My dad used this rifle to deer hunt in PA back about 1935.  Rifle has been in family ever since without any changes.  S/N is 109027.  Most of the Krags seem to have a much longer stock than his, which looks more like a carbine.  Perhaps it was modified way back when?  Comments would be appreciated.

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The Krag Jorgensen U. S. military rifle originally had a 30" barrel, while the carbines had 22". When the Krags were being surplused to civilians the carbines fail into favor as sporting guns, but there were fewer of them. Many rifles were shortened to make them handy for hunting use as well. Most had there handguards removed and a lot of times different sights were incorporated better suited for hunting. Some received new stocks, but many had the original stocks modified. There were varying degrees of craftsmanship for the sporterized Krags.  All in all they made excellent hunting rifles at around a quarter of the cost of purpose made sporting rifles. It appears that you have a Krag military rear sight and a 1903 front sight on a cut down Krag rifle with an original modified stock

Many want to reverse the sporterizing of a Krag, but it could prove to be costly. Rejoice with the Krag in the configuration your Dad used it in for it likely served well as a hunting rifle for many years after its military service.

I see part of a cartouche in the bottom picture to the right. A close up picture of this would be of interest as well as any other markings.

Could we see a picture of the other side, to confirm that it really IS a Model 1898? The date stamps are sometimes hard to differentiate, one from the other, and that is, IIRC, VERY close to the change-point. Thanks.

Thanks for both comments.  I am attaching additional photos.  Rifle is at our cabin in Colorado, so won't be able to take any additional ones until next out there.

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Hi Colorado John and welcome to the forum,

Your cool looking sporter krag appears to be an 1896 Krag that was produced in June of 1898.

FWIW: Your Krag doesn't appear on the list of 'Serial Numbers of Known U.S. Krags' in the the back of Mallory's book 'The Krag Rifle Story... However, it is in the company of known 1896 rifles.

Your Krag may have a cut-down rifle barrel and has had the original Krag front sight replaced with a 1903 front sight.

The rear sight seems to be an 1902 model.

The stock looks like an 1896 rifle stock that has been shortened and embellished with checkering.

By the looks of your Krag it could have been modified by one of the early military surplus companies in operation at the turn of the century.

Companies like W. Stokes Kirk, Bannerman and Sedgley.

Listed below is a link to a an example similar to yours:

  (You need to Login

Hope this info helps answer some of your questions... Have fun shooting your prized heirloom.

BTW: Measure the barrel length, when you have a chance, and look at the muzzle crown to see if it's flat or rounded?

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Dick Hosmer has a sharp eye! "Local Boy" is largely correct.

ColoradoJohn's Krag, #109027, is a model 1896.
It was actually built around June-July of 1898, at the end of model 1896 production.

When deeply stamped, "model 1896" is easily mistaken for model 1898.

You mind if I add your rifle to the KCA serial number database?

No problem with adding S/N.  John.

'ColoradoJohn' - You and your original photo are now registered in the KCA "Sock Club". 

All Three Feet  ;D

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Apparently I missed responding to this when the revealing photos were posted:

As I had suspected, this rifle, 109027, "moves the chains", at least in relation to Mallory 1, the only book I have handy (Mallory 2 and Farmer are buried somewhere).

Highest "Model 1896" WAS 108915, 112 (a very significant amount) lower. And, at that time the lowest "Model 1898" known was 109342, so the gap is closed to no more than 314 numbers.

But, IIRC, Joe Farmer had a refinement in this area as well, so the gap may well be even less, as he was probably unaware of 109027. He calls such arms "border guns" and, like me, finds them very interesting. This particular cut-off point is doubly important because it covers not only the change in date, but also the notable physical difference at the bolt cut.

Was the changeover a clean break, or is there numerical overlap? Could there be a "Model 1896" with the simple bolt cut, or a "Model 1898" with the shroud? I'd strongly suspect not, but who truly knows?

Fascinating hobby!

The lowest model 1898 serial number, shown in Frank Mallory's 'Appendix 20' tables, from "The Krag Rifle Story", 2nd edition, is #109128.

"109128  98R  051729  NEW CUMBERLAND GRD (DESTROYED)"

(I do wonder how close a scrutiny men, who were destroying Krags, gave to getting model 1896 or 1898 markings correct.
We all know how difficult it is to correctly read the markings on some Krags).

If the New Cumberland Depot staff got this entry correct, "ColoradoJohn's" altered model 1896 rifle, #109027, is only 101 digits lower than this "lowest documented" model 1898 rifle.

Interesting Indeed!

BTW - The next (documented in Appendix 20) model 1898 rifle is in a group starting with: #109459 - 98R - 1898 Co. K 4th Tenn. Vol. Inf.

Mallory, in Appendix 19, listed information not necessarily contained in the Appendix 20 serial numbers.
Significantly missing are:

Krag, #109020, as the "Highest Reported Model 1896 Serial Number".
(This is seven digits lower than ColoradoJohn's rifle. No source is given. Now we have a higher known number, 109027, Woo-Hoo)!

Krag, #109342, as the "Lowest Observed Model 1898 Serial Number (Reported by Wayne Gagner)".
(This would be 214 digits higher than the model 1898 rifle destroyed at New Cumberland Depot, that Mallory reported, in Appendix 20).

FWIW - The gap is 101 rifles between ColoradoJohn's model 1896 rifle (#109027) and the lowest model 1898 rifle number (#109128) in Frank Mallory's KRS, 2nd edition, APPENDIX 20.

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Just 101! That surely puts the squeeze on things, to say nothing of rendering that haystack needle mere child's play. Did Joe's data come into play? I was sure he found something "better" than Mallory on this change.

I have no access to Joe and his stuff ... others do.

He does not participate here .... and blames me.

I am sure he has come up with something better.

I see that our "new" list contains 96R 109058; that makes it even tighter, just 70 by my count. Doesn't leave much room to search!

butlersrangers wrote on Feb 19^th, 2020 at 8:19pm:

I have no access to Joe and his stuff ... others do. He does not participate here .... and blames me. I am sure he has come up with something better.

I'd forgotten that old animosity - two strong personalities!

Our loss.

Of these late 96 krag rifles that are made in 1898, have they been observed as having a 1898 Cartouche? or did they use up 1897 stocks. I haven't seen a 98 dated 96 stock.