Several years ago, I decided I wanted a good Krag and spent some time seeking one out. Once I got a good one, it rained Krags, each one progressively nicer, including two genuine carbines.
But there is a lot of fakery, and there are far more carbines today than Springfield ever made. Also, there are a lot more of those "NRA carbines" than were ever made, so a claim means nothing unless accompanied by the right papers (and even those have been forged).
I urge anyone thinking of collecting Krags (or trapdoors) to get good books and learn as much about them as possible, as well as look at as many as possible. Don't get fixated on one point. I remember at a gun show a year or so ago, hearing two guys discussing a Krag "carbine" and deciding it was genuine because it had a "C" on the sight. Not only was the "C" in the wrong place on the rifle sight, the buttstock had a sling swivel, the foreend had a pin to hold the rifle band, the front sight was from a M1903, and the barrel had been cut off crooked with a hacksaw. Yet those guys pronounced the gun "genuine" and worth $1200 because the faker had put a "C" on the sight!
Jim
