I just pulled the trigger on an 1899 Krag Carbine. I’m pretty happy with it overall. There’s a few character marks, but the bore is bright and the landings are strong. The patina seems to be consistent overall with the possible exception of the front hand guard. While I believe the stock was always a carbine stock and not a cut down, it is missing proof and cartouche marks. It also has a rear sling swivel that looks to be added and an upper band with a sling swivel. I’m wondering if this was possibly an engineers carbine. Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

A few more

Boy, that Krag Carbine sure looks clean and in great shape! Can you give a close up of the receiver with its serial number? That will give us more to go on.

You do have a nice original 1901 carbine rear sight. The hump in front of the sight on the hand guard protects the sight when shoved into a scabbard used when on a horse and slinging the Krag. The hand guard does look to be a slightly lighter color than the stock but that's just fine.

Great to hear that the bore is in good condition. It should be a great shooter if you choose to do so. Most of us love to reload and shoot our Krag rifles and carbines.

The sling swivels are add-ons but I don't know much about the Engineer Krags. Someone else will inform us about those.

Congratulations with your new purchase and welcome to the KCA.! This is the best place to learn about your new Krag obsession.

Hi Mike4MSU,

Welcome to the KCA Forum!

You have a very nice carbine!

A nice clear picture of the serial number may help us determine more information about your carbine.

Have you measured the barrel length?... Just stick a rod down the barrel to the bolt face (closed bolt) and mark the rod at the muzzle opening.  Measurement from the bolt face to the muzzle should be 22 inches.

Yours appears to be a 1899 carbine replacement stock.

Replacement stocks were commonly installed with no added cartouches or P proof marks, however they usually will include numbers next to the trigger guard.

IMHO: Some folks would say that carbine stocks should have no band or stock swivels.  I am of the opinion that certain documentation had allowed for the installment of swivels for a short time period.  I have seen too many carbines with swivels to believe that it is random occurrence.  I'm talking about the type of swivels that have been inletted and installed on the rear of stock such as yours.  I believe that kind of inletting would be performed by the armory who manufactured the stock.  Most folks like me would install a single screw type swivel and call it good.

You may want to check the front sight and see if it has a "C" stamp indicating it to be a carbine sight.

The rear sight is a nice 1901 carbine sight and has been going for $250-$350 at certain auction sites.  $500+ is the norm at gun parts web sites.

The stock appears to have been sanded (post install) but that's about par for the course.

The handguard may be a reproduction?

All in all a very nice clean carbine.

Happy shooting!

Seems like your carbine started life in Jun 1900

No hits in the "Serial Numbers of Known U.S. Krags" located in the back of Mallory's book "The Krag Rifle Story."  However, it is in the company of other listed carbines!

Looks like you have a legit carbine front sight!

Front blade on my 1899 carbine.

I don't know if any 1899 blades got marked on left side.

Some 1902 carbine rear-sight bases were stamped on the 'wrong' (left) side.

Mike,

The "B" on the side of the rear sight is a "Battle range" mark for 375 yards which was considered a commonly used distance setting for a typical battle range to shoot at. Nothing more.

Hard to say what the two filled holes were from. Almost looks like someone wanted a sling swivel in the wrong place. Maybe someone else has an idea.

Have you been able to find any factory Krag ammo yet?

Hope you plan to shoot the prize soon!

Mike,

I have been looking through Mallory's Krag Rifle reference book and on page 145 there is a picture of a Krag rifle attached to an ammunition testing machine at the Frankford Arsenal. The rifle is secured with a metal brace along the stock behind the trigger guard as well as at the point of the rear barrel band.

If you look at your carbine stock, there is an impression and slightly lightened color stock extending from right behind the trigger guard to right past the two filled holes.

My (pure) guess would be that those two holes are filled holes that may have been used to affix the carbine that this stock originally was used for (maybe your carbine) in a similar type machine for testing or fixed shooting purposes. There were some devices used for target shooting in a fixed rest .

Sound plausible?