Hello all, i have a 1898 krag that a good friend sent me to gain some history on firearm and to clean up, serial# 153930, any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks...

Welcome to KCA where we love our Krags. We can help answer many of your questions about your new Krag.

Being given the serial number, we can only tell you the date of manufacture which is 1899. Anything further we would need more information and pictures.

This forum has lots of posts listed in different categories that you can search through as well as many pictures to help identify what you have.

The more you can show us and tell us, the more we can help. Many Krags have been altered or cut down after having left the Springfield Armory where they were all made from 1894 to 1903 and possibly early 1904.

The markings that are on the stock and receiver are very important in identifying your Krag.

So, let us know more. We'd like to see what you've got!

hello. owner has no history on this firearm..

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'Kafx75' - Welcome to the KCA Forum. Thanks for the array of photographs. It sure helps with identification.

Your friend's Krag, #153930, is a Hybrid of surplus Krag and 1903 Springfield rifle parts.

Wood patches and judicious cutting were employed to adapt the 1903 Springfield stock so that it could house the quite different Krag action.

These "Frankenguns" were created by the famous Francis Bannerman Company and appeared in their 1914 catalog. These "Krags" and other Bannerman inventory were being sold at least as late as 1939 by the Hudson Sporting Goods Company of New York.

This story is well covered in William Brophy's book, "The Krag Rifle", pages 177-179.

These odd-ball Krags are interesting as curiosities, but, not worth a lot. Workmanship on some of this stuff is pretty 'sketchy'.

(BTW - Your friend's rear-sight is on backwards. Out of curiosity, how high do the sight numbers go, 18 or 20C)?

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Butlersrangers comments about interesting and not worth much while true does not take away from the fact that Krags have legendary smoothness when operating the bolt and will be a source of shooting pleasure to any one that hunts are target shoots.
Your friend's FrankenKrag could still be relatively accurate and a lot of fun to play with. I have a sporter that I put a lot of time and effort into building and took it out on a 4 wheeler a couple of nights ago hunting a pig and it really irritated me that I bumped the stock a couple of times while carrying it in my lap. Your friends looks pretty good from a distance and would not really suffer much from an occasional ding.

From the blurry details I can make out for your rear sight, it does look like an M1896 rifle sight graduated to 1800 yards. It does need to be removed and flipped around to make it positioned correctly. The hinged action is towards to receiver.

You may find that your rifle shoots quite well. Have it looked over by someone who can check the barrel and receiver and bolt to make sure they are in good shape and get some .30-40 Krag ammo and start blasting away!

Keep us informed. Interesting sporterized rifle but it still is a Krag!

Just keep in mind that the original ad talks about "serve as decorations and relics". "Some tested and work 'fairly' well". (yikes!). "Fire damaged", "we've retempered some, and refinished..some…and we won't guarantee them".  Yikes, some more!

If Bannerman wouldn't guarantee them or described them as decorations, do you really want to shoot one!?

I believe the 'Decorator' Krags were a different Bannerman Offering, than the "FrankenKrag".

However, it is good to know Bannerman "Sold as Decorator" Krags are out there.

IMHO - All Firearms, (especially surplus military), need a close inspection to spot anything suspicious or "funky".

Hello all, just want to say thank you for the help and info, i now know more than my self or the owner knew before the posts, once again Thank You all....

thanks to Butlers for the direct link to origin of this rifle. Very cool stuff.

How is the bore? I hope that the handguard will fit the rear sight when the rear sight is turned around.

If this was mine, and this aint advise, but if this was mine, I'd put it in a tire, tie a string to the trigger, get around the corner of my office and fire this rifle!. It would then be my favorite hunting rifle.

Of course, I'd check the chamber first with some cerrosafe.