Help with rear sight

[King carp]

Saddle ring and but plate

[butlersrangers]

'King carp' - That is a very nice model 1898 carbine stock! The stock alone is probably worth what you paid for the whole 'carbine'.

IMHO - You have a very nice looking 'replica' carbine for shooting!

p.s. - The holes in the stock butt were to lighten the arm. An added benefit was convenient storage for rod sections and oiler.

[butlersrangers]

'King carp' - I took the liberty of altering some of your sight pictures, as well as, 'Parashooter' and 'Wigs' pictures, inorder to contrast your sight with legitimate ones.

You can see the #20 is very different and not the correct size and spacing. The knob and slide-screw head are also wrong on Carp's sight.

[butlersrangers]

Two more views that reveal Carp's sight to be Fake.

"C" on right side of base is too large and different style.

Range Numbers on left-side of Carp's base look to be individually stamped by hand. (4 & 6 are a bit cocked)

The 'style' or font of the numbers is wrong.

[Whig]

Those pictures make it much easier to compare. Good job, Butlers. Very fake! I wonder who's doing this crap!

[psteinmayer]

Ya know... I looked at the first two pictures of the slide numbers, and immediately thought fake! In addition to the fact that the scaling and numbers are different, it just looked totally wonky! Seeing the side views just seals it for me! As Whig said, who created this fake? Obviously, someone is trying to cash in on the scarcity of the actual 1896 Carbine sight!

[Whig]

This is why we need good, clear, close up pictures to best evaluate these things. I pass on items on ebay and Gun Broker if there are poor pictures posted for the item. Chances are, in my experience, if the pictures are done poorly, someone is trying to misrepresent a bad item.

So, as Butlers showed, we must look with eagle eyes at everything and expect that it's fake until proven otherwise. It might help save some money and trouble!

[King carp]

I don't know who made the sight. The previous owner kept good records of his purchases. This carbine was bought in 1998. I do not know if he added the sight himself or it came with the carbine. These knock offs might have been around for quite awhile. Something to watch for in the future. Thanks for the side by side comparison.

[King carp]

I would also like to add that the previous owners collection was 95% civil war related. In this area he was an expert. I posted another krag awhile back I had gotten from his family. Members here gave it a clean bill of health. I do not believe he was doing this faking. He probably got fooled like myself and others. There is one more krag carbine left in his collection. I am saving up for it. I will try to post photos of it before I make the purchase. Hopefully with the forums help I can get an opinion on it.
Thanks again, kc

[psteinmayer]

It's entirely possible that he was in need of a sight and unknowingly purchased a faked sight from someone else. Based on what you've told us, it's likely that you were not misled intentionally... however, they previous owner may have been duped... or just didn't know what to look for.