My Christmas gift to me.

[Adam Helmer]

Last night, I saw an ad in our weekly "Penny Saver" newspaper listing a M1898 .30/40 Krag Rifle made in 1898. I made the call and discovered another guy expressed interest in the rifle, but never came buy to buy it. At 0900 today, I closed the deal.

I now own the finest Krag Rifle I ever saw or handled in all my prior years; the bore and exterior are NRA Excellent+. I test fired the rifle today at my backyard bench with factory loads and handloads and the gun shoots better than I can hold.

My son-in-law has a Very Good Krag bayonet that he will give to me tomorrow. We have a local military re-enactment group that does Spanish-American War, WWI, and WWII events. I now have proper kit for the earlier era in our history. It has been a very good Christmas.

Happy New Year to all. Let us hope 2009 is better than 2008.

Adam