Springfield 1898 Krag Carbine?

B

Bob D Iowa

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Here's may question. I ran across a real nice Springfield 1898 Krag and do not know if it is a Carbine or Rifle. It has a 22" barrel that has not been cut but the stock looks like the rifle stock with the bayonet barrel band or lug again uncut. The serial # is 219xxx which should have been made in 1998. The photo I took was with a cell phone so not the best but I’ll attach it anyway. Thanks for looking.
 

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I'd say it is a sporterized Krag that has been cut down from a rifle. If done right it would be hard to tell that it wasn't made that way orginally. I'm not up to date on my Krag history but they are fun rifles. I'd say shoot it and enjoy!
 
Thanks for the reply but I do not think the gun has not been sporterized. The barrel and stock appear to be all original and not cut or customized. Where as the rifle has a 30" barrel this one has the shorter 22" barrel as a carbine. The stock, which has the same appearance as the rifle stock fits this shorter barrel design perfectly in taper to the bayonet barrel band instead of being cut off and rounded as other sporterized variations I have seen. As you can see in the photo the front barrel band fits the tappered barrel and stock so it would not have been cut back. My question is did they make a short rifle with a 22" barrel or what was the converted carbine?

I took some better photos.
 

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Link below has an article about Krags manufactured as carbines at Springfield Armory in Mass.
http://www.surplusrifle.com/uskragcarbine/index.asp

There were some rifles cut down to carbine dimensions by Benecia Arsenal but they did not keep the forward band, but kept the handguard around the rear sight. What you have is a rifle that was skillfully cut down to carbine dimensions by a civilian gunsmith.
 
The front sight looks like it came off a 1903 Springfield. None of the U.S. Krag rifles or carbines were issued or modified (as in the Phillippine Constabulary carbines or the 26"-barrelled experimental model) with that type of front sight. It's been modified, if not "sporterized."
 
1898 Krag Carbines are rare/scarce when in authentic original condition, and therefore very valuable - the basis for there probably being more fakery involving them than SAA's.

Fakery aside, the config appealed to enough later rifle buyers that many altered their rifles to approximate a Carbine config - or their version of the config.

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I am certain that this is a 1899 Philippine Constabulary carbine. Your may be also. Your upper handguard is missing.

I picked this up from the CMP. It is consistent with descriptions off the web. It was cut down from a long barrel Krag.

KragCarbine.jpg
 
This is a pretty routine alteration to an inexpensive surplus rifle. Shorten the barrel and stock, install a 1903 front sight which was available for a reasonable price and easier to put on than resetting the original.

When the Army was selling surplus Krags to NRA members, the carbines were much more popular for hunters. So much so that Benicia Armory set up to shorten Krag rifles to carbine length. Barrels were cut to 22 inches and the barrelled action put in a carbine stock or a rifle stock altered to look like a carbine. All of them have 1903 Springfield front sights.

I believe this one to be a gunsmith alteration, it retains the front barrel band instead of the rounded foreend tip of a carbine.

As said, the handguard is missing.

Not a fake of anything, it is an effort to make an inexpensive surplus rifle more useful.
 
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It's not a carbine. Either Slamfire has it, or it's a private gunsmithing job to the same specs.

They are fabulous rifles. Great shooters, great fun, great history.
 
as already stated, not a typical carbine.
big stand outs, incorrect front sight, and sling swivels on the band and in the butt of the stock.
carbines were calvary issue, and carried in a scabbard on the horse's gear, not across the trooper's back.
these guns were surplussed starting in the early part of the 1900's.
there were companies that specialized in cutting them down, producing tens of thousands of store bought "sporterized" hunting guns.
in their original form, they were a long gun, too long to tackle their new roles as a meat getter in the woods.
 
Some bad info in this thread. The rifle originally presented has been modified OUTSIDE of the army, giveaway is the band front sight - never used on the Krag. There are three "official" full-stocked configurations:

(1) Standard 30" infantry rifles - several hundred thousand produced, in three basic models: M1892 (most have been altered to M1896), M1896, M1898.

(2) "Board of Ordnance & Fortifications rifle" with 26" barrel (100 made, occur 387xxx-389xxx, all cartouched 1902, rare)

(3) "School gun" (what "Slamfire" appears to have) made from 1899 carbine barreled actions, with altered M1898 rifle stocks and upper bands, but NOT at Benicia, 22" barrel, muzzle turned down to accept M1905 bayonet. About 7000 made. USUALLY found with M1901C sight, and most occur in the 220-230xxx range. Very similar to the "Philippine Constabulary Rifle" of which NO examples are known in the US.
 
There are several Krag variations. Rifles, short rifles and carbines. Flaydermans
book lists and pictures a lot of them.
 
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