Krag 1899 Carbine - Serial Number 849318

[butlersrangers]

Mystery deepens .... the butt-trap looks correct and it is grooved to store the oil bottle, too.

[Rcat7147]

Well..shoot.
I can make the buttplate fit. It doesnt need *that* much work.
Id like to be sure Im not cutting on some super rare fat butt type II stock first lol.

[olderthansome]

Speculation how bout this was at sometime a stock for a '73 carbine that was left from earlier inventory? And, during the period of the shortages for Krag replacement carbine stocks (1901-2) was 'altered' to see how much work would be needed to adapt it to the Krag. That would account for the double holes and for the 'fat' size. That might also even account for the "P". If this (or prototypical work for the '03 adapted to the Krag) was involved, the decision as to cost and timing was probably found to be prohibitive.

[butlersrangers]

FWIW - In my opinion it is an original model 1899 carbine stock.

'Rcat', there seems to be a shim or extra wood on your stock, at the 'corner', where the butt-plate tang and main part of the plate join. (Red Arrow)

This appears to lift or cant the plate out of position and throws everything off.

If that wood is removed, things should drop down into proper alignment.

A picture of a normal stock is attached:

[Rcat7147]

I'm gonna feel pretty silly if I overlooked a wood shim like that :(

I'll take a close look when I get home this afternoon.

[olderthansome]

Ill join you with the look. I didnt see it at all and it explains it a lot better than my idea!

[butlersrangers]

Rcat - Your butt-plate may be bent in the tang or other areas, due to efforts to make it fit ... 'more better'.

If possible, try a different plate after you've checked for 'wood obstruction'.

[Rcat7147]

The buttplate that you see in the pictures came off a cut down rifle stock I had in my parts bin. It definitely fits as issued...just not on this stock haha.

[Local Boy]

Good observation detective Chuck concerning the butt plate not seating properly!

I purchased, sometime ago, a beat-up 1896 carbine that had a cut down rifle barrel and lyman peep sight. The carbine was also missing the rear sight and hand guard.

I wanted to play around with it and had the parts to restore it to a proper 1896 but...I quickly discovered that original barrel bands would not fit due to the width of the barrel.

The workaround that a previous owner used was to install a 1903 or mauser barrel band (fairly common).

I also noticed that the width of the barrel apparently has caused the nose of the stock to crack by forcing outward pressure on the barrel channel (see picture).

Regardless, you have a very nice carbine and I hope your able to resolve all your issues with it and "Get to chooting that thing!"

[butlersrangers]

Local Boy - 1886 Carbine? I think you had too much coffee today!

I was expecting 'Trap-Door' pictures or something else.

I believe, I am seeing the tip of a Krag carbine stock, complete with 'finger-grooves' and maybe a Mauser barrel-band.

If what you have is a Krag carbine, the barrel diameter is the same for a carbine barrel or rifle barrel at that distance from the receiver.

Maybe the barrel is a commercial replacement barrel?