I read through a lot of pages of "Chief of Ordnance Annual Reports" and found only one mention of a pending 'cocking-piece' change, circa 1898-1899, that is possibly referring to the 'headless cocking-piece'.

I found no later mention of the change back to the 'knob' version.

FWIW - In the attached report, the time frame seems proper, the tooling is not yet done, the change is approved, the part will be "interchangeable" with existing version, and is not mentioned as 'carbine specific'.

The report is from the year June 30, 1898 to June 30, 1899:

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In a 1904 publication, "Ordnance Supply Manual", the model 1896, model 1898, and model 1899 Cocking-Pieces (for carbines) are listed in separate columns (on page 580) with different manufacturing costs (or prices).

This might suggest the model 1899 carbine Cocking-Piece was different.

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Hi, Sold for almost  5K, beautiful Carbine just more than I wanted to spend. Regards, Mike

If that 1899 carbine sold for $5,000 then it belonged to some famous general, with documentation, or someone waaaaay overspent!

Id like to know why it brought that much. I'm missing something.

Whig wrote on Jul 5^th, 2019 at 4:09pm:

If that 1899 carbine sold for $5,000 then it belonged to some famous general, with documentation, or someone waaaaay overspent! Id like to know why it brought that much. I'm missing something.

Hi, it was about as perfect condition as I've seen in a Krag Carbine. It was either taken good care of or restore years ago. It had about 95-98% of original looking blue and listed as a mirror bore. I only saw pictures so I don't rule out restoration; but high edges were worn and the wood looked excellent. I agree as to the price being high. My only question was the cocking piece and you guys answered that. Was it worth it? not to me, but still a beautiful piece, regards, Mike

Thanks for the posting, Mike. It raised some good questions and issues which is always fun when talking about Krags.

Another interesting change was mentioned in the triggers. The side plates or ears of the trigger are thin enough the carbon may have migrated completely through while casing. The oil quench would have been less likely to produce cracks. Interesting change late in the game.

On the headless cocking piece I would guess they are marginally  lighter than the regular one. For target shooters looking for the last little bit of extra accuracy, they may give a slightly faster lock time.