Krag Carbine Help..........(Pics)

[target-panic]

Happy Holidays.................... Nothing new to report on the old Krag. I just take it out and rub a bit of oil on it from time to time. I hope to resume my info search soon!

[jon_norstog]

Target-Panic,

I ran into a guy locally who has a Krag he says his grandfather bought when they issued the '03s to his unit. 5MF and Dick Hosmer say that it was not uncommon for soldiers to buy their trapdoors whn their units changed over to the Krag and the practice sems to have been continued. I havenotsen this particular Krag but can't see why a family would make up the story.

have you asked fo an SRS check? People do that regularly on the "other" list. If you get a SRS hit, you can pin the weapon to the unit.

BTW this thread has over 8,000 hits! You should sell ad space.

Happy New Year

jn

[target-panic]

Target-Panic,

I ran into a guy locally who has a Krag he says his grandfather bought when they issued the '03s to his unit. 5MF and Dick Hosmer say that it was not uncommon for soldiers to buy their trapdoors whn their units changed over to the Krag and the practice sems to have been continued. I havenotsen this particular Krag but can't see why a family would make up the story.

have you asked fo an SRS check? People do that regularly on the "other" list. If you get a SRS hit, you can pin the weapon to the unit.

BTW this thread has over 8,000 hits! You should sell ad space.

Happy New Year

jn

Hi Jon,
Yes..............I tried the SRS search with no luck! I'd like to dig further, but don't even know where to begin. I still love the carbine though. How'd the hunting go this Fall?

Take care.

Geo....

[jon_norstog]

Geo,

Hunting this year was cold and wet, with very little game in evidence. So I got skunked for elk. But I am getting really good at using the bicycle to expand the area I hunt in a given day.

post-elk season I took the Krag up to N. Idaho for late fall whitetails. had a great shot,30 yards at a bunch of fat muley bucks mixed in with does ...and like a fool I had a white-tail tag. At noon break I met up with my brother who said, "man you shoulda shot one, you could put it on my tag." I said,"well that's a conversation we should have had before-hand." Seeing as how it involved a minor but hardly unheard-of violation of game laws.

My own thought is, you should just stick to the law as your Plan A. plan B can be something else, but don't make it up after the fact.

Let me try a few new tricks on your carbine.

I'm willing to put it 89% your soldier was in the 6th cavalry. And I'm willing to give it about that percent he acquired that carbine from his unit's armory, by purchase when the Krags were retired in favor of '03s. The question in my mind now is this: did he buy out his own weapon, or take the nicest one he could get from the armory?

If it was me it would be the latter. But it was him.

jn

[target-panic]

Geo,

Hunting this year was cold and wet, with very little game in evidence. So I got skunked for elk. But I am getting really good at using the bicycle to expand the area I hunt in a given day.

post-elk season I took the Krag up to N. Idaho for late fall whitetails. had a great shot,30 yards at a bunch of fat muley bucks mixed in with does ...and like a fool I had a white-tail tag. At noon break I met up with my brother who said, "man you shoulda shot one, you could put it on my tag." I said,"well that's a conversation we should have had before-hand." Seeing as how it involved a minor but hardly unheard-of violation of game laws.

My own thought is, you should just stick to the law as your Plan A. plan B can be something else, but don't make it up after the fact.

Let me try a few new tricks on your carbine.

I'm willing to put it 89% your soldier was in the 6th cavalry. And I'm willing to give it about that percent he acquired that carbine from his unit's armory, by purchase when the Krags were retired in favor of '03s. The question in my mind now is this: did he buy out his own weapon, or take the nicest one he could get from the armory?

If it was me it would be the latter. But it was him.

jn

I've never hunted Elk..........yet! I've been buying pref. points in Colorado for quite a few years now. When my daughters finally get through college, I plan to take a nice trip out west and see if I can hang my tag on one. Dad & I had a great Whitetail season though. We have a nice little log cabin in the remote Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The area is made up of large tracts of paper company & timber company land with very little private property, and very few hunters. We got about 15 inches of snow the week before the opener, and the deer were on the move.......feeding, and heading toward their winter yarding areas. We both tagged nice 8 pointers and had an absolute blast! We also saw about a dozen moose this Fall about half of which were bulls. I love to watch them........they just don't get too excited about anything. This may be because there is not a moose season in Michigan, and they know that they are safe. We then headed up to Saskatchewan to hunt the week after Thanksgiving. Again we saw plenty of deer, and we each took 9 pointers. I hope to draw a limited black bear tag next Sept. for the unit that my cabin is in. If I do, I'll put quite a bit of time and effort into that hunt.

I look after the house of the guy that I bought the Krag from. He'll be back here in May. Once he settles in, I'm going to see if I can search through his grandfather's collection again. I'm sure that there are more clues hidden on the backs of the old photos and postcards. It will just take a bit of time to piece it all together. When I do, I'll try to scan in images of as much as I can. Maybe you or others here can help me make heads or tails out of this puzzle. I showed the carbine to a gun collector that I know............his jaw dropped when I pulled it out of the case. He's called me three times to ask if I'd sell it to him. Truth is.........if I did ever sell it.........it wouldn't be to this guy. I also ran into an old guy who owns a Winchester '95 carbine.............I might just make him an offer. I think it would look great hanging next to the Krag.

I'll keep checking in from time to time.

Take care.....

Geo.......

[FTIII]

I have a Win. 95 in 30-40. I don't hunt often with it for several reasons, one is I always wonder "what if" I break a part? hard to get to say the least. Another is it's getting pretty hard for me to see that very fine front sight and shoot well enough with it. I have taken a whitetail buck with that rifle and it tipped him over just fine. Maybe if I make a new wider front sight insert for it I could see it better. Anyway never sell the 30 Army short.

FTIII

[samnev]

the stock has been inlet-ed for the sling bar so I doubt it's a chopped rifle stock. Bolt is an easy fix. The front and rear sight should be marked with a small c if they are correct carbine sights.

[jon_norstog]

Geo,

For elk, idaho and Montana treat out-of-staters pretty good. Just bring money. If you want to hunt ID and don't mind roughing it, you could throw in with me and my brothers in the "Panhandle Zone." It's just the place for hunting with a 30-40. 60 yards would be a long shot. We hunt old-school, on foot, out of a tent camp.

If you can score the '95, by all means do it. It's a good rifle, just a little heavy on the cARRY.
later!

jn

[target-panic]

Geo,

For elk, idaho and Montana treat out-of-staters pretty good. Just bring money. If you want to hunt ID and don't mind roughing it, you could throw in with me and my brothers in the "Panhandle Zone." It's just the place for hunting with a 30-40. 60 yards would be a long shot. We hunt old-school, on foot, out of a tent camp.

If you can score the '95, by all means do it. It's a good rifle, just a little heavy on the cARRY.
later!

jn

Thanks for the invite Jon....................might consider it sometime. I don't mind roughing it........I prefer it. Keep checking back this Spring. When I have more info on the carbine I'll post it here, and I'll get in touch with you too. Thanks for your help on this.

Geo......

---------- Post added at 10:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:47 PM ----------

the stock has been inlet-ed for the sling bar so I doubt it's a chopped rifle stock. Bolt is an easy fix. The front and rear sight should be marked with a small c if they are correct carbine sights.

Better pictures in post #5.

[jon_norstog]

target-panic,

Here is a diary of a soldier in the 34th Michigan, which I think is the unit our soldier served in

http://www.spanamwar.com/34michcripps.htm

This is a unit report, pretty much the usual military report BS ...

http://www.spanamwar.com/34michrpt.htm

And here are some other individual writings. Sgt. Cogshall couldn't stand to see a woman and child starve ....http://www.spanamwar.com/34mich.htm

Hope that helps in understanding what "our soldier" went through in his introduction to the soldiering life.

jn