Surfing the web I found a November 1920 article from Fur-Fish-Game on the Krag carbine as a sporting rifle edited by Maurice R. Decker. The web site has a very long file name, but you can go to the Google book section and type in "Krag Sporting Rifle" and it will show up on the first page. The article is titled "A Fifty Dollar Sporting Rifle For Five". A brief synopsis -
The Krag carbine was being sold for $5.00 at the time to NRA members (membership was $2.00) with 50 cents packaging. Ammo was $16.00 per thousand. It stated that the Krag "is fully as good for big game as any of the bolt actions upon the market at prices about 12 times as much." The author goes on touting its sporting lines despite its military purpose. An advantage of owning a Krag was the abundant ammo supply. He went on to say that there were too many guns of this caliber "not to warrant the cartridge makers keeping this caliber of ammunition up to the latest developments and discoveries in the art of low pressures and high powers."
I wonder if Maurice could have thought ahead 90 years later with those of us still interested in the Krag. The Krag as a sporting rifle is a story in itself aside from its military history. That's why I believe that vintage Krag sporters are interesting despite their low collectors value. That makes a Krag still a good buy for some body like me and I do intend to harvest a deer with mine, just for the nostalgia.