An old friend has a weapon collection he purchased 20 or so years ago from a private museum in Iowa. Until the last month it has been hidden away in an attic. He now has a vault on his place. When I was crawling around under the eaves and handing rifles down to him, I ran across a Kragicon that was obviously not original.

Yesterday I had a chance to photograph the piece and look it over.


It is a:
  • Model 1898, serial 447811
  • Barrel measured exactly 29 7/8" from bolt face to crown
  • Front sight appears normal Krag, with no evidence of Bubba
  • Stock appears to be a finger groove M1903, complete with reinforcing bolts.
  • Zero stamped markings on the stock.
  • Front barrel band has lug removed, nicely, and reblued.
  • guard band stamped with "U", looks like Krag
This link will take you to a Photobucket album with a bunch of pictures:
Johns_Krag pictures by us019255 - Photobucket

While a lot of Krags have been "sporterized" with various degrees of craftsmanship, turned into "fake" carbines, and rehabilitated by dealers like Bannerman into ersatz military rifles. This one does not really fit any of the catagories.

If sporterized, why not use a sawed up Krag stock? If a fake carbine, why no chopped barrel and why no bayonet lug. If ersatz military, why didn't dealer cut barrel to M1903 length, and affix a M1903 sight?

John and I will be grateful for any insight this group can give. By the way, this is the only Krag in the collection, but over the next few months, other interesting pieces may show up.
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