BryanJ: Welcome to the KCA Forum. You obtained a nice looking model 1898 Krag rifle!

If it has a nice bore, you did very well at $675. The sling, muzzle cover/sight protector, cleaning rods and oiler, add up to about $200 in accessories.

Krag #188711 was assembled around April, 1899. I cannot clearly make out the date on your Stock's  'Acceptance Cartouche'. Hopefully, it is dated 1899, which would be a nice match.

I can't tell for sure on the rear-sight, Paul. I thought it might be a model 1898 base, but, that could just be the picture angle. (The slide on the sight leaf appears 1902).

I believe BryanJ's stock may be of Italian walnut. It is a pretty Krag with nice color on the receiver!

From what I could see... it appeared to have a curve more like that of the 98... But that could have just been the angle as you said.

I agree on the Italian Walnut too.  Very pretty stock.  If the bore is good, then it's a home run!!!

BryanJ: Your rifle looks quite 'correct' to me, except for the rear-sight.

Your Stock 'acceptance cartouche', dated 1899, agrees with the likely April, 1899, assembly date.

From 1899 to 1901, Springfield utilized a lot of Italian walnut stock blanks, due to a shortage of cured Black walnut blanks. Your Stock appears to be one of these, to my eye, by its 'fancier grain'. (Because the Italian stocks were a 'light yellow' compared to Black walnut, some units may have stained the lighter stocks for uniformity).

Krag Slings (in fact most U.S. military leather) were made at Rock Island Arsenal, at that time.

The Rear Sight 'problem' IMHO:

1. Your 'fuzzy' sight pictures show a model 1898 rear sight (base and leaf). That sight model was abandoned before your rifle was made.
2. The left side of your sight leaf is smooth revealing it to be an 1898 leaf. (Later and re-used sight leafs had 'cross-hatching' and were grooved on the left side, so that the elevation-slide could more effectively lock into place and hold its setting).
   Your elevation slide is a later type that has a spring-loaded pin on the left-side. (This provides friction and locks into the 'cross-hatching' on the later types of leaf).
3. There is something suspicious about the pin that your sight leaf hinges on. It is either not Armory made or the end has been flattened by pounding.

If I am correct, someone (when and who unknown) has put an incorrect rear-sight of mixed parts on an otherwise proper Krag rifle. If you chose, a model 1902 rear sight is pretty easy to find and probably 'more correct' and uses your current hand-guard and sight screws.

(p.s. Your present 1898 rear-sight blade should have three "v" sighting notches. Also, most U.S. Krags will not have 'rebuild stamps'). 

'BryanJ' - Your Krag will probably shoot very accurately.

In February 2013, a forum member, 'Florida Native', posted some great pictures of his Grandfather, Fred G. Yerkes, who shot from approximately 1900 to 1913 on the Florida State Team. On older pages of this Forum there are some neat pictures of his shooting medals.

(I thought you might enjoy this Florida connection to Krags).