M1898 Carbine

U.S. Military Krags
sbreheny
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2022 7:37 am

Re: M1898 Carbine

Post by sbreheny »

The hole in the peep sight is 0.04 inch diameter from my measurement. The distance from it to my eye with a cheek weld on the stock is about 17 inches. That works out to 8 MOA - not a group size of 8 MOA, but a field of view of only 8 MOA! I also find it very hard to get my eye to focus on what I see through the hole at that distance (it wants to focus on the rear sight). Regular aperture sights, even super tiny ones, do not have such a severe FOV restriction and can act as pinhole lenses because they are placed close to the eye.

Regarding the broken sight attached to the bolt - you are welcome to have the parts of it free if you PM me your address. The only thing is - do you want the screw that takes the place of the rivet, too? If so, I have to figure out how to connect the extractor bar (not sure if this is the correct term) to the rest of the bolt. Is it feasible to put in a replacement rivet myself?

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butlersrangers
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Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:35 pm
Location: Below the Bridge, Michigan

Re: M1898 Carbine

Post by butlersrangers »

'Sbreheny' - I can send you an original Krag extractor 'rivet'. (I just need your address. I will PM my address to you).

Since you had the skills to take your model 1902 sight apart, I'm sure the Krag extractor rivet is no problem for you to install.
The rivet is held in place by friction.

BTW - Original Krag front-sight blades are .055" thick. Your current 'home-made' blade appears to be thicker.
This would make sighting with 'Sgt. Peep' even more difficult.

Everyone I know, who uses the swing-up 'Peep' to target-shoot, has drilled the aperture larger!


Attached: extractor rivet details
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IMG_9240 (rivet) (2).jpg (132.63 KiB) Viewed 739 times

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psteinmayer
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Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:31 am

Re: M1898 Carbine

Post by psteinmayer »

You're correct in that Sgt Peep in that it's 0.04 Dia. FWIW, The CMP allows for enlarging peeps to 0.1 Dia., which is what I enlarged mine too. It's actually TOO large, and I'm going to go back down to 0.08 Dia., by replacing my plate with one donated from a friend.

FredC
Posts: 1991
Joined: Fri May 31, 2013 4:38 pm
Location: Dewees Texas

Re: M1898 Carbine

Post by FredC »

The photos on the top of this thread are very dark. Is it possible that is an original carbine barrel with the front sight badly altered. I just cannot see enough detail. Same with the rear sight, I cannot see enough to tell what the OP has. Others that have sights on hand to compare or have handled many in the past might be able to identify it by the profile or general shape, I cannot. Better illuminated photos like the later ones could be more informative to me and other newbies.

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butlersrangers
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Location: Below the Bridge, Michigan

Re: M1898 Carbine

Post by butlersrangers »

Fred - For starters, the OP's barrel is a tad short. The attachment of the front-sight base is just a bit crude and not the neat bronze brazing/dovetail attachment that Springfield used.

The sight base height reveals the OP's rear-sight to be a model 1902 rifle sight. (The elevation ramp is much higher than the leaf in the lowered position).
The 'ramp' on a model 1902 carbine sight-base is lower, (about even with the leaf in the lowered position).

Caution - Model 1898 sight bases were obsolete and got onto the scrap market. Many of these discarded bases got 'parted' into complete, but incorrect sights!
(The 1898 carbine-sight ramp is lower than the leaf. The 1898 rifle-sight ramp is slightly above the leaf).
The model 1898 sight bases can be detected easily. They have a totally different style of 'leaf' spring & attachment. These obsolete 1898 bases were not reused by Springfield Armory.

I hope these photos & captions are instructive and help 'newbies' sort things out.

(Note - The last photo is a bogus sight, with a 1902 leaf & eyepiece installed on a rare model 1898 carbine-sight base).
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carbine 1898 sight-base (2).jpg (457.72 KiB) Viewed 727 times

FredC
Posts: 1991
Joined: Fri May 31, 2013 4:38 pm
Location: Dewees Texas

Re: M1898 Carbine

Post by FredC »

OK Br, the enhanced photos really show it up. The originals were so dark that a Bubba-ed grinding job looked like a possibility on the front sight. Did you work in a crime lab bringing out details of photos in an earlier life? I have seen your enhanced photos before all have been excellent.

sbreheny
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2022 7:37 am

Re: M1898 Carbine

Post by sbreheny »

Another datapoint which supports the idea that my barrel was shortened - the outer diameter at the muzzle on my barrel is 0.660 inch. I also have a model 1898 rifle and its muzzle is 0.616 inch outer diameter.

FredC
Posts: 1991
Joined: Fri May 31, 2013 4:38 pm
Location: Dewees Texas

Re: M1898 Carbine

Post by FredC »

An interesting factoid on SA Krag barrels is they will be the same diameter at 22 inches whether they are original 30 inch rifle barrels, Carbines, or cut down rifles. Unless a barrel is modified by turning, they will be the same diameter at any given length up to the 22 of a carbine barrel. I have a sporter barrel that is cut very short, maybe 17 inches. If you measure any Krag original barrel at 17 inches it will be the same plus or minus whatever the SA tolerance was. Some carbine conversions were turned for an inch or so at the muzzle for 1903 sight conversions, but the reason is obvious and it was usually only done for the distance necessary to mount the sight.

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butlersrangers
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Re: M1898 Carbine

Post by butlersrangers »

'Sean' - Actually Krag Rifle and Carbine barrels have the same taper.
If you measure a rifle barrel and a carbine barrel, 22 inches from the breech, you will basically get the same diameter (dimension) for both barrels.

Your rifle barrel simply continues the angle of taper out to 30 inches.
That is why the rifle muzzle is a smaller diameter than the carbine muzzle.

Muzzle diameter on a 'cut-down' Krag barrel is not a clue as to barrel origin.

sbreheny
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2022 7:37 am

Re: M1898 Carbine

Post by sbreheny »

Thanks for Fred C and Butlersrangers for the correction. Makes sense that they would use the same taper now that I think of it.

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