CPSD and DCTD
I said I wouldn't be making any more high content posts. I lied. One more. Lot's of vectors in this one.
Models: They spent a lot of time ensuring units had the same model as they needed to maintain them.
IRAN: When the guns were turned in the arsenals tore them down and rebuilt them to ensure they were entirely serviceable when issued again. RIA was the main one but Benecia and Manila had the ability. I'm not going to detail the difference between Benecia and Manila as that might spin out.
Alteration: When a model was to be altered that isn't something the Arsenal would do. SA did those. Alterations were not done by the people doing IRAN and thus one must think of that as completely different. The arsenals could "do anything to existing models" but altering the parts was an SA thing as the arsenals didn't have the metal working machines for that. Until RIA installed rifle plant at which time they did but that's later.
Mounted: troops on horses. Obvious right? While it's kind of obvious "Cavalry" and "Mounted" aren't the same. Mounted artillery and engineers had carbines. Dismounted typically had rifles. The important point is infantry is cheap whereas mounted isn't (horses are expensive to buy and maintain while artillery is expensive to make).
Pre-war and war era: In looking at the Krags the SpanAm War had a big impact. So 1894-1897 and 1898-1910 are really the two big eras. I'm skipping WW1 as the guns were used for training and I doubt they got the full IRAN after that war. I base that on trapdoors, a huge batch of them, skipping it after the SpanAm War. Due to manufacture stopping in 1903 people tend to stop there. The guns were in heavy issue to 1910. M-1903s were rolling out but the rod bayonet thing really gummed that up.
Regulars, Militia, and Volunteers. Regulars tend to have mounted and dismounted. Militia has it but with less dismounted based on cost. The volunteers tended to be infantry heavy as that was cheap. From 1810 to 1903 the Militia received whatever the army decided to "sell them with money ordnance controlled." So they were typically a gun behind. "Army gets Krags, Militia has trapdoors." In 1903 it was decided that they should have the same one. Important because before 1903 the ordnance department expected the Militia to have Krags to 1975 maybe. "The army hated the Militia." Tru dat.
Let's apply it all:
M-1892 rifles. Issued to regulars as they became available. Orderly turn-in of trapdoors and M-1892s go out. When the M-1896 rifles start to appear the M-1892s are turned in, orderly, and M-1896s issued. In 1898 the M-1892s are all issued to "volunteers." When turned in they're sent to SA for alteration. That's a big effort. They round up as many as possible and dedicate a "line" to doing just that. So the M-1892s suffered CPSD until that alteration when DCTD took over. After rebuild they were stored, almost pristine, until sold as the expected "Militia will be issued M-1892s until 1975" didn't happen.
M-1896 rifles. Issued, unit by unit, when the M-1892s are turned in. These are in the hands of the regulars during the war. When M-1898s are issued they get turned in, orderly, and M-1898s issued. Regulars get first pick. Then these were issued to the volunteers. The lid, in so many ways, comes off. All of them are issued and they come in wholesale. These are the most likely to have seen massive DCTD due to the war. All of them were issued and all of them came back resulting in a huge arsenal effort to IRAN them. Lot's of them in flight.
M-1898 rifles. Issued as they came off the line. Separate these into "early" and "late" as the early ones were needed badly. Later they had the numbers and orderly issue and return starts to appear. Mix the two together and you get three groups: early M-1898s have DTCD, middle period M-1898s have a balance of CPSD and DCTD, late Krags are more CPSD. The war.
Carbines. I'm going to just group all of these together. Because there was a lot less mounted units, and they tended to be regulars dissipating from there on out, these have much more orderly issue and turn-in. So more CPSD than DCTD. Until they went out of primary service. Then it got a bit weird.
Last angle. In a good year SA turned out 100,000 Krags. Took a year to do it.
Think about RIA in 1898. "We're raising volunteers hand over fist." Chest after chest, train after train, goes out quickly. Then when those units are deactivated? Train after train of stuff, to include the rifles, come back. RIA is huge compared to SA. "Clear a couple of floors and start working on those guns." Tens of thousands of guns need to be IRANed. Quickly as they need to send them out again. The M-1896s and early M-1898s were included. DCTD in a massive way. It settled down after the panic but it was incredible. Stages: "Send out everything that goes bang!" Then "here comes the Tsunami of returns." When they were hit with the flood they just packed a large number of trapdoors in chests. "We'll skip those." Why? Needed to focus on the Krags. When I look at the rod bayonet trapdoors some of them are beat to tar and show signs of tropical damage. "That one went West and didn't get IRAN'd."
That.
CPSD. Carbines more likely than rifles. Pre-1898 it's more common than DCTD.
DCTD. Rifles more than carbines. Post-1898 it's bad. Then eases up.
Alteration. On the M-1892 rifles it's similar to DCTD.
"I have an M-1896 rifle. Serial 50,100. It's all original."
"I have an M-1898 rifle. Serial 410,110. It's all original."
The second is not unlikely whereas the first is very unlikely. An original M-1896 rifle is a very uncommon thing. Very. You'll have more luck running into an original M-1892. "Why would that be?" Because when the Krags first rolled off the line many people wanted them. Ammunition companies for example. "We're going to have to make ammunition for them. Sell us 2." So a non-insignificant number left the system. By the time the M-1896 rifles appeared those parties already had Krags.
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Originally Posted by Mark Daiute
