FWIW - I do not believe the 'Star' mark on one of my model 1898 Krag bolts has anything to do with special selection or 'Star' gauging.

I think it is just one of the many goofy 'Inspection or Production hieroglyphics', we find on certain Krag components.

IMHO - Probably, buried deep in the bowels of Springfield Armory, are stacks & stacks of paper documents. The archives and documents are unorganized and not recently explored because of red-tape, lack of funding, and lack of interest.

There are probably bound pages, showing "The Marks of the Month" on U.S. Rifle components.
There, (at least at one time), had to be a key or guide-list to help decipher these marks and track the who, when, and why, indicated by these symbols.

(Hopefully, documents still exist and did not go to a Landfill, during a house-cleaning effort).