16,7XX Krag with 1896 cartouche

[butlersrangers]

Thanks Mark for defining IRAN.

FWIW - Frank Mallory reprinted the instructions issued by the U.S. Ordnance Department guiding the refinishing procedures for Krag components by arsenal and armory facilities. This information appears in the appendix of "The Krag Rifle Story". The U.S. Krag rifles saw hard service from 1894 to 1918 in front line, national guard, and training and support roles. Use in Naval service continued even later.

I have to assume much of this repair and refurbishing work resulted in the disassembly of many Krag rifles and serviceable parts being mixed in the reassembly process.

[Dick Hosmer]

It should have a curved toe, but the buttplate will be without trap.

[jon_norstog]

What Mark says - a lot of Krags led VERY tough lives. The rifles that went to Cuba got really wet. The Army did not issue gun oil and a lot of soldiers and troopers used salt pork fat to keep the guns from rusting. Those weapons, and the ones coming back from the Philippines generally went into an arsenal for a refresh when a unit returned to the US. About Krag configuration: the bigger the mystery, the more likely it has a history.

jn

[madsenshooter]

One of mine in the 12000 range must've been someplace where it got real rusty. But you could tell it was an arsenal did the clean up, made the magazine a tad longer!

[Kragrifle]

Could you post photos of that magazine alteration?

[madsenshooter]

Not really enough difference to see, let me see what my calipers say. Well I can't get them where I need to without some disassembly. It's only a few thousandths. Ok, I took the sideplate off a pair to get access. 3.17" on the parkerized Krag, 3.20" on the once rusty but cleaned up rifle. Might be that much difference amongst individual specimens, not sure. I also got 3.17" for a 98 receiver I had laying around. So clean up added about .030" to the internal magazine length of the ugly rifle. I measured another 98, a late one, and got 3.156".

[CPC]

I have one in the 15,6 range that was modified and has a 1895 cartouche. Looks like it may have been in a wet environment.