Trey-welcome to KCA. We love Krags and love sharing our experiences with our Krags with others.

You are embarking on this Krag venture backwards! You should have asked us before putting a bid on the rifle. Hopefully, you're not too high right now. Too many Krag newbies do it your way and buy something and then come here and say "How'd I do?" Sometimes, we'll say "You did well" or "You got real lucky!" Many times we just say "Wished you'd asked first!"

But, having said that, Krags are difficult animals to get to know. Many details to their histories and intricacies to their parts. This adds levels of confusion to the uninformed to make mistakes.

It also depends on what you want. If you want a collectible, historic piece for your military collection, the Krag you would be looking for is completely different than if you want something to shoot at paper targets or hunt with.

Your Model 1898 Krag rifle, from the few pictures you posted, is SN: 257065 which was made in February 1900. It has the full length barrel, correct Springfield Armory front sight and a Model 1901 rear sight. Probably the rifle rear sight. Carbine rear sights are stamped with a "c" in 3 places on the M1901 version. Can't see that in your pictures.

The sling looks old and valuable, the metal is rough and has slight rust in many areas and the stock is rough and shows lots of use. There is a nice cartouche still legible. The initials are JSA for J Sumner Adams, the assistant foreman of Springfield Armory when this was put into service.

Your Krag looks like it could use some TLC, wiping it down with oil and cleaning the stock with some boiled linseed oil.

(Continued)

Thanks for the input, I am mainly going to keep it as a show piece and possibly occasional shooter if possible. How do you go about look down barrel on these rifles? I tried but I'm not a big fan of looking down a barrel as well. I will attempt to get more photos of the questions as well. Thanks again