Printable View
Here are pictures of my Krag. Serial number indicates it could be a real carbine. #120141. Rear sight has obviously been replaced. Not in same worn condition as the rest of the gun. Front blade also appears to have been replaced. Stock is dated 1902. Maybe a real 1898 carbine that has been repaired/updated through the years?
You are a lucky man:
120141 98C 03/18/99 CO I 4TH USV INF (RECVD)
This is pretty interesting. If your gun was issued to an infantry unit it was most likely a rifle and not a carbine. 1899 was a little late for the Cuban affray but right there for the Philippines. The 4thy US Volunteer Infantry is not to be confused with the US 4th Infantry Regiment, which was RA.
The 4th Infantry and the 4th Cavalry both served in the Spanish American War and subsequent conflicts. I'm having trouble finding any traces of the 4th USV, which was formed up during the Civil War, but kind of drops from sight later on. It may be a misprint in the SRS records.
jn
More I look around more I think it's a misprint. The USV infantry regiments all seemed to start numbering higher than the RA units, in the 20s. For instance, see MacArthur's report of units on hand in the Philippines at the end of April 1900:https://books.google.com/books?id=jx...fantry&f=false
jn
Found something! There was a 4th US Volunteer Regiment formed in 1898 and on active duty in 1899 at Manzanillo, must have been during the post-conflict occupation. Found a reference here:http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...spanam-usv.htm
jn
---------- Post added at 10:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:04 AM ----------
So the next question is, is this a real carbine? Could be, the QM system was pretty loose during the Spanish American War, an d there was a lot of different ordnance in use. If someone with some pull in the system wanted a carbiine, he probably could have got one.
jn
Actually, there are quite a few model 1898 Krag carbines, in close proximity to # 120141, that are listed as being issued to the 4th, 5th, and 9th USV Inf. on 03/18/1899.
OP's model 1898 carbine now has a 'long forearm' 1899 carbine stock on it. Most 1898 carbines were updated to model 1899 configuration, during their service.
FWIW - Not only does OP's model 1898 Krag carbine have a 1902 rifle rear-sight on it, but, the hand-guard appears to be for the 1901 rear-sight with the sight-opening altered.
To check if it is a cut down rifle, and just going from memory, but if it was a cut down rifle, wouldn't the muzzle end of the barre be a larger dia then what a carbine bbl would be. I know that's true with Trapdoor rifles, Ray
'rayg' - That doesn't work with Krags.
Carbine and rifle barrels have the same taper. A Krag barrel diameter, measured 22 inches from the closed bolt-face, ranges, approximately .651 to .655 inches, (carbine or rifle barrel). I have one model 1898 carbine barrel that measures .645" diameter at the muzzle; this .010" difference is less than the thickness of two sheets of printer paper! (BTW - My model 1899 carbine barrel measures .652" at the muzzle).
The best validation of a legitimate 22" Krag carbine barrel is a 'practiced eye' examining the quality of the front-sight base attachment - IMHO.
Over on the Culver Krag page there is a pretty decent rundown on this weapon. The guys there had a pretty decent discussion of the USV infantry units and the weapons issued to them. I learned quite a bit on this item.
Go check it out!
jn
Here's a link to that thread:
http://www.jouster.com/forums/showth...st-odd-SRS-hit