I have an 1896 carbine and I was wondering if someone could help me find information on it. It's serial number is 69261.

Bulldog- Welcome to KCA. We love helping answer questions about Krags. The serial number is important but to get the most information about your Krag, we would need good pictures of the entire firearm, close ups of the sights, receiver and its markings, the stock and any unusual markings.

If you can see the condition of the bore, that will be helpful as well as any information on the history of the Krag- where it came from, previous owners, etc.

We need to find out if the Krag has been altered from its original Springfield Armory production. Many Krags have been altered or abused which can severely affect value. Many altered Krags are good shooters, though, if they are not still in military configuration.

If you have questions about posting pictures, let us know.

Welcome!

As far as i can tell it's been sporterized no doubt. The bore condition looks pretty good still has sharp rifling in it. The butt plate has a number 60 stamped into it which has me puzzled cause I've never seen that before. I just picked up the gun a week ago at a local gun shop that didn't give me any information on it.

Bulldog,   Welcome to our little group.  I have access to only the serial numbers listed in the late Frank Mallory's book, but there are others here who will have some additional sources they can check.  i imagine you will soon be hearing from them, too.

in the meantime, Mallory does not list your specific number, but all of the numbers he does list both before and after yours are listed as 1896 Carbines.  That in itself is not conclusive that yours, too, is a carbine rather than a modified rifle, but it is a really good sign.  We use your photos to identify those parts that are specifically for carbines or for rifles to develop a little history of your piece.  That's a lot of the fun in collecting these and other antiques - trying to guess where they've been and what they've done.  Again, welcome to you.

'Bulldog42' - Welcome to the KCA Forum.

Your U.S. model 1896 Krag, #69261, is certainly in the heart of a 'block' of 1896 carbine numbers.

It was likely assembled around July, 1897.

The number is not documented in Springfield Research Services Data ("SRS"), but, most Krags are not.
Only a small percentage of Krag serial numbers were found mentioned in official documents that were researched.

As 'Whig' suggested, we love to see Krag photographs and sometimes this produces interesting observations and discussions.

There is a sporterized Krag section you can check out here at the KCA forum. There are many sporterized Krags floating around out there that bring shooting pleasure to many people. Most of us have at least one sporterized Krag even if we are original Krag addicts. So, you're in good company.

I don't have my references here to tell you if there is any documented military history for your specific Krag. Others will chime in and give more info but pictures tell lots more than just the serial number.

What does the rear sight look like? What numbers are on the slide? The rear sight tells a lot about the Krag. There are rifle rear sights and specific rear sights made for carbines because they have different barrel lengths that change the ballistics of the bullet. Carbine rear sights are marked with one or more "c"s to designate the carbine design.

There are pictures on this forum also that can help you identify what you have.

Keep the info coming and pictures when you can.

Need help posting pictures

I convert the jpg. Images to gif images. They load up easier. Use the choose file box to load them on your reply. Load multiple images by using the attachment box to the left of choose files.  Sounds like a nice carbine.
     Kc

Another way is to make sure your .jpg picture is less than around 600KB in size to load as a picture attachment for this forum. If it is too big, it will not load. We'll see them fine even if they are smaller. 

You can attach 5 pictures to one post. If you have more, just hit "reply" and post more. You have to write something in each post even if you just say "more pics".

Thanks.

I just load my digital camera pictures on my Hard-Drive, in 'Pictures' or 'Documents'. I prefer JPEG images and reduce them to 300KB or smaller.

Detailed - sharply focused 'area' pictures, (front-sight/ muzzle-crown, left-side of receiver markings, side and top images of rear-sight, and stock markings), are more useful than complete rifle photo attempts.

I still have 'Microsoft Office 2010' on my Desk Top computer and that allows all kinds of photo editing and cropping.

IMHO - Big pictures are a pain to look at and photos linked to other sites, eventually expire and the thread become meaningless in the future.

When you make a reply on the KCA Forum, there is a 'Browse' button (below) that lets you go to, find, and attach stored images (by selecting image and hitting 'OPEN' button).
Over to the left of the screen, there is an 'Attachments & Down Arrow', this creates more 'Browse Boxes' and can be used (repeatedly) to attach up to five photos to each post.

I hope this helps ... and keep your feet out of your pictures.  ;D (attached: 298KB and 34.2KB - JPEG examples)

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