Your acceptance 'cartouche' letters are J.S.A., which stands for Joseph Sumner Adams, Assistant-Foreman assembly room at Springfield Armory.

As you stated, your Krag's receiver, #175829, was manufactured in 1899, (likely, around January or February).

The explanation for the presence of a stock, dated 1901, with a receiver from 1899, is that most U.S. Krags were rebuilt during their use by the military.

When Springfield Armory, U.S. Arsenals and Depots were rebuilding Krags, the rifles and carbines were taken apart.
The serviceable parts were refinished and went into bins. Rebuilt Krags were assembled from a new combination of randomly selected parts.

In brief, your stock is not the first one that was on your receiver. The stock was being reused. There was no reason to "redo" the acceptance cartouche, the arm had already been accepted. Old stock markings were not purposely removed.

Larry,

It would be nice to see pictures of the rest of your Krag so we could enjoy it with you.

You have a nice cartouche there. Many Krags no longer have a cartouche because the stock may have been sanded and had the cartouche removed or there was a field or Ordnance replacement of the original damaged stock which was not marked with a cartouche. When a Krag was first made at Springfield Armory, it was marked with a cartouche for the year made and a $1 royalty price was paid for that rifle to the German govt for the copy of the original Mauser rifle design that the Krag design used. Replacement stocks were not marked because the royalty was already paid on that original rifle when first assembled.

Your Krag may also have had a stock change or replacement by an individual owner for some unknown reason which may account for the cartouche mis-match. This may have been done after it was sold to an individual out of military and govt control.

Regardless, it is a nice cartouche to have.  Since it is obviously not original, some people would search for an 1899 cartouche marked stock and switch it onto your receiver to make it more "correct". This is not unacceptable but finding an unmolested stock with an 1899 cartouche that matches the wear and patina on your receiver and current hand guard (if you have one) to switch out would cost $300-400 at least. The history of your Krag, wearing its current stock, would be lost. Some of these altered Krags have been together for 100 or more because of armory changes made from military use as stated by butlers above.

So, I'd advise just keeping it together as is and shoot it or buy more to add to your Krag collection with this one.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing!

Very nice Krag rifle, Larry. One any owner should be proud to own and shoot.

How is the bore on this treasure? What happened to the other bolt that required a change?

If you do shoot it, let us know how it does. Always nice to have another proud Krag owner coming to KCA!

Shooting your Krag is certainly the way to see how the barrel does considering its age and condition. We have found, somewhat surprisingly at times, how well many badly pitted Krags can shoot but I think it's more a result of the rifling remaining and not specifically the pitting. Bad pitting can shred a lead bullet and even a jacketed one somewhat and result in decreased accuracy and sometimes key-holing. But, shoot it and find out! Then let us know.

Also, Fred reminded me that the royalty paid on each Krag rifle and carbine produced went to the Norwegian inventors, Krag and Jorgensen, not the German govt, as I mis-stated. Thanks Fred for the correction! (Memory didn't serve in this case.) Mallory mentions this in The Krag Rifle reference.

And, Larry, yes it is nice to have extra parts to switch out in the Krags when you need them!