I recently was reading a book written by a fairly well known gunsmith of the past and he suggested lapping the bolt lug on a Krag so that it and the safety lug both made contact together. In theory it sounds reasonable, but I wonder if it is something that should be left to theory. Has anyone ever seen this done? Are there good reasons to either do or not to do it?

Many thanks

Problem is you might cut through the case hardening on the back of the locking lug - not good. Instead build up the back of the safety lug with TIG and stone to fit. If you spoil the bolt another one is cheap enough. Have had this done on two or three Krags so far. Of course the Norwegian and Danish Krags were made this way in the first place, i.e., with the safety lug in contact. At Springfield they decided to save a few bucks on labor costs and ducked this refinement.

Idared,
I did that on one and it worked out ok. The case on that particular bolt is deep enough that one would be hard pressed to cut through it. It only required the removal of .003" of material which was split between the bolt and receiver. Regards, Bill.

Many thanks for your answers Bill and vigillinus. I will remember them when I start on my Krag sporter.