Krico 401

The History of Krico Company

Krico is a well-established brand in the weapons industry, owned by a German firm, Kriegeskorte GmbH. Its origins date back to 1878, when it was founded by Robert Kriegeskorte in Esslingen am Zollberg. At first, they were a wholesaling business offering gunpowder, dynamite, ammunition, and arms; hence, Robert decided to build a powder depot. Having issues with local authorities, he moved the business to Stuttgart, where it shot up.

By 1918, the founder’s son, Max Kriegeskorte, took over the company. Ten years later, the Junghans & Kriegeskorte company was transformed into a private company and has been known as Kriegeskorte & Co. GmbH. After World War II, his son Rolf Kriegeskorte began producing household products with the help of his mother, while weapon and ammunition production was prohibited by the Allies.

In 1950, the company was permitted to produce air rifles and small caliber rifles in the following year. The production of hunting rifles began in 1954 with Model 400 for .22 Hornet and .222 Remington calibers. They designed the 600 and 700 models for heavier calibers in 1963. The company was relocated to Fürth in Bavaria in 1986, by Arndt Kriegeskorte, the son of Rolf. They entered into a strategic partnership with Dynamit Nobel in hopes of developing the Rottweil Paragon over-and-under shotgun. The project was unsuccessful and soon led to bankruptcy.

Moving to Vohburg-lrsching, the company was slowly renovated and in 1997, Krico launched its new Model 902 bolt-action repeating rifle. In 2005, they stopped the rifle’s production due to small profits in the repeating rifles market. Up to this day, Kriegeskorte GmbH has been focusing on the export, import, and storage of hunting and sporting weapons instead.

Krico Model 401 Rifle Review

Krico Model 401 is an upgraded bolt-action rifle of the Model 400, which has gone through multiple modifications throughout the years. The bolt has two locking lugs that lock firmly into the receiver. At the rear of the receiver, there is a safety catch that locks the trigger and the tumbler.

The detachable magazine can hold five cartridges that get extracted by two extractors at the front of the bolt. The rifle is 1030 mm (40.5-inch) long accompanied by a 560 mm (22-inch) barrel. It is made for short-action calibers.

Krico Model 401, chambered for .22 Hornet

Figure 1: Krico Model 401, chambered for .22 Hornet (Source: https://www.gunauction.com/buy/15402350)

Krico Model 401 Calibers

Krico Model 401 is chambered for the following calibers:

.22 LR
.22 Hornet

Krico Model 401 receiver comes with two 11 mm dovetail grooves, but it also has four pre-tapped holes, two on the front and two on the rear mounting surface.

Krico Model 401, chambered for .22 Hornet

A: 12.7 mm

B: 80 mm

C: 12.7 mm

BHU: 0.0 mm

Ø: M3,5

R1: R11/60°

R2: R11/60°

Scope Mounts Interchangeable With Krico Model 401

Rifles That Have One-Piece Scope Mounts Interchangeable With Krico Model 401

For one-piece mounts to fit on a rifle, the mounting surfaces of these rifles must match in all dimensions.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any information regarding interchangeable rifles for the specific model at this time.

Rifles That Have Two-Piece Mounts Interchangeable With Krico Model 401

For two-piece mounts to fit on a rifle, mounting surfaces must match in all dimensions except the B distance. B distance can vary because two-piece mounts can be installed and adjusted closer or further apart. The following rifles are interchangeable:

All rifles with an 11 mm dovetail rail

Best Scope Mounts for Krico Model 401

Fixed Scope Mounts for Krico Model 401:

We recommend BKL Dovetail Rings due to their balance of affordability and quality. They are made of aluminum and come with a two-year warranty.

Picatinny Rails for Krico Model 401:

If you wish to install a Picatinny rail on top of the dovetail rail, this is the best affordable choice by the German manufacturer. It is made of aluminum and comes with a thirty-year warranty.

Help Us Build Our Riflescope Mounts Database

If you happen to own this or any other rifle, we would appreciate it if you could help us expand our database by sending us some photos of the rifle receiver (the bare mounting surface of the rifle without the mounts installed). For your help, our company offers a fair return in terms of practical rewards.

Please send us an email for more information. You can contact us here: info@optics-trade.eu

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VIDEO

Introduction

In recent years we can observe that a trend of Picatinny rail has become widespread and global. It is driven by the NATO standardized rails, more commonly known as the Picatinny rail standard. Picatinny rail being the New Jersey Arsenal that developed it in 1995.

These mounting options are revolutionary. The biggest and best advantage being that the Picatinny rail can be used its entire length and not bordered to a few pre-designed slots like for example the Weaver rail standard was before.

The other main advantage is the ease of use and interchangeability. If a product is meant for a Picatinny rail design it will fit all Picatinny-rails, no matter the manufacturer or date of production.

Picatinny/Weaver Rail

Picatinny Rail and Weaver rail profile

Design

The Picatinny rail is almost exclusively crafted from a single piece of metal (in some cases aluminum). In this manner, the axis of the Picatinny rail is perfectly straight and aligned with the axis of the firearm. Therefore the rifle scope which is mounted onto this kind of configuration is certainly aligned with the rifle / gun and the trajectory of the ammunition.

Weaver rail design on the other hand is usually manufactured in two separate pieces, greatly increasing the possibilities for the axis to be crooked, overlapping, and out of line.

It is always harder to align two separate pieces to a third line than it is to align one piece to another. In this way, the lapping of two mounting rings on a single-piece Picatinny rail is no longer required.

The single-piece rail will assure that both rings are perfectly aligned to each other and that no unwished stress is transferred to the riflescope.

Picatinny compare to Weaver Rail

The Picatinny rail itself is an evolutionary step forward from the older Weaver rail. The main difference between Picatinny rail and Weaver rail is the spacing of the slots. Picatinny rail design has them evenly placed exactly 5.23 mm from one slot to the other, 3 mm deep. For this reason, the mounting options are repeatable and the same as other firearms using the Picatinny rail standard.

Interchangeability was a major driving force in the development of the new standard as different NATO armies need to be compatible with each other.

Weaver rail has 3.8mm wide slots and these slots can be placed anywhere on the Weaver rail and in any number that the producer wished.

Advantages of Picatinny design

A big advantage for using the Picatinny rail design is the ever-present recoil stop. Furthermore, the manufacturing of the rail is not very technically demanding and can be done without the use of state-of-the-art machines which greatly reduces the cost of the finished product, making it very affordable.

The Picatinny rail is easy to mount and usually, this type of configuration does not transfer negative stresses and forces from the fired weapon to the rifle scope.

In addition, the Picatinny rail with its very long useable surface works well for mounting longer rifle scopes or to achieve optimum eye relief.

The durability and toughness are other big pluses for this solution.

Manufacturers of Popular Models

A majority of the Picatinny rings are fixed, but a number of best rated European manufacturers (EAW, MAK,..) have, in recent years, put a lot of effort into the development of detachable ring with100% repeatability, with which it becomes easy to remove the scope from the weapon without the use of tools.

No re-zeroing is needed with such mount options, but these models tend to be expensive.

Weaver and Picatinny Rings

Picatinny rail and weaver rail share one more thing. It is possible to use the Weaver ring and the Picatinny ring on the Picatinny-rails, but it is usually impossible to use the Picatinny ring on the Weaver base. The reason being the above-mentioned positioning and spacing of the slots.

Picatinny mounts have a 5mm recoil stop that goes into the rail slot and since
Weaver rail only has 3.8mm wide slots such rings do not fit on Weaver rails.

Due to this reason, the Picatinny-rails are popular and prevailing on the market in recent years and eventually, these options will completely oust the Weaver rail from the market.

Krico 401

The History of Krico Company