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I have read a couple of articles where it was said that the Armory(Springfield?) had cut down, refurbished, sanded, and blued a number of Krag's. Would the Armory had marked all refurbished rifles. If so, where would you find the Marking???? RICKGEE
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Rick -
It's a good question to pose but I really doubt any arsenal did all the above operations at one time to Krag rifles.
There were some rifles which were cut down to carbine length, Springfield 03 front sights fitted, and stocks replaced with spare carbine models. This is this the "NRA" variant and work performed solely to sell surplus rifles in a more desirable "carbine" form. They sold for a couple of dollars more. Unfortunately for collectors, commercial enterprises also bought surplus Krags and did similar mod's. As far as I know, the arsenal mod's were unmarked, so it is difficult to tell the difference after almost a century of field use.
Many 1896 and earlier rifles were re-arsenaled to some degree as needed. These likely did see field action and use in the SAW and Phillipines. My 1896 shows obvious updating in the form of a later 1902 sight and handguard. The action appears to show rust bluing on the receiver exterior rather than the original muted case colors. Interestingly, a lot of these re-arsenals are missing a cartouche on the left side, but have the circled P firing proof on the wrist. Dunno if these were sanded off in the process, or simply reflect use of replacement stocks. I certainly encourage other collectors to add to (or disagree with) my observations.
Sometimes the cartouches were sanded off, sometimes the stock never had one, a field replacement stock.
Guys,
Krag rifles and carbines had a short but exciting life as service arms, mostly in hot wet climates. In Cuba it rained almost every day. The soldiers didn't have grease ofr their weapons so they used bacon fat. The Philippines are warm and wet, except when they are hot and wet. The China campaign took place in the summer. The weapons took a beating.
The practice was to turn the worst of them in for refurbishing at an arsenal. They would get cleaned up, maybe reblued, and updated with new sights and handguards. Carbine stocks were usually replaced, too. The replacement stocks did not have the cartouche but did have a "P" stamp, 'cause the weapons would be proof-tested.
This is why there is no real "correct" configuration for most Krags. If you know how to read the mods, they can tell you a story. Welcome to the book club!
jn
My '96 fits that description to the tee.