all shotgun oriented these days. Again, I would like to hear from the lucky buyer, obviously a Pennsylvanian.

The Remington Model 25 pump rifles in caliber 25-20WCF were simply marked '25-20'.
Perhaps someone got the 25-20 Remington caliber idea from there.

Of course, another chance of confusion along the way is the old use of 25-20 SS (Single Shot) and 25-20 R (Repeater). Someone sees 25-20 R and thinks Remington.

I am more curious about the "singleshot" Krag. All Krags that I know are bolt rifles with magazines - rather remarkable magazines as a matter of fact. What is this singleshot like? Pictures?

Is this the Stevens 65, aka "Little Krag"? In .22 rf, it doesn't look overly safe, much less a .25-20 anything. Sounds interesting though.

Brent:

Custom Krags were regularly converted to single shot, either because the particular cartridge design would not reliably feed from the magazine or because the use to which the rifle was to be put (a woodchuck gun, for example) didn't require a repeater. If the .25-20 is correct in either variation of the cartridge, I'd expect the former to be the reason the gun is a single shot.

Rem

Thanks. I'd love to see some pictures. Sounds interesting to me. Some of those woodchuckers were pretty interesting rifles. And the rifle, for that purpose, is likely scoped. Side mount I would imagine. I am particularly interested in scoped Krags, of late.

Most single shot Krags are stocked to cover the magazine area on the side of the receiver. Griffin and Howe made the most beautiful single shot Krags, but not many come to market. The rifle in question is equipped with target blocks, not a side mount. The only single shot Krags I have seen have been in small game or early varmint calibers.

25-35(WCF) was a caliber I have read that Krag varmit rifle conversions were done up into.
To further confuse things, could the rifle in question have been marked 25-35 Remington?

The 25-35 Remington marking actually represents the .25 Remington Autoloading Rifle (Model 8).
Early on in it's production Remington marked the 25Remington caliber Model 8 guns as '25-35Remington'.

If the Krag was surely marked 25-20 Remington,,disregard!

The gun in question was clearly stamped "25-20 Remington".

what auction? are the preview photos available online?

Redding in Gettysburg. You can probably still access the March 6 auction. It sold on that date. Item #216.

From the auction photos, looks like a dark stained maple stock, post war judging by the white line spacer on the grip.

Interesting rifle, what did it sell for?

Here you go. I wanted to go up to that auction but domestic stuff tied me down.

Nice pictures. The checkering is a little reminiscent of my own Krag. I wish we could see a few photos of the entire rifle. Definitely looks like a woodchuck rifle. It sure would be interesting to see a chamber casting too.

Single shot Krags were very popular with wildcatters/experimenters/custom gunners in the 30's (and this one looks to me to be from that era) because they were cheap as dirt, not because they were the very best things available.

Another example of a single shot Krag. .22 Maximum Lovell, built by Hervey Lovell himself. I got it from Whitey here on this forum right before he died.

It sold for something between $800 and $900. You never know the interests of the attendees at auctions unless you are personally acquainted with them. This was not a "white spacer" kind of rifle. It was just a neat old rifle waiting to be cleaned up and shot.

Saw this rifle at the Baltimore Show this past weekend. Price tag was $1500....

I missed it. Whose table was it displayed on? I was there all three days.

Gary, the question would be did it sell at that inflated price? The guy who had it, his name wasn't Joe B. was it?

I didn't note the aisle it was located in, somewhere in the middle of the hall. I missed it on Saturday, and spied it on Sunday. It hadn't been sold by early afternoon that day. Don't know the guy who had it - he was a rather old man slight of build.

The gun definitely needed some TLC, but is indeed an interesting jewel.

So then it could be Joe. B because of "he was a rather old man". Fits.
Just kidding.
Gary hope your doing well.