Doc-Owen,

Welcome also to the KCA. We'll help you find new and exciting ways to spend your hard-earned money on an addicting Krag hobby!

You have a nice M1899 Krag carbine that, of course, has been altered. History has the reason the barrel and front sight were changed locked away, it would appear. If you remove the stock carefully, sometimes you can look at the receiver end of the barrel to see if there are signs that the barrel was changed. I agree that someone may have put a new barrel on if the original one was damaged externally or had a terrible bore. People didn't care about the collectibility of Krags back in the 20s or 30s when many of these were altered for different reasons.

But, you have a really nice carbine receiver and stock that are highly desirable. It is possible to have a correct carbine barrel with correct Springfield Armory front sight on it put on your carbine. You can also look for a replacement rear sight that would be correct for this carbine. That would most likely be a M1901 carbine sight. They are found for sale at times but will run $250-350. I believe one has recently been on Gun Broker around that price.

The 1901 cartouche on your carbine stock is correct and great also. That shows that it is an original Springfield Armory production stock and not a replacement that would not have had the cartouche on the left side.

Finding a correct carbine barrel and having it mounted on your carbine could cost $300 or more.

So, you have some options. You can work over time to find replacement parts and return your carbine to correct status or leave it as it is and enjoy it. Might depend on what you have invested in it so far. A nice correct M1901 carbine in that stock with a correct rear sight could be worth around $1500. That might give you an idea what to do.

But, thanks for sharing and see what more you can learn when you get your reference books and research what you have.