Sept 1898 - that's really interesting to know - thank you!

Some very useful pieces of info already coming together on here. So glad to have put it up.

And thank you everyone for the kind words. I initially wanted a Krag as I have a personal connection with Norway (worked as a translator from Scandinavian langs to English for many years). Then my liking for carbines took over and I decided I'd like one of those. I bought this gun about 4 years ago, but had no idea what I was holding until I got it and started checking it out.