Dick Hosmer
KCA Official Member
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Collector of Springfield Arms, 1865-1915
Posts: 1862 Location: Northern California Joined: Nov 20 th, 2005 Gender:
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Re: New member
Reply #4 - Dec 24th, 2017 at 3:14pm
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Welcome to the forum. That is a very nice-looking piece, but, as Chuck (B/R) has stated, it is highly unlikely that it is an original Springfield-assembled piece, though it does appear to have a number of proper parts. If it had a carbine sight, some hope could be held out that it was some sort of "rebuild" back in the day when such arms were tools to be used and not collector's items to be (sometimes overly) scrutinized. However, the presence of the rifle sight only compounds the far-out-of-range number.
What I find sad - at 80 years of age, and a Krag collector for nearly 50 of those years - is that here is ANOTHER manifestation of a situation that I do NOT understand, which is not unique to guns:
"I just bought a whangdoodle for (often far too much). I don't know anything about whangdoodles, how did I do?"
The answer is that you overpaid, probably by close to 50%. The situation can be fixed by obtaining an 1899-stamped receiver, a more common carbine sight (the 1901) and its' associated handguard. Your parts will have some trade value of course, especially the handguard. I'd think the swap(s) could be accomplished for well under $200, even less if you get lucky.
Again, welcome - but next time, ask (or better yet, buy a book - $20 for Poyer's - would have saved you at LEAST ten times over) BEFORE you buy! Just some good advice from a old guy who is now stepping down from his soapbox . . . . .
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