I recently bought a US Krag 'short' rifle from an east Coast dealer. It was advertised as a schools rifle; but upon careful examination does not seem to fit neatly into any of the various constabulary/BOF/schools rifles(carbine) categories. The dealer claimed he had bought a couple of crates of older US rifles from a VFW post many years ago, and the crates were claimed to have been in storage since the 1920s. This gun, both in his photos, and upon my examination, certainly appeared to fit the part - very heavily covered with old dirt, filth and semi-hardened cosmoline. It had to be taken apart completely to clean it, and there did not appear to be any evidence whatsoever of recent work to it, nor attempts to modify it. The receiver is marked Model 1898; it has a very clean 1899 JSA stock cartouche. The muzzle end of the barrel has been machine turned down to accept a bayonet, and it has a '98 rifle front sight and blade (3/4" high overall) and appears to be very original, & NOT an '05 band sight. I very much doubt that it's constabulary rifle, as these are extremely rare, and Poyer's book states these were made from carbines (22" inch barrels), and the barrel on this gun is 22-3/8" long. I also doubt very much that it is a BOF gun, as Poyer states that these had 26" barrels made from cut-down rifle barrels. Also it has a 1901 rifle rear sight, not the specialized 1901 sight that the BOF guns had. As to whether it is a 'schools' gun, there are also discrepancies - Poyer states these were made from '98 and '99 carbines w/22" barrels, but as I stated the barrel on this gun has a 22-3/8" barrel; not possible that it could have been made from a carbine. He also states the rifle stocks used were cut down 8" on the fore end, but this one's stock was cut down only 7-1/2". Also-I do not believe the gun is one of the W. Stokes Kirk 'Short Rifles'; these had the '05 band front sight.  My best guess is that this gun is a 'schools' gun made from a rifle. Anybody have ideas?...