".... what makes a krag carbine?" - The Springfield Armory!

IMHO - It is always a good idea to read and start a library, before investing in collectable firearms. Even as a young gun enthusiast, I quickly learned that there was a lot of bogus information concerning Krags.

Over the years at gun shows (and now on the internet) lots of people try to pass off cut-down rifles as Krag cavalry and "Philippine Constabulary" carbines. It has long been profitable to misrepresent altered rifles, (that should have been devalued), as legitimate carbines.

Fact - Because the Krag carbine was such a handy arm for 'Hunting', when eventually sold off by the government, many Krag rifles were shortened to carbine length by various parties.

The KCA website is a very good and helpful resource. There are other websites which are far less reliable. There are other websites that are very poor and offer erroneous data.

Krag books worth owning: "The American Krag Rifle and Carbine", by Joe Poyer and Craig Riesch, (cost about $20). It has lots of good, basic information and photographs. There are some mistakes and assumptions, that have upset some advanced authorities, but, you get a lot for your 'Buck'.

"The Krag Rifle Story", by Franklin Mallory, is an out-of-print classic and will cost around $200, used. I prefer the 2nd Edition, which was an 'upgrade' and has some SRS serial number data.

"The Krag Rifle", by William Brophy, is another out-of-print classic and seems to go for around $150, used. It nicely complements Mallory's book and has better photographs and European Krag data.

Some knowledgeable, advanced collectors are reporting positively about Joe Farmer's, self published, work advertised in the KCA classifieds.